And I’ve said this ’till I’m blue in the face, but I’ll say it again:

When death (DEATH, oblivion, non-existance, no more) isn’t enough, something is very, very wrong. Ask most people and they’ll say kicking a man when he’s down is wrong.

I am up for talking about why I don’t see God as perfect or just. Loving, I can buy, but as I said…

As for why I don’t see God as perfect or just…two of the foundations of Christianity are that he created everything and he sent his son to die for humanity. The way I interpret it–even if I disregard the genocides, the hardening of hearts, the arbitrary and occasionally hateful rules and whatnot–the foundations of his regime are lies, murder, and guilt. I know your experience is different, and you have a different interpretation, but it’s one I can’t share.

Actually, the “An Inconvenient God” post sums it up for me pretty well. Except, “inconvenient” is kind of an understatement. If I believed that that kind of figure–orderly, authoritarian, impatient–were in charge of the world, and ought to be in charge, and was right and just and correct, and was the ONLY thing that was right and just and correct…well, there would be no point to *me* then, would there? As the antithesis of all those things, the only way for me to place myself in the service of such a god would be to throw myself off a cliff or something. Which I think explains a great deal of my childhood. When I began to derive my morality, my self-image, and my understanding of the universe from something that was not God, I became a happier, kinder, more functional human being-shaped thing. I’m willing to deal with the consequences.

With regard to LB, I didn’t notice the lovingly described suffering until the later books. It’s detailed, but really detached. The response they seem to be going for, with the boils and locusts and bursting eyeballs is not, “Oh no…what a tragedy! How horrific!” but rather, “Ew, I hope that doesn’t happen to me. But look at it happening to the people who really deserve it! Neato! Ain’t God great?”

It was another evangelical blogger, Fred Clark, who pointed out the problems with even the first book, where after the disappearances Rayford pretty much steps over people so that he can go and do his own stuff. The authors’ world isn’t written in a way that even admits the possibility of stuff like that being questioned. Not only is it bad writing, but it’s morally horrifying. They’ve constructed a view of the world that is so narrow and distorted that it *can* eventually look at the most horrific human suffering and say, “Ew, I hope that doesn’t happen to me!” And not see anything wrong with that response.

If I were God, I wouldn’t build a paradise at all. People have different ideas of what they want, and one person’s utopia is another one’s dystopia. I’d rather have a world that everyone thinks is imperfect, but that still has its moments of beauty and joy for everyone.

But paradise really isn’t what I’m asking for. I’ve got all the heaven I want right now, and if it ended one second from now–if it had ended one second from when it began–it would still all be worth it. I just bristle a little at the thought that heaven ought to be the right choice for everyone. If that were true, then it wouldn’t be a choice at all.

http://ryanday.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/an-inconvenient-god/

If only that was all…..

Amen

You ought to make sure you read the last one - my favorite passage was near the end. At the “Great White Throne” judgement Jesus has tears in his eyes as he tells people why they’re gonna burn; I got a good laugh out of that.

:::big hugs:::