Samantha Rinne
Resident Genderfluid Writer/Artist
This was the question that drove me away from Christianity.
What spontaneously comes to my mind is Epicurus' trilemma:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
Catholics believe in something I would now call similar to karma. They believe you consciously suffer something and then offer it up to God in atonement for you or others, compensating bad deeds which such a "good" deed. They believe suffering endured in such way is "very valuable".
And this is because you don't understand Christianity. You're basically a Jew or Muslim, because you see God as some faceless old guy in the clouds who just waves his hand and solves your problems because he acts like a robot.
" We played the flute for you and you did not dance, we wailed and you did not mourn. "
You're treating God like a parent who a kid takes it for granted that when their toy breaks, they'll get a new one. So he's malevolent because he wants you to stop breaking toys? Or is it just that he is tired of entitlement?
When you stop treating God like an object, and start caeing for the person, things tend to go smoother.
Is he able and willing? Yes, of course. But evil comes from a variety of sources. For instance, what would happen if God voided free will? You'd start to see ppl basically behaving like the lobotomized, unable to make decisions. There is also the fact rhat evil isn't the clear cut thing you think. Used to be pretty liberal then went conservative. I can fully see then mindset of liberals and even though this is now wrong to me, the idea of going too far is also evil. For instance, to stop crime everywhere the state would be willing to set up policemen at every corner, and might be able to. But this doesn't mean they SHOULD because cops might then behave like Storm Troopers in Star Wars, and search every home dor contraband. Do you see the difference?
And let's talk about the last one. Christianity says God is among us. This doesn't just mean there is a single God kinda like Superman in the crowd, it also at other times implies that all of us are God in fragment. So tell me, since you are God, are you willing to answer my prayers? Are you able? And yet, you are still part of the body of Christ.