If you were to have the power to do so, would you...

[Stevicus]

create a living being in your own image and give this being a free will?

Probably not at first. Initially, I would create giant reptiles and entertain myself with watching them fight and other antics. Then I'd have fun wiping them all out with an asteroid.

 

[shmogie]

create a living being in your own image and give this being a free will?

Why is man bad?

All because of the free will given him by God. Man is a bad design from the beginning.
A free will is the pinnacle of human imperfection.

If I were building a computer and I don't want it to commit errors, I would strive to program it not to do such.

I would want my creation to conform strictly to MY will.


I can see how religious faith can get really trying and very tough to maintain in such a world filled with misery, suffering, war, poverty, selfishness, greed, cruelty, death, destruction, illness, deformity of babies, handicaps, gross bodily functions (as BO, vomiting, defecation and urination), filth, squalor, crime, unjust killings, unjustified anger, hatred, bullying, cowardice, destructive natural events, loneliness, ignorance, thoughtlessness, carelessness, negligence, irresponsibility, lies, deception, violence, hunger, famine, drought, pestilence, overpopulation, pollution, government corruption and environmental decay.

Is the devil really the Father of All the World's Troubles? Isn't God more powerful than the devil? Why does the devil seem to prevail in this world?

The world really looks and feels like hell to me.

Free will is a risk. If you could program your kids, would you program them so they loved you no matter what, and could not choose otherwise ? Wouldn´t that just be you loving yourself ? Is it really love if someone can not do anything else ?

There is a reason why humanity, in itś free will, is rife with all the things you list.

In essence, humanity has said ¨we don´t need God, we will do it on our own "

I believe the universe may be filled with intelligent life. There certainly is a spiritual population of beings.

In my view, the earth is an object lesson, a place where all can observe what abuse of free will is, and itś results.

Of course God could have ended the whole mess right after creation, when it began. However, the accusation would be that He is a dictator and would not allow people the freedom of their choices.

So, it has to reach itś full potential of pain, disease, crime and brutality because God says when he ends it and starts over, it will not happen again, it will be so absolutely clear that free will not tempered with a right relationship with God is misery and death.

On the cosmic scale of things, this has been occurring for a very short time. And those victims of all of it, and we are all itś victims, have had an opportunity in one way or another to choose to be part of the earth as it was intended to be, to be to live a good, healthy, peaceful life.

It will soon end, and it will be just a bad memory, from which all will have learned the most important lesson in the universe.

 

[stvdv]

I would want my creation to conform strictly to MY will

Most humans do "create" children ... some do "want them to conform strictly to THEIR will" ... are you really such a parent?

 

[stvdv]

Is the devil really the Father of All the World's Troubles?

NO

 

[stvdv]

Isn't God more powerful than the devil?

YES

 

[stvdv]

Why does the devil seem to prevail in this world?

Indeed

 

[stvdv]

If you were to have the power to do so, would you...

Yes

 

[BilliardsBall]

create a living being in your own image and give this being a free will?

Why is man bad?

All because of the free will given him by God. Man is a bad design from the beginning.
A free will is the pinnacle of human imperfection.

If I were building a computer and I don't want it to commit errors, I would strive to program it not to do such.

I would want my creation to conform strictly to MY will.


I can see how religious faith can get really trying and very tough to maintain in such a world filled with misery, suffering, war, poverty, selfishness, greed, cruelty, death, destruction, illness, deformity of babies, handicaps, gross bodily functions (as BO, vomiting, defecation and urination), filth, squalor, crime, unjust killings, unjustified anger, hatred, bullying, cowardice, destructive natural events, loneliness, ignorance, thoughtlessness, carelessness, negligence, irresponsibility, lies, deception, violence, hunger, famine, drought, pestilence, overpopulation, pollution, government corruption and environmental decay.

Is the devil really the Father of All the World's Troubles? Isn't God more powerful than the devil? Why does the devil seem to prevail in this world?

The world really looks and feels like hell to me.

So, without such power, I already seek a spouse and children who love me of free will (not robotically).

The devil is not the father of trouble, man's abuse of free will is!

 

[Aupmanyav]

God is a dictator. He knows what is going to happen and lets it happen, because he wants it that way. If you please God, he is OK. If you do not then eternal hell and the cauldron of boiling oil. Not even all dictators do that.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

A creation is as only as good as its creator.

A creation should be expected to be no
better than its creator.

The human race is junk and thus makes junk.

By this logic, God is junk also, unless you believe the devil turned an otherwise perfect creation, man, into junk.

