by PLAYER57832 on Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:23 am
Started to quote, but this is a response to several comments.
God is omnicient, yes. God could have created us to live in the center of the sun, to live in the "void" of space... etc. He did not. Once he made us people of flesh, we were constrained to live on Earth.
In a sense, through creation, God limits himself. He is, in essence no longer acting fully omniscient. He still has omniscient power. Sometimes he uses it. We call that "miracles". However, if he were to, say, intervene every time something "bad" happens, then it would alter us, his creation. We can sit back and think "gee wouldn't it be nice if...". And, make no mistake, I see no reason why we had to have Pol Pot, the Holocaust, why children get abused and tortured... etc. I am, however, fully human.
For us to say "why not?" is very much like a toddler wanting to know why he cannot run out in the street after his favorite ball. WE know there are cars and trucks, but the toddler does not. So, WE hold our child while the car runs over the toy, deal with the tears and anger. WE know this is what is best. (and yes, of course we try to keep that ball from going in the road at all).
Children being harmed are not balls being run over by a car, but any comparison between our world and God is necessarily trite and flip, very superficial. That is, in fact, the point. We cannot possibly envision all that God knows and is. It is just too far beyond us.
One thing we CAN come close to understanding is that God created us with free will. Once we have free will, then God constrained himself from intervening in all the results of our will. If he had not restrained himself, we would not have free will. This might seem cruel, when faced with great evil. However, we are like that toddler crying over his lost ball. God is like the parent that knows there was far, far more at risk, that as bad as the loss of the ball was, it was nothing to what could have been lost. We are not happy to watch our child cry. God is not happy to hear our cries of anguish. Sometimes he even intervenes. However, he cannot always. That is, he has the power, but if he were, then it would change us, his creation, in ways that are not, ultimately, good for us.
As for the judgement issue... There are 2 different concepts here. One is consequence. To get back to that ball, no doubt, the parent warns the child to be careful. But, things happen. You try to catch it, but miss. Was the parent punishing the child by "letting" the ball go in the street? NO! However, it was a consequence. The parent might, afterward, us it as a lesson. However, it was not set up that way.
Contrast that with another situation, where maybe a slightly older child has been warned and warned and warned to be more careful with frisbees. Warning is the first step. Then the parent might try some various consequences. Maybe balls are forbidden for a time, etc. Those are judgements. It could be also that at some point the parent just says "OK, I guess I have to let the inevitable happen". The frisbee goes in the street. The parent does not try to stop it. And does sit back, watch while a car runs it over. Now, set aside discussion of "proper parenting" for now. I am not saying this is what I wouls actually do. I am trying to draw an analogy, necessarily faulty to compare human situations to God.
The point is that not all bad things that happen to us are truly judgements. Many are just plain consequences. Consequences that, yes, God knew would happen. However, were he to prevent them, it would be worse for humanity. Probably primary is that we would not have free will.
For judgement, or rather redemption, God gave us Christ. So, ultimately, every human being can recieve the very best, the very true forgiveness. Judgement in that sense, judgement for our sins, etc. That, we have to choose. God gave us forgiveness. However, because we have free will, we are free to turn away from it. And, yes, we are free to turn our children from it, also. That is the result of having free will.
Protestants don't believe in purgatory. The concept is counter to what we feel God is and does. The concept of purgatory is a human "escape clause". A kind of "I can do evil here on earth, and will pay for it in the end".
). Most of the dots could not imagine this because to them existing over more them one point of the line at the same time seems logically impossible, but it's easy to you because you can move within more dimensions than they can. 
