Howdy, Mark!
~~"the omnipotent Lord allows evil to weed out the "real friends" from the "fakes"."~~
Well, bear in mind that the omnipotent Lord created the fake friends to begin with. He could just as easily have created a universe in which all His creations were worthy of his favor. If God is the original source of all things, he is the original source of evil, as well as good.
~~"The fake ones will be plucked like weeds from a garden and tossed into a fire at the Day of harvest."~~
Do you believe that anyone truly deserves eternal torment? In my mind, this is a punishment of unparalleled monstrousness. I cannot even conceive of the cruelty of a being who would design an afterlife like that. I know for certain I could never worship or truly love him, knowing that beings, evil and selfish as they were, were in Hell. I would be squeamish knowing Hitler was in Hell. Assuming Hell is inescapable and not purgation, that is.
I try to be as forgiving as possible to everyone who wrongs me. I've maintained contact with people who have proven themselves to be selfish and non-trustworthy, simply because I hate turning my back to anyone. I will hand out my Kung Fu Fists to those who deserve it, of course, but I don't believe anyone is beyond redemption, particularly in the eyes of a supposedly perfect, loving God.
How important is faith to you in your view? Do you think only members of a certain faith are allowed into paradise?
~~"it only takes one bad person to make a perfect world unperfect? I'm glad that we're being tested because I'd sure hope that God wouldn't allow people with bad hearts to be around loving good people and contaminate heaven."~~
No-one is perfect. Everyone has traces of evil in them. Thus, if any human enters heaven as he is, heaven becomes less than perfect. It's just a matter of degree.
The test is rigged. If God is truly omnipotent and omniscient (i.e. knows the future), he knows from the beginning who will and who will not pass the test. He creates human beings with certain traits and flaws, knowing the choices they will make as a result of those traits. By what right does he hand out rewards and punishments to those who are nothing more than what they were created to be? A set, knowable future and free-will are mutually exclusive. |