"God is junk" because He doesn't want automated worship? Because they have to?
Man, He wants people to worship Him, because they want to!

Right now, there's too much influence that turn people away from Jehovah God. -- Revelation 12:9; 1 John 5:19.

But once those influences are removed, then people (after their resurrection) will be able to make informed decisions, without those distractions. -- Ezekiel 37:13.

 

[PureX]

create a living being in your own image and give this being a free will?

Why is man bad?

All because of the free will given him by God. Man is a bad design from the beginning.
A free will is the pinnacle of human imperfection.

If I were building a computer and I don't want it to commit errors, I would strive to program it not to do such.

I would want my creation to conform strictly to MY will.


I can see how religious faith can get really trying and very tough to maintain in such a world filled with misery, suffering, war, poverty, selfishness, greed, cruelty, death, destruction, illness, deformity of babies, handicaps, gross bodily functions (as BO, vomiting, defecation and urination), filth, squalor, crime, unjust killings, unjustified anger, hatred, bullying, cowardice, destructive natural events, loneliness, ignorance, thoughtlessness, carelessness, negligence, irresponsibility, lies, deception, violence, hunger, famine, drought, pestilence, overpopulation, pollution, government corruption and environmental decay.

Is the devil really the Father of All the World's Troubles? Isn't God more powerful than the devil? Why does the devil seem to prevail in this world?

The world really looks and feels like hell to me.

You can't really love an object. And a "perfectly programmed" man, in the way that you are suggesting, would just be an object. For the created man to become a 'being', that you could then love, he must have a will of his own. He must be able to defy your will, in favor of his own, or he is not an autonomous being. He's just an animatronic puppet.

The greatest gift, by far, that we have been given by our Divine Creator is our (semi-) autonomous will. Because without it, there could be no love. And without love, there really just isn't any reason to have created any of this (the universe), at all.

 

[Father Heathen]

"God is junk" because He doesn't want automated worship? Because they have to?
Man, He wants people to worship Him, because they want to!

Ignoring that they've coerced by eternal damnation.

 

[Road Less Traveled]

There are a few possible reasons for this, but I'm not going to go into that and instead focus on the only one that matters: are you feeling okay?

A lot of people ask if someone is feeling okay, and diagnose depression to people who feel that they have seen it all here, have a deeper lens, have outgrown most of about everything. Who feel as an alien in a strange land surrounded by a bunch of cavemen.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

Ignoring that they've coerced by eternal damnation.

Who?

Tell you what...all those who want to hurt and ruin your family and won't stop, God will let them live. Is that ok with you, then?

BTW, everlasting life is a gift (Romans 6:23); you don't have it now.

Do you give gifts to your enemies?

 

[Father Heathen]

Who?

Tell you what...all those who want to hurt and ruin your family and won't stop, God will let them live. Is that ok with you, then?

What an odd non sequitur.

BTW, everlasting life is a gift (Romans 6:23); you don't have it now.

I don't consider coercion or extortion a "gift".

Do you give gifts to your enemies?

I don't consider people "enemies" for not kissing my *** or for not fulfilling my arbitrary, irrational whims. I'm not narcissistic, petty, or vindictive like that.

 

[Dell]

create a living being in your own image and give this being a free will?

Why is man bad?

All because of the free will given him by God. Man is a bad design from the beginning.
A free will is the pinnacle of human imperfection.

If I were building a computer and I don't want it to commit errors, I would strive to program it not to do such.

I would want my creation to conform strictly to MY will.


I can see how religious faith can get really trying and very tough to maintain in such a world filled with misery, suffering, war, poverty, selfishness, greed, cruelty, death, destruction, illness, deformity of babies, handicaps, gross bodily functions (as BO, vomiting, defecation and urination), filth, squalor, crime, unjust killings, unjustified anger, hatred, bullying, cowardice, destructive natural events, loneliness, ignorance, thoughtlessness, carelessness, negligence, irresponsibility, lies, deception, violence, hunger, famine, drought, pestilence, overpopulation, pollution, government corruption and environmental decay.

Is the devil really the Father of All the World's Troubles? Isn't God more powerful than the devil? Why does the devil seem to prevail in this world?

The world really looks and feels like hell to me.

It is interesting that in the story of the fall that after Adam and Eve ate from the tree God said...
"Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil..."

So.... yeah other than the sin of man, God and man both know good and evil.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

What an odd non sequitur.



I don't consider coercion or extortion a "gift".



