If you were God...

[_truth dancer]

Hey MG,

Well, I was hoping to get a little more "fight" out of you! It's a bit hard to come up with anything much better than what we got, isn't it? That is unless you want to make us into a world of robots.

LOL!

I think it is EASY to come up with all sorts of things better than what we have... I mean we are talking about a semi-powerful God here! :-)

OK, I'm thinking if the curvature of space/time was altered a bit, the universe would have unfolded quite differently no? I mean how difficult would that be?

So, if I was powerful enough to come up with at least four types of energy, (smile), another one that protects children should be a slam dunk!

Take a look at DNA, I'm thinking a creator could have altered one little speck and poof, children are safe from adults.

And, really, the whole choice and accountability is a myth. Humans are limited by all sorts of things, one of which is their brain/body/environment. So, why not give all humans a good beginning? Why not at the very least allow children to be "off limits" to cruelty?

A little force field would do....

;-)

~td~

[_Hoops]

Hey MG,

Well, I was hoping to get a little more "fight" out of you! It's a bit hard to come up with anything much better than what we got, isn't it? That is unless you want to make us into a world of robots.

LOL!

I think it is EASY to come up with all sorts of things better than what we have... I mean we are talking about a semi-powerful God here! :-)

OK, I'm thinking if the curvature of space/time was altered a bit, the universe would have unfolded quite differently no? I mean how difficult would that be?

So, if I was powerful enough to come up with at least four types of energy, (smile), another one that protects children should be a slam dunk!

Take a look at DNA, I'm thinking a creator could have altered one little speck and poof, children are safe from adults.

And, really, the whole choice and accountability is a myth. Humans are limited by all sorts of things, one of which is their brain/body/environment. So, why not give all humans a good beginning? Why not at the very least allow children to be "off limits" to cruelty?

A little force field would do....

;-)

~td~

Your solution is equally horrifying as the status quo. But you do get feel good about it. So that's something.

[_truth dancer]

Oh Hoops, stop being such a poop!

Your solution is equally horrifying as the status quo. But you do get feel good about it. So that's something.

Weird that someone thinks protecting children from abuse is equally horrifying as allowing child abuse. But oh well.

And, I think most people would feel good living in a world where children are not abused. Unfortunately, is not the world in which we live so I do not think it is, "something."

~td~

[_stemelbow]

This is the best approach Stem, most of the theistically inclined posters sound almost like Job's friends giving him empty advice. which God described as, "words without knowledge". When Job confronted God in the Whirlwind and was told, " Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?" Job didn't answer him.

That is really the point. There is no answer, free agency doesn't come close, and the typical apologist for God let's his ego get the best of him/her and tries to explain what God pretty much says is incomprehensible to humanity.

1st Peter 3:15 talks about giving a reason for your hope, and doing it with gentleness and respect, something that your post does Stem, well done.

I agree. The suffering of humanity is perhaps the most faith-troubling issue. There is no answer.

[_Jersey Girl]

I doubt that this constitutes answering on point, but this is all I have time for at the moment. With regards to preventing child abuse as God.

If I were God, I would tweak the creation. I would remove addiction and the potential to develop psychological disorders, from the human psyche.

I think that many cases of child abuse stem from addiction to alcohol/drugs that leave adults playing with a less than full deck. I also think that abusive behavior is passed on generationally, creating systems of abuse wherein the abuse becomes learned behavior.

That is to say, I think that there are children who become the abusers their parents were via the parenting "style" of their parents whose ability to interact and respond in healthy ways to children is compromised by either the abuse of substances or the cycle of abuse that they themselves were born in to.

So...take away the propensity for addiction in human beings and remove the potential for the development of psyche disorders.

Under the heading of psyche disorders, I would like to include the inclination towards aggression and violence.

I will probably have to rethink this and return later.

[_mentalgymnast]

It's a bit hard to come up with anything much better than what we got, isn't it? That is unless you want to make us into a world of robots.

I thought it was fairly easy to come up with something better, having a world where all agents freely choose to do good isn't a logical contradiction, nor metaphysically impossible.

How would the "no prior forces that would influence someone in any way to choose to abuse children " thing work? We have a long evolutionary history that also includes complex social/cultural components. How would you engineer all of the forces? What would "drive" the forces to cause them to always move in an ideal fashion in the direction that you want?

Regards,
MG

[_mentalgymnast]

I think it is EASY to come up with all sorts of things better than what we have... I mean we are talking about a semi-powerful God here!

TD, don't leave out the fact that you also have billions of independent, free thinking beings involved in the mix. You're not going to take that out of the equation, right?

Describe a few scenarios that would have the outcomes you desire in which free thinking beings of all stripes and persuasions are thrown into the mix. And they'd all do want you want them to do all of the time.

Regards,
MG

[_mentalgymnast]

OK, I'm thinking if the curvature of space/time was altered a bit, the universe would have unfolded quite differently no? I mean how difficult would that be?

That doesn't account or allow for independent, free thinking creatures such as yourself. You would not be who you are. Well, maybe you would be...but Joe the child abuser wouldn't, right?

Regards,
MG

[_mentalgymnast]

This is the best approach Stem, most of the theistically inclined posters sound almost like Job's friends giving him empty advice. which God described as, "words without knowledge". When Job confronted God in the Whirlwind and was told, " Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?" Job didn't answer him.

That is really the point. There is no answer, free agency doesn't come close, and the typical apologist for God let's his ego get the best of him/her and tries to explain what God pretty much says is incomprehensible to humanity.

1st Peter 3:15 talks about giving a reason for your hope, and doing it with gentleness and respect, something that your post does Stem, well done.

I agree. The suffering of humanity is perhaps the most faith-troubling issue. There is no answer.

But should we hold that against God?

Regards,
MG

[_truth dancer]

I think it is EASY to come up with all sorts of things better than what we have... I mean we are talking about a semi-powerful God here!

TD, don't leave out the fact that you also have billions of independent, free thinking beings involved in the mix. You're not going to take that out of the equation, right?

Describe a few scenarios that would have the outcomes you desire in which free thinking beings of all stripes and persuasions are thrown into the mix. And they'd all do want you want them to do all of the time.

Regards,
MG

OK, we are subject to gravity right? Does gravity take away free agency? It just is. I think it would be a little tweak to make an energy that just protects children... In other words, it just can't happen.

I'm not suggesting everyone do everything I want them to, all the time, I'm just saying cruelty to children is not an option. Just like it is not an option for a human to blink and turn into a frog. A human can't wiggle her nose and grow fifty feet tall... it has nothing to do with free agency it is just a limitation of our reality.

:-)

And, just for clarity, I do not believe in free agency by any stretch, as taught by the LDS church. (smile)

~td~