Hello,
This is an interesting thread indeed.
format_quote Originally Posted by
czgibson
But he chooses not to, for reasons best known to himself.
Of course ! He knows all.
Or: why would a good god allow someone like Hitler to exist in the first place?
Does god enjoy watching millions die needlessly?
Not needlessly; see below.
The only mystery is why people continue to believe in him. Saying "God works
in mysterious ways" is just an easy way of avoiding any serious explanation
of the logical absurdities that believing in god necessarily entails.
Not all He does is mysterious. In fact IMO majority of his doings can be
clearly reasoned.
It has always seemed overwhelmingly obvious to me that religion is
man-made. I suppose it seems just as obvious to you that it's true.
No, it is _not_ man-made !
Overall it seems to me that in your argument you assume our Lord exist, so
if you want to come this way you can obviously see what is his words on
this matter.
The so called ayatol korsi (the Throne verse) is of critical value in our deen;
if I remember correctly there are hadiths saying that this ayah is the basic of
our deen and every other ayah in the quran should be explained according to
this (see
http://www.islamicinformationcentre.co.uk/alkursi.htm). I
assume sometimes the next two ayats are considered with it
so for the sake of completeness here is their translation:
255. Allah! There is no deity save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber
nor sleep overtaketh Him. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens
and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by
His leave? He knoweth that which is in front of them and that which is behind
them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His
throne includeth the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of
preserving them.He is the Sublime, the Tremendous.
256. There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth
distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah
hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower.
257. Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believe. He bringeth them
out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false
deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of
the Fire. They will abide therein.
[Al-Baqara 2:255-257]
From ayah 255 we infer that He can stop the evil in this world if he wants
but that is not the case. The ayah 256 puts it more into the light. Say; He
has created the world with some of its inhabitants having free will to do what
they can. For that He has created two directions for us. The right direction
and the wrong one (or any direction which is not the right way). The next
ayah says not only he has shown us the two direction but even he guides us
in whatever one that we choose!
Now that we know that this is all by his will, we may ask:
why this evil exist in the world then ? Well that is because evil as well as
goodness is the natural consequences of our free will.
Another one, is doing evil the same as doing good ? The answer is no,
according to our deen there is the other world and the judgment day that
people are punished/rewarded based on their doings in this world.
Yet another one, why creatures where created who have free will ?
maybe because :
105. And verily we have written in the Scripture, after the Reminder: My
righteous slaves will inherit the earth.
[Al-Anbiya 21:105]
So even in this world the righteous people will be the successors, at last.
HTH
peace.