Christians always tell us how loving, caring and just God is, how he never “forgets” us etc. They also claim that God is omnipotent and everything that happens is his will and that it has a “purpose”.
Every day and every second in a human beings life such claims are contradicted by reality in an overwhelming way, yet most Christians seem to have an almost unlimited ability to ignore reality. This discrepancy between fantasy and reality has brought forth countless articles which are pretending to deal with the obvious problem. Usually in such a helpless and nonsensical way that one wonders how anyone with their wits about them can actually buy such complete rot. An example of one such attempt to ease the fears of reality and lull the reader into the safety of their fantasy world and keep them there was printed in the Watchtower magazine in January 2003. Here are the opening lines:
“*** w03 1/1 p. 3 ‘God, Why Did You Allow This?’ ***
God, Why Did You Allow This?’RICARDO still remembers sitting with his wife, Maria, in the doctor’s waiting room. Neither of them had the courage to read the results of Maria’s latest medical examinations. Then, Ricardo opened the envelope, and they hastily glanced over the medical language of the report. They spotted the word “cancer,” and both began to cry as they realized the full import of that word.“The doctor was very kind,” recalls Ricardo, “but he obviously realized the gravity of the situation because he kept telling us that we had to trust in God.”
Before radiation treatment had begun, Maria’s doctor noticed involuntary movements in her right foot. Further tests revealed that the cancer had spread to her brain. After just one week of treatment, the radiation was suspended. Maria slipped into a coma and died two months later. “I was glad that her suffering had ended,” explains Ricardo, “but I missed her so much that I found myself wishing that my life would come to an end too. Often, I would cry out to God: ‘Why did you allow this to happen?’”
When Tragedy Strikes, Questions AboundLike Ricardo, countless people throughout the world are forced to face up to the reality of suffering. Many times, it is the innocent who suffer. Think of the heartrending grief caused by the relentless armed conflicts that plague mankind. Or consider the pain felt by the numerous victims of rape, child abuse, domestic violence, and other evils committed by man. Throughout history there seems to have been no limit to the injustice and pain that men and women have been willing to inflict on one another. (Ecclesiastes 4:1-3) Then there is the anguish of victims of natural disasters or of emotional, mental, and physical illnesses. It is little wonder that many ask, “Why does God allow such suffering?” Even for those with religious convictions, suffering is never easy to deal with. You too may wonder what reason a loving, all-powerful God could possibly have for permitting human suffering. Finding a satisfying and truthful answer to this puzzling question is vital for our peace of mind and our relationship with God. The Bible provides such an answer. Please consider what it has to say as presented in the following article.”
The working hypothesis that all hinges upon seems to be that God somehow “allow” suffering. Well, if you are a true believer you can obviously achieve “peace of mind” by happily accepting the shallowest nonsense imaginable. The Watchtower goes on to present some arguments that even they seem to find quite silly, far fetched and unacceptable:
“*** w03 1/1 p. 4 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
Comfort for Those Who Suffer
OVER the centuries, the question of why God allows suffering has challenged many philosophers and theologians. Some have asserted that since God is all-powerful, he must ultimately be responsible for suffering. The writer of The Clementine Homilies, an apocryphal second-century work, claimed that God rules the world with both hands. With his “left hand,” the Devil, he causes suffering and affliction, and with his “right hand,” Jesus, he saves and blesses.
Others, unable to accept that God could permit suffering even if he does not cause it, have chosen to deny that suffering exists. “Evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy. “If sin, sickness, and death were understood as nothingness, they would disappear.”—Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures. In the wake of the tragic events of history, especially from the first world war until our day, many have reached the conclusion that God is simply unable to prevent suffering.
“The Holocaust has, I think, dismissed any easy use of omnipotence as an attribute appropriate to God,” wrote Jewish scholar David Wolf Silverman. “If God is to be intelligible in some manner,” he added, “then His goodness must be compatible with the existence of evil, and this is only if He is not all-powerful.”
