God's Emotional Dilemma

By Michael Runyan ~

Assuming that Christianity’s standard characterization of God’s attributes is correct- that he is omniscient and omnipotent, then it becomes evident that God has deliberately placed himself in an uncomfortable position that results in an unsettling feeling of continuous remorse. This is because he must be viewing every act of evil while simultaneously withholding his ability to stop it.

By analogy, imagine a person is placed in a room with a button. The button is programmed to stun a person who is wearing an electrified vest. The person is told to refrain from pushing the button no matter what happens. The person is allowed to watch the vested individual and see what he is doing. The vested person begins to molest, rape, and strangle a child. He does as he is told and does not push the button. The child dies. Later, the person feels extreme regret for not pushing the button and saving the child.

This is exactly what God must be feeling during millions of moments every day. Watching all types of evil events that he has the ability to stop, but, sticking to his pointless protocol, he simply lets it all happen anyway. To allow suffering that he can easily stop must be an agonizing ordeal. Being god is tough, and this is something that no reasonably sympathetic human could possibly stomach. On the other hand, this analogy suggests that a benevolent, all-knowing, all-powerful divine figure almost certainly does not exist.

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