Is God evil?

[Compassionist]

There are many verses in the Bible about God's predestination. https://www.openbible.info/topics/predestination Why would a good God predestine anyone to do evil? Surely, a good God would predestine all to do good? Does the existence of evil prove that God is evil? Surely, a good God would have made all living things to be autotrophs instead of making some autotrophs, some herbivores, some carnivores, some omnivores, and some parasites? Here are some examples of evil events which caused or are causing suffering, deaths, and injustices:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_extinction_events
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_epidemics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_n ... death_toll
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_g ... death_toll
https://thevegancalculator.com/animal-slaughter

[PolytheistWitch]

[Replying to brunumb in post #200]

I am under no obligation to prove what I think about something to anybody. Your hatred of my thoughts is not my problem.

[JoeyKnothead]

[Replying to brunumb in post #200]

I am under no obligation to prove what I think about something to anybody. Your hatred of my thoughts is not my problem.

"I'm here to debate, not show I speak truth."

How silly of us to think otherwise.

[Thomas123]

Spare a thought for the people buried alive in Turkey and Syria. Things just go from bad to worse for the Syrian population as the world plays rugby across their land.

[brunumb]

[Replying to brunumb in post #200]

I am under no obligation to prove what I think about something to anybody. Your hatred of my thoughts is not my problem.

So you are just here to preach. Got it. I find your use of 'hatred' as unwarranted and offensive.

[PolytheistWitch]

[Replying to brunumb in post #204]

What part of my religion have I preached. Please be specific. And report it to the moderators so those posts can be deleted.

[JoeyKnothead]

[Replying to brunumb in post #204]

What part of my religion have I preached. Please be specific. And report it to the moderators so those posts can be deleted.

If only for me, the problem is in saying one doesn't have to support their statements, here in debate.

As a "strong atheist", I declare gods do not exist.

"Can you put you any truth to that, Joey?"

Instead of " I don't hafta, or I won't", I hope I'd say such as...

"Well about that, I propose religious belief..."

Or, "Oh man, I gotta retract me another'n".

I contend your polytheist vision and voice is needed on this site. Where you offer a theistic counter to commonly held theistic notions, you provide another layer for us all to think on. It'd be a shame, for me personally, to have folks just dismiss your views because they think you haven't thought em out, or that they're "blindly held" without any thought at all.

My understanding is that polytheism kinda works around problem areas that crop up when a singular god is shown to be contradictory. With polytheism it might be that "Naw now, that god there likes to fret that right there, you're thinking of this god over here's frettings."

So I encourage you to share your position freely and openly, without shame, but maybe try to fill out your thoughts when others put em to challenge.

I've had to do it, that walk of shame back to my desk when folks put me to challenge, or wreck my arguments. The wounds heal in time, and eventually the bruises turn to newfound knowledge.

In the end, we're all holding faith in our particular beliefs. If yours are as important as they may well be, then you kind of have a responsibility to teach us all.

[William]

[Replying to JoeyKnothead in post #206]

Well articulated JK. I agree and am always interested in other perspectives...

[Compassionist]

[Replying to William in post #164]
Thank you for your empathy, understanding, insights, and compassion.

[Compassionist]

[Replying to Thomas123 in post #165]

Thank you very much for the two links about Zoroastrianism. It is one of the 12 religions I studied during my research on religions. It's my studied conclusion that all religions are man-made. They are part of our effort to make sense of and handle the reality we find ourselves in.

[Compassionist]

I merely plant seeds. God waters the seeds in good hearts.

Implies those who reject your unfounded claims have less than honorable intent.

As it exposes you to em thinking it's you that suffers the condition.

The majority of mortals have a form of love. Those in Noahs day did as well. It was unacceptable to Gods view. Even Hitler loved his family and friends. The new covenant Jesus brought says that same love must be given to ones enemies as well. Not such an easy accomplishment since pride gets in the way of most who have premeditated return evil for evil in their hearts.

The heart is a pump. Our thoughts take place in our brains. Do you propose that we should all follow the Bible and love our enemies and repay evil with good? That is a terrible idea. What if murderers, rapists, torturers, and robbers team up and carry out these atrocities worldwide? Do we just lie down so that they can carry out murders, rapes, tortures, and robberies without opposition? Absolutely not. Rule of law must prevail. This means deploying the police to arrest the criminals and prosecute them.