If God exists, why did he create life? (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by dhw, Tuesday, January 04, 2011, 17:13 (5071 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

Tony has heard of a group of people who heeded the 2004 tsunami warnings and escaped unscathed. He therefore assumes that the 230,000 people who died (not to mention the millions whose lives were ruined by loss of family, property, livelihood etc.) were to blame for their own fate. He writes: "You seem to have made the assumption that, and feel free to correct me if I am mistaken, that people are not responsible for their own lives, and that their failure to pay attention to the warnings represents a callous disregard for life on the part of a UI."-It would be absurd to argue that people are not to a degree responsible for their own lives, but your blanket assumption that since the dawn of time every creature and human has been given adequate warning of natural disasters and diseases and has had the means to avoid them seems to me unrealistic in the extreme. I can't imagine that you yourself have absolutely no compassion for those that have perished, or that you blame every dinosaur, caveman, child and cripple for not avoiding the ravages of Nature.-You've asked me in your "aside" whether I think earthquakes and volcanoes are not essential to the survival of our planet. Our planet would not be as it is without them, but how can I possibly say whether it might have been built differently and still maintained life? This is the only form of life and ecosystem we know, and if it was built by a UI, the UI is responsible for the system. In trying to understand its thinking, I have nothing else to go on, and what I see is a system of indiscriminate suffering and slaughter ... as well as the love, sunsets and beauty to which you rightly draw attention.-You write: "In general, I find that people like to take credit for the good in their life, and avoid all responsibility for the bad." In general, I find that conventionally religious people like to give credit to God for all the good in life, and to hold humans responsible for the bad. My own observations suggest that humans are responsible for much of the good and much of the bad, but they are also recipients of much good and much bad from forces that are beyond their own control. -You write: "there is no reason not to be indifferent to a UI, if one exists, other than simple gratitude for every breath you draw etc." This ties in nicely with David's observation: "Even if God doesn't care, He has given us life to experience and enjoy. To my mind that is a great gift all by itself." As one of the (so far) lucky ones to have been given a winning ticket in the lottery, I can only agree with both of you, and am extremely happy that chance or a UI has given me such an opportunity. But I can't go along with the sentiment that those who have not been so fortunate as me are always to blame for their own suffering. It is the apparent randomness of the latter, and the apparent impersonality of the whole system, that makes me question a possible God's concern for individuals and hence his relevance to our lives.-*** I've just read that you're going to be away, so let me wish you a safe journey and a great time with the family. No matter what disagreements we may have, we are at one over our priorities!