From: dubin@cs.arizona.edu (Michael David Dubin)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Questions about the Bible
Date: 30 Sep 92 05:44:48 GMT
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson

In article <Sep.29.03.11.29.1992.5795@athos.rutgers.edu> cabezon!kapila@uunet.uu.net (Kapila Ranasinghe) writes:
>Greetings,
>  I am a Buddhist ...

<some stuff deleted>

>  But I have fundamental questions about various 
>qualifications applied to the nature of God.  God is
>said to be perfect.  But his creations seem to have
>too many imperfections.  For instance, when God created
>man he obviously had the expectation that man would heed
>his advise.  We all know that the prototype (Adam and
>Eve) themselves malfunctioned.  Now since God is all
>knowing he must have known that this was going to happen.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Therefore, it seems like that he created the man in a
>form that would sin and therefore get punished.
>This is fine except that this a contradiction to the
>loving nature of God.  You could also blame the whole
>mess on Satan but then that renders God some what 
>out of control, definitely not the Supreme ruler.
>What am I missing here?
>
>Kapila
>kapila@lmc.com

The question that you ask is one that I myself have pondered from time to time,
especially in the context of God's current work on earth today.  For instance,
when I was about to get into a relationship that I shouldn't have, and God
allowed it (for a year and a half) before finally extricating me, He knew what
I would do, what He wanted me to do, and yet He allowed it anyway.  Although
I have seen that He has worked it out to very much good in my life, I still
don't completely understand why He allowed it.

However, that lack of understanding really has no bearing on God or on the
Truth; it only has to do with me.  The Truth does not depend on me.  

I have a question for you: are you a Theravadan, or a Mahayanist?  I have heard
both of their explanations for the existence of us and the universe, and they
are just as flawed (if not more) as the Bible's account.  I made a guest-
lecturer, disciple of the Dalai Lama (Claude D'Estree), very uncomfortable when
I asked for more detail about his explanation for the separation of Samsara 
from Nirvana.  Basically his answer was, if you have a cure for the disease, 
don't worry about how you got it.  This answer of course can be applied to any
belief system, so if you hold to this belief, I would ask you to keep it in
mind when you consider Christianity.

I would like you to know that God loves you very much, so much that He died for
you.  He grieves over your separation from Him, because He provided so much for
you on the cross, and you are living in none of it.  Jesus promised abundant 
life for His disciples, the main aspect of which is an incredible relationship
with the God of the universe, Who is very much worth knowing.

As to the question of whether a loving God could punish someone that He knew
would sin ....  (sorry, ran out of time!)

Hope any of this helps! :)

==============================================
		Michael Dubin
	dubin@cs.arizona.edu
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