From: glenne@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Neuromancer )
Subject: Re: FAQ's
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 21:45:12 GMT

>1) We are told that the devil exists and is evil. The devil exists
>either inspite of God (in which case God is not all powerful) or
>because of God (in which case God is not all good).
 
You omit one possibility.   God could be all-powerful and choose
not to resist evil.  This is logically consistent with the bible.
For Christ says "Resist not one who is evil."  I do not believe
God is a do what I say and not what I do father.  Therefore, the
devil/evil exists because God does not resist him/her/it.
 
The question is WHY?!  WHY DOES GOD LET US SUFFER SO!  WHY DOESN'T
God SMITE DOWN THE HITLERS, THE MANSONS, THE SADDAMS, THE RAPISTS?!
WHY? WHY? WHY!!!!   (btw, if God thought it was a good idea to
fight Hitler, God would have done it himself, because God is
omnipotent, and God could have destroyed just the Nazi
german soldiers wouldn't have risked injury to himself.)
 
This is tied in with why can't God let everyone into heaven.
 
WHY DOES GOD TURN HIS BACK ON SOME PEOPLE AND NOT LET THEM INTO
HEAVEN?  WHY? WHY? WHY!!!!
 
I'll use the words of others to answer these questions:
God is love.    -John
Where love abounds, there is no WILL to power.   Where power
predominates, there love is lacking.  The one is in the shadow
of the other.               -Jung
 
So God is omnipotent, but God has no will to exert that power
OVER US.  Why?  Because the essential element in love is
that it is freely given.  Since God IS love, God already knows
this.  Christ does not turn his back on us and send us to hell.
Christ wants us all to go to heaven, but he is not going to
force us to go there.  He has his arms held out to us welcoming
us into heaven, but he allows us to turn our backs on him.  Christ
allows us to forsake love.  And if we walk away, he will cry out
to us to come back, but he will not take us into heaven by force.
 
Is God _bad_ because God alows us to choose?  I say no.  I would
say that forcing us to go to heaven would be evil.  Look at is
this way:  Loving is its own reward.  If one truly loves one IS
in heaven already!  So to force us into heaven, God would have
to destroy our free will and force our hating heart to become a
loving heart, there is NO other way into heaven.
Summarized:
Christ is the Way (into heaven).
Christ is God.
God is Love.
LOVE is the WAY (into heaven).
 
>2) (amateur philosopher mode on:) In the beginning was God. God is
>perfect.  Something which is perfect must be perfect for all time
>(God exists outside time anyway, I think). If God is perfect, why
>did God create the universe ?  If the answer is 'because He needed
>to be loved/express himself' etc then surely this implies that God
>was not perfect at the creation (since He had this need, and was not
>satisfied)
 
Somehow here you are equating STATIC with perfect.  The only
truly static person is a dead person (and that is in body only).
What good would a dead God be?  Creation is part of a living dynamic
God. Flux, change, variety and infinite possiblity are a GOOD thing.
God's creative nature has nothing to do with being imperfect.  Open
up your mind to the concepts of infinte possibility and creativity.
 
>3) With regard to 2). God knows the future. So why did he create the
>Universe, knowing in advance of all the suffering involved ? Seems
>very selfish if just to satisfy his 'need to be loved' state.
 
If God were selfish, God would declare happiness MANDATORY and force
us to love him.   In his unselfish way, God allows us to turn our
backs on him, even though this causes him and us incredible sorrow.
God doesn't like suffering any more than we do.  But it is part of
free will.   You could, if you want, pray to God to make you a
happy zombie if that is what you really want.
 
>4) What about all those people living BC who never had the chance to
>hear the gospel and be saved ? If theyre hellbound I don't think
>that's just, and if they can be saved anyway by special
>consideration then why Calvary ? Why not apply the special
>consideration to all people?
 
