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

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Thursday, January 06, 2011, 19:44 (5069 days ago) @ dhw


> 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.
> -**got to love nap time, it gives me a chance to sneak in a post while everyone else is sleeping :P88-At the risk of again seeming callous, I would ask you to try to 'zoom out' your perspective a bit. Step back from the ultra personal perception of every death that you feel represents a lack of interest or concern on the part of a UI and look at a bigger picture. Every fleshly creature that is born must eventually die. This law of nature is so pervasive that we have, as of yet, failed to find a single exception to this rule. Why? Why allow the death of something you created? The simple answer, because it must be so. If nothing ever died in the billions of years we think the earth has been around, we would not be able to take a single step because of the over abundance of life. We could not eat because all that we eat requires the death of something, either plant or animal. We could not grow crops because plants require nutrients that are donated to the soil by the decomposition of dead matter, whether through the actual rotting of a corpse or from the defecation of plant or animal matter that must have died in order to be digested. So, in that regard, ask yourself, is death a absolute, if tragic, necessity? To push the point further, isn't it beautiful how even death brings forth life? On a personal level I do, in fact, feel intense remorse over any life that ends, because I find every individual life a beautiful and awe inspiring miracle that is beyond our ability to explain why it happens at all. I feel sympathy for those that die, whether by their own action/inaction, or through no fault of their own. But, on the other side of the scale, I recognize that it is in fact a necessity. This world could not function without this cycle. I would not be alive without this cycle. And therefore, I am forced to acknowledge its necessity, and admire the beautiful tragic simplicity of it. I have personally experienced more death than any one person should ever have to witness, particular during my time serving in Iraq. Friends, some I considered as close as brothers, dying unnecessarily, and often under seemingly random circumstances. I will never see them again, their families can never replace them. That is something I carry with me every day of my life. So please, do not confuse my statements with callousness or a lack of compassion, but that experience has helped me to understand the importance of death, and has helped me to cope with it, often to a point that others do not understand and mistake for a lack of care or concern.-As far as your statement: "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." Much like you, I hold people responsible for much of the good and bad in their life, and I also recognize that much is beyond their control. The UI, in my personal perspective, is ultimately what we consider neutral, though I find that word extremely lacking. I can already sense that someone is going to misunderstand that statement and respond with something to the effect of "If the UI is neutral than that would mean that he is indifferent..etc etc." This is not the case at all, from my perspective. Perhaps a better way of phrasing it would be to say that I believe the UI has an "ultimate grasp of necessity that trancends our limited understanding of good, evil, and everything in between. I do not personally hold him responsible for every death, though, in an abstract way I could grudgingly concede the point as it was him who implemented the system that allowed for death by creating a realm in which life was even a possibility, for without life, there could be no death, no pain, no suffering. How many times have you heard the phrase a "necessary evil", or something that is temporarily a negative that must occur in order to bring about a long term positive? If we can understand that concept in our own actions, why are we so blind to perceiving the concept in regards to a UI?