Yeah but the point is if he's omniscient, he KNEW that we would choose not to live in it, thus he set a trap he KNEW we'd fall into. What's so hard to understand about that? There's no mystery for an all-knowing God.
The only possible explanation for the existence of a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent is that there is some master plan we can't comprehend. For example, Andy's theoretical situation where a baby is dropped and it dies would just bring it closer to God, and that is the ultimate good. That's just abandoning human logic altogether, but who knows? Maybe we just don't understand.
The more I look at it, organized religion on the whole just seems weird to me. You have dozens of different world views, each with their own characterization of God. You have your white-bearded God who underwent a major personality shift between the old and the new testament, you have the wrathful God who upholds Jihad, etc. etc. All of these religions claim to have the RIGHT view of God and mos claim that if you believe anything but their view, you're in a lot of trouble. Yet no one has any proof, and I would venture to say that for the VAST majority of religious people, it isn't even a matter of faith. Rather, it's a matter of upbringing. I'm willing to guarantee that had Moose been raised in a strict Jewish household, he would be insufferably faithful to that church rather than the Christian one.
My views at the moment are conflicted. I don't buy into any organized religion per se, but my faith in God is unshakeable. I don't know what that God is like, where he rests, or what his powers are, I just believe that he exists. There's no way anyone can disprove Sandy's God because I readily admit that I don't know exactly what he's like. I'd be more willing to characterize him as being internal rather than sitting on a throne in the sky. I accept the church as a possible conduit for conversation, but ultimately I believe that God is personal and that the church doesn't have a monopoly on spirituality. Because it's so personal, you cannot possibly enforce your view on others. Thus evangelicial Christians have it wrong (though you can't necessarily blame them because they think they're helping people).
So there's my scattered declaration of what I believe. Who knows, maybe it'll change in a week.
