Humans aren't omnipotent, omniscient, or perfect, and often enough only selectively benevolent. The omnipotent, omniscient, perfect and benevolent God is in a position to perfectly know and perfectly do, but does neither.LOL... I suppose one person's garbage is another person's treasure. Is it a benevolent thing to have a baby today? One will say 'no' and another will say 'yes' depending on their perspective.
So it IS all about God's ego and it IS a transaction, it IS all conditional, you only get the benevolence if you worship and obey, like an all too human king.Can you imagine a potential wife loving a man without him revealing his presence and identity?
That, if I may make a respectful observation, is a very small god. the tribal version from three thousand years ago, made in the image of [his] followers.
Yes it does. You adore or you go to hell. You said so yourself.When I love my wife, it isn't because I need my wife to gratify nor does it translate into "I will be benevolent towards you in exchange for adoration and obedience".
Answer: to appease God's all too human ego.Suffice to say that, at the least, I have offered a plausible "why there is suffering"?
You still haven't told me why the death was necessary, or how reality was different afterwards, or why whatever that difference was could not have been achieved bloodlessly, given an omnipotent, omniscient, perfect, BENEVOLENT being.I don't see how one changes the other if not it reinforces my position. He could have escaped, yes. But, out of love, chose to die for the benefit of the ones he loved. (It wasn't his only mission--just a portion to fulfill the complete mission)
When we see an innocent human killed because of something someone else did, that's when we say YUK!In my mind, no. What would we think of a judge or a president who decided to just release a guilty person? (as we have seen)... we go "YUK!" or use a more graphic explicative. We would call that an unjust judge.
So the bill was paid for to satisfy justice.
Especially when it doesn't seem to have had any point, or changed anything in reality, and if there WAS any point then an omnipotent benevolent being could have achieved it bloodlessly with one snap of [his] omnipotent fingers.
No. Since God is omnipotent and omniscient, the entire universe is solely God's and humans are only occupying their part of it on God's terms ─ once you're omnipotent all the bucks stop on your desk. The only way you can pass them is to renounce your omnipotence ─ and I haven't heard that's happened.Only if we took the statement as a stand alone statement. The earth is still mankind's.
But WHAT did Jesus pay for, and why did it have to be PAID for? Omnipotence and benevolence don't require payment at any point, any more than we make our kids pay for their food or housing, or charge them for going to speak with their teachers.a payment always purchases something--in that Jesus paid for it, it is purchased.. It is a peace that no matter what you are going through, it doesn't change your perspective. It doesn't alter your life.
God as human again? No, God's billing is explicit ─ whatever it is, [he] already knows it.If you lost a loved one and someone said, "I understand what you feel" but has never lost a loved one... do they really understand?
In that case [he] does what I said ─ [he] heals them ALL, regardless of their sins, because [he] perfectly understands what went wrong with them."He doesn't desire that any should perish".
Yes, God is omniscient and God is perfect so God has had perfect knowledge about the radioactivity since before [he] made the universe.Not if man still owns his future. Can we really blame God for radioactive material that man produces? Can we really blame God for the chemicals we pump into our bodies?
Should I find myself in a position of omnipotence and omniscience and benevolence, then I promise you those things won't happen, overpopulation won't happen, contamination of the seas won't happen, global warming won't happen, humans will subtly change to embrace the idea of a level playing field for all, care for all and the protection and admiration of the natural world ... and so on.As it stands (at least in the Christian worldview) until there is a new earth, man will still reap the consequences of his decisions.
That's exactly my point. Why on earth is God's love conditional on [his] being loved when [he] always knew who'd love [him] and who wouldn't, and more importantly, why.I think we have done a complete circle here. Where is true love if you are forced to love?