The Sermon Part 2 (Agnosticism)

by David Turell , Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 18:10 (5961 days ago) @ dhw

world and individual history suggests to me that there is no pattern: that animals and humans go their own way, and chance in various forms plays a huge part. Hence the apparent randomness of good fortune and misery (the latter all too often being the fate of innocent victims).You say that "God is purposely concealed". Maybe. Or maybe he's indifferent. Or maybe he's not there. These last two options provide a clear explanation of the suffering which is real and present and undeniable, but faith in a loving God demands belief in a master plan which is way beyond our comprehension. Since we can't understand it, and have no evidence of it, it's akin to belief in chance as the creator of life. - You have raised the issue of 'the problem of evil' or theodicy. Part of the problem is the way we want to define God as 'extremely loving' or 'exceedingly loving'. We don't know what God's attributes are. This may be the only way He could do it and create a universe (dangerous as it is) that would evolve to allow intelligent life. And I don't think that implies chance at all. Again think of the odds against chance creating what we observe about the universe and ourselves.