Theodicy

 Quite a few claims that God, all loving and all powerful, cannot exist are made, this after some sort of logical syllogism is pronounced according to some sort of post-enlightenment display of rationality. Anyway, I'm the first to admit that logic is not my strong point - which is possibly why I don't like logic to totally determine my actual experience of this life, this Reality, our Cosmos. I'd rather let it speak for itself.

The greatest argument against an all powerful God of love "existing" is obviously the prevalence of evil and suffering. Case closed. Myself, I find the so called "free will defence" (i.e. suffering exists simply because free will has been given to created beings and therefore they must be free to choose evil - in fact have done, and thus this whole mess of pain and misery) unconvincing. I would go more for the "all powerful" angle - this that God has freely chosen to limit his power, this for a greater good.

This derives from the "O Felix Culpa" of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches of the Christian Faith. Explaining this in almost non-theological language, that the Fall (sin) , the immersion of created beings in the opposites, was a necessity for God's Will to be fulfilled. That Will being to share his own freedom and creativity ever more comprehensively, His Being being infinite.

Such a view falls in line with a teaching that was quite widely taught in the Early Church, among the early Church Fathers ie. Universalism, or as found in Ephesians (NT) ".....as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth". That ALL shall eventually be saved.

Anyway, all these defences of God in the face of evil and apparently innocent suffering fall under the name "Theodicy". Some quite thick books have been written on the subject. None of the most common defences can actually be found in the Bible as such, which is often far more existential than "theological". In fact only one "defence" is taught, and can be found in the OT book of Job, where God speaks from out of the whirlwind. You can read the words God spoke in Job 38, but a quick precise is "Who are you who know nothing to question me? Just shut up and grovel".

Which is obviously the sort of thing that gets up the noses of the Richard Dawkins of this world, yet when transcribed into non-theistic language has much in common with the so called "Silence of the Buddha" when he was faced with metaphysical questions. Silence was appropriate because as the Buddha saw it, any answer at all, any conclusion was not conducive to the actual living of the Holy Life, the path to the end of suffering. Such a life must be lived, not thought. Just as Truth can only be lived, but never be able to be put into a formula.

It is about finding new eyes; more about questions than "answers".

Well, I've waffled on a bit. Sunday is not my best day and I have tapped this out in-between various chores around the house. Now I'm in McDonalds again, with my coffee.

My apologies to those whose attention span doesn't run to this length of post - but then again, if such is so, they would never have got anywhere near this far.