I don't consider people "enemies" for not kissing my *** or for not fulfilling my arbitrary, irrational whims. I'm not narcissistic, petty, or vindictive like that.

When you obeyed your father, did you feel you were 'kissing his ***'? Did he give you "arbitrary, irrational" rules? They were not for your benefit?
More questions, I know, but I don't expect you to answer.
Because I already asked 2 questions, and you didn't answer either one. I guess you got the point.

Take care.

 

[Father Heathen]

When you obeyed your father, did you feel you were 'kissing his ***'? Did he give you "arbitrary, irrational" rules? They were not for your benefit?

Most parents' rules tend to be rational and beneficial. Not so for most biblical rules. One such example is not rotating crops and wearing mixed fabrics, and the disproportionate, excessive punishment for breaking such nonsensical rules. Also, my dad never threatened to douse me in gasoline and set me on fire if I didn't lick his boots.

Because I already asked 2 questions, and you didn't answer either one. I guess you got the point.
Take care.

What two questions? The two that I just replied to? I'm not here 24/7 to immediately respond to every post.

 

[TrueBeliever37]

create a living being in your own image and give this being a free will?

Why is man bad?

All because of the free will given him by God. Man is a bad design from the beginning.
A free will is the pinnacle of human imperfection.

If I were building a computer and I don't want it to commit errors, I would strive to program it not to do such.

I would want my creation to conform strictly to MY will.


I can see how religious faith can get really trying and very tough to maintain in such a world filled with misery, suffering, war, poverty, selfishness, greed, cruelty, death, destruction, illness, deformity of babies, handicaps, gross bodily functions (as BO, vomiting, defecation and urination), filth, squalor, crime, unjust killings, unjustified anger, hatred, bullying, cowardice, destructive natural events, loneliness, ignorance, thoughtlessness, carelessness, negligence, irresponsibility, lies, deception, violence, hunger, famine, drought, pestilence, overpopulation, pollution, government corruption and environmental decay.

Is the devil really the Father of All the World's Troubles? Isn't God more powerful than the devil? Why does the devil seem to prevail in this world?

The world really looks and feels like hell to me.

I see it more as God creating man and giving him free will, because he wants his creation to serve him because they love him. We can serve him because we love him, or make the choice not to serve him.

Man can be bad because we have desires in this flesh that make us want to do things contrary to what God wants us to do. The devil has already lost out with God, so he wants to take as many of us down with him as he can. So he tries to exploit our weaknesses and present us with opportunities to sin. And he tries to get some to believe there is no God, and others to believe a false religion, etc. He will do anything he can to cause us to lose out with God. He doesn't care what method works.

God has made us many promises in his word, and will help us to fight and overcome, if we want too, and seek him. He knew man was weak and would sin. That was why he shed blood for us. So we could be baptized in his name and have our sins forgiven. He also made a way for us to be forgiven when we make future mistakes. He knows we won't be perfect, but he wants us to do our best. And if we serve him and do our best, he promised us a better life - an eternal life, with no more problems.

If everyone that served him had a perfect life with no problems, then everyone would serve him just to avoid any problems in life. They would be serving him for the bread and fish, and not out of love.

 

[Neutral Name]

create a living being in your own image and give this being a free will?

Why is man bad?

All because of the free will given him by God. Man is a bad design from the beginning.
A free will is the pinnacle of human imperfection.

If I were building a computer and I don't want it to commit errors, I would strive to program it not to do such.

I would want my creation to conform strictly to MY will.


I can see how religious faith can get really trying and very tough to maintain in such a world filled with misery, suffering, war, poverty, selfishness, greed, cruelty, death, destruction, illness, deformity of babies, handicaps, gross bodily functions (as BO, vomiting, defecation and urination), filth, squalor, crime, unjust killings, unjustified anger, hatred, bullying, cowardice, destructive natural events, loneliness, ignorance, thoughtlessness, carelessness, negligence, irresponsibility, lies, deception, violence, hunger, famine, drought, pestilence, overpopulation, pollution, government corruption and environmental decay.

Is the devil really the Father of All the World's Troubles? Isn't God more powerful than the devil? Why does the devil seem to prevail in this world?

The world really looks and feels like hell to me.

I already did create three living beings in the image of myself and my husband. And I gave them a lot of free will, a lot of leeway, because I wanted them to develop to be their most genuine selves. If all is controlled, there is no creativity which would lead to a lack of progress as no one would think of anything "outside of the box". They would simply conform to what is expected of them. I would think that God would think somewhat this way.