Right off at the top they try to deal with the obvious problem that even to Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Society God is indeed “all-powerful” and as the alleged “creator” of all things he was the one who started the whole circus and of course ultimately responsible for all that happened since then. But of course all that has to be “explained” away. Let’s pay attention to what the Watchtower say next as we will come back to it later:
“*** w03 1/1 p. 4 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
Comfort for Those Who Suffer
However, claims that God is somehow an accomplice to suffering, that he is unable to prevent it, or that suffering is a mere figment of our imagination offer scant comfort to those who suffer. And more important, such beliefs are utterly at odds with the just, dynamic, and caring God who is revealed in the pages of the Bible. (Job 34:10, 12; Jeremiah 32:17; 1 John 4:8) What, then, does the Bible say about the reason why suffering has been permitted?”
Then the Watchtower starts to “explain” God and suffering, let us see if it has any more merit then the ones that were dismissed above:
*** w03 1/1 pp. 4-5 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
How Did Suffering Begin?
God did not create humans to suffer. On the contrary, he endowed the first human couple, Adam and Eve, with perfect minds and bodies, prepared a delightful garden to serve as their home, and assigned them meaningful, satisfying work. (Genesis 1:27, 28, 31; 2:8) However, their continued happiness depended on their recognizing God’s rulership and his right to decide what was good and what was bad. That divine prerogative was represented by a tree called “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.” (Genesis 2:17) Adam and Eve would demonstrate their subjection to God if they obeyed his command not to eat from that tree.
Tragically, Adam and Eve failed to obey God. A rebellious spirit creature, later identified as Satan the Devil, convinced Eve that it was not in her best interests to obey God. In fact, God was supposedly depriving her of something highly desirable: independence, the right to choose for herself what was good and what was bad. Satan claimed that if she ate of the tree, ‘her eyes were bound to be opened and she was bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.’ (Genesis 3:1-6; Revelation 12:9) Seduced by the prospect of independence, Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, and Adam soon did the same.
That same day, Adam and Eve began to experience the results of their rebellion. By rejecting divine rulership, they lost out on the protection and blessings that subjection to God had afforded them. God evicted them from Paradise and told Adam: “Cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground.” (Genesis 3:17, 19) Adam and Eve became subject to sickness, pain, aging, and death. Suffering had become a part of human experience.—Genesis 5:29.
Wow!, Now we finally got it. All the crap that happens to us humans, including the latest Tsunami disaster has its explanation in a woman and a talking snake in a garden a long time ago, yup, how can anyone ever miss that one, huh? That really makes sense, eh? It ranks right up there with the earth resting on a pillar on the back of tortoise, fantastic “explanation” eh? I mean who among us would want anything as awful as independence? Of course God seemed completely powerless to prevent all this highly irregular behavior perpetrated by his “perfect” creation. He clearly was a powerless bystander helplessly watching his obviously very flawed creation screw up in a major way, plunging mankind into pain, suffering and misery. What is caring just and loving about that? Is the complete and utter nonsense presented above any less silly then the “explanations” discussed further above? Isn’t the one who supposedly started all this indeed an accomplice to it? And the simple fact that suffering is still going on is of course excellent proof that God was indeed unable to prevent it, or didn’t care particularly about it perhaps. Just look at this question again:
“*** w03 1/1 p. 4 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
Comfort for Those Who Suffer
What, then, does the Bible say about the reason why suffering has been permitted?”
Think about this. Suffering was permitted, by whom? By God of course. Did he have to permit it? Yes, apparently he had to. If he permitted it to happen, he is of course responsible for it. Is there any good reasons to “permit” people to suffer in all kinds of horrible ways? Of course there isn’t. Is it a sign that a person who “permit” such horrific things care for us and love us? Of course it isn’t.
But the “explanation” gets far worse:
“*** w03 1/1 pp. 5-6 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
Settling the Issue
Someone may ask, ‘Could God not have simply overlooked Adam and Eve’s sin?’ No, because that would have further undermined respect for his authority, perhaps encouraging future rebellions and resulting in even greater suffering. (Ecclesiastes 8:11) In addition, condoning such disobedience would have made God a party to wrongdoing.