First of all.  God is MORE than just.  He is compassionate.
I believe that God is compassionate and never turns his
back on any one of us.  But God does give us the choice of turning
our backs on him.  Some people have never heard of Christ, but
have KNOWN him all their lives... because they have loved and
have been loved will have known him all their lives.  On
judgement day, they will recognize Christ... because they have
known him, without knowing his name.  I bet they will have known
him far more deeply than all the Bible thumpers who have only read
his biography (For all the slow witted fundamentalists out there,
I'm talking about the Bible @BOING@). There is a huge difference
between knowing Christ and knowing ABOUT Christ.   Reading and
even memorizing a book about George Washington is not the same
thing as knowing him.  Bible thumpers who claim to be saved
are like people who read a book about how to make love without
ever doing it and claim they are no longer virgins.
 
>5) why all the bloodshed in the Old Testament: Most Christians
>regard the OT as an embarrasing preface to the new, and if theyre
>honest would prefer that it didn't exist. Can this really be the
>God we're supposed to know and love ?
 
That's why they call it the OLD testament.  Out with the OLD in
with the NEW.
 
"You have heard it said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you resist not one who is evil."  With this single
verse, I believe Jesus is telling us to throw out ALL the old
testament conceptions of God.  
 
Why have the OT in the first place then?  This is just my own
supposition (I am sure Christ could give you a MUCH better
answer).  It is to show us what God WOULD be like if we wanted
a just GOD, so we don't complain when on judgement day, Christ
lets anyone into heaven who wants to come in, even Hitler, should
he see the error of his ways.  It is to prepare us for the
shocking tolerance and acceptance of an intensely compassionate
God.
 
>Another problem was: 'The only workable form of Christianity I
>can find is extreme Christianity ( i.e. keep the kids away from
>'Robin of Sheerwood', 'He Man', dont listen to pop music etc)
>and this gets silly if pursued (also gets you labelled as a
>freak which works against the evangellical aspect of the faith)'.
 
>I never resolved this one.
 
Well the solution is to use your head, your heart, the bible, and
your experiences of Love and being Loved, (ie your direct
experiences of God) and create your own form of Christianity that
works for you.  Like I did.  Just because there is no denomination
that can bring you to Christ doesn't excuse you from not looking
and finding your OWN way to him.   Just dont throw out Love,
Faith in Christ, and Hope in Christ.   "Faith, Hope, and Love,
ABIDE THESE THREE.  But the greatest of these is Love."
I have just realized what my beliefs really are and have
begun to search for denominations that fit my beliefs.
Fortunately, I found some denominations whose central beliefs 
are close to mine.  I wish you the same luck.
 
Seek and ye shall find.   (Sounds ALOT easier than it is.  You
have to put a lot of work into it.)   My answers for bringing
myself to Christ probably will not be your own.   But don't ever
give up on Christ, because he never gives up on you.
 
>I think there were more questions than this but I'm thinking
>back four years or so (I've been non-christian but still
>seaking truth for most of this time). I hope this will be a
>source of interesting discussion.
 
Sounds like you already have taken my advice.
 
One question that you didn't ask is what is the point of
faith?  Why do should we have to take God on faith?  Why
can't he prove that he is God?   The answer to this
question is straight forward.  We have a limited
intellect.  God is all knowing.  Naturally he cannot put
his infinite intellect in our finite brains.  It would
be like trying to pour the Atlantic Ocean into a thimble.
The word of God, and God as revealed in our experience with
love are going to appear inconsistent because we do not
posess enough neurons to see how it all fits together.
Faith simply amounts to giving God the benefit of the
doubt when situations like this arise.  You say that the
questions that you and your friends raised led you away
from Christ.   There have been times when I have rejected
Christ for the same reason.  I finally realized that I
had turned my back on Christ because I was necessarilly
ignorant of the big picture.  Now I always give Christ
the benefit of the whenever I raise inconsistencies in
my beliefs.
 
Faith, Hope, & LOVE and all that other good stuff,
 
Glenn                             glenne@csd4.csd.uwm.edu