I've clearly, and numerously, stated that the world is a mixed bag. I just