This is complete nonsense; if God is omnipotent he can overlook whatever he wants. The idea that it would “undermine his authority” is even sillier. An omni-whatever God wouldn’t even put himself in such a jam in the first place. Nothing and no one can undermine the authority of such a supreme being.
“*** w03 1/1 pp. 5-6 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
Settling the Issue
The Bible writer Moses reminds us: “God’s works are perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4, footnote) To be true to himself, God had to allow Adam and Eve to suffer the consequences of their disobedience.
Repeating such ass-kissing sucking up to drivel about how wonderful God is supposed to be doesn’t alter the facts that he seems to be a first class bungler. The Christians love to use the “father/parents motif on God, but if any parent was so completely negligent with their children, the authorities would take their children away from them immediately.
“*** w03 1/1 pp. 5-6 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
Settling the Issue
Why did God not immediately destroy the first human couple along with Satan, the invisible instigator of their rebellion? He had the power to do so. Adam and Eve would not have produced offspring subject to a legacy of suffering and death. However, such a demonstration of divine power would not have proved the rightfulness of God’s authority over his intelligent creatures. Furthermore, had Adam and Eve died childless, that would have signaled the failure of God’s purpose to fill the earth with their perfect descendants. (Genesis 1:28) And “God is not like men . . . Whatever he promises, he does; he speaks, and it is done.”—Numbers 23:19, Today’s English Version.
“*** w03 1/1 pp. 5-6 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
Settling the Issue
In his perfect wisdom, Jehovah God decided to allow the rebellion to proceed for a limited time. The rebels would have ample opportunity to experience the effects of independence from God. History would demonstrate beyond doubt mankind’s need for divine guidance and the superiority of God’s rule over man’s or Satan’s. At the same time, God took steps to ensure that his original purpose for the earth would be fulfilled. He promised that a “seed,” or “offspring,” would come who would ‘bruise Satan in the head,’ eliminating once and for all his rebellion and its damaging effects.—Genesis 3:15, footnote.”
More completely silly claptrap and false dilemmas. This is just yet another example of the hopeless nonsensical drivel that is presented as an “explanation” This doesn’t explain anything, it is as usual just an attempt to cloud things and drown the reader with senseless words.
“*** w03 1/1 pp. 5-6 Comfort for Those Who Suffer ***
Settling the Issue
Jesus Christ was that promised Seed. At 1 John 3:8, we read that “the Son of God was made manifest . . . to break up the works of the Devil.” This he did by laying down his perfect human life and paying the ransom price to redeem Adam’s children from inherited sin and death. (John 1:29; 1 Timothy 2:5, 6) Those who truly exercise faith in Jesus’ sacrifice are promised permanent relief from suffering. (John 3:16; Revelation 7:17) When will this happen?
Then we get the song and dance about the “ransom sacrifice” which takes the biscuit in its incredible silly premise. I don’t think that this drivel even made sense to those poor superstitious shepherds that allegedly cooked up this nonsense a long time ago.
The obvious stares us all in the face. We are here on this planet; we are a species among many in a world - a nature that doesn’t care about anything. Volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornados are just a part of the system on the planet. We know that over 90% of all the species that has lived on the planet is extinct, we know that it has been hit several times by huge comets and that it most likely will be again. We are no more then a mere species among many on this planet. We might not be around anymore in a million years. Life isn’t fair; existence isn’t fair as we see it. There is no God that looks after us. Life as such has absolutely no meaning, we must give life meaning ourselves, we can’t expect anyone “out there” to do that for us. We can only give life meaning by behaving as ethical and moral beings, helping each other and cooperate with each other. We don’t need a fantasy, a God to do that, we don’t have to bullshit our self
with complete nonsensical “explanations” for something that doesn’t need any explanation, as we can observe the realities around us every day. There is much comfort and satisfaction in accepting reality. Acceptance of it gives peace of mind and enable you to get on with life and stop wasting your time on superstitious nonsense.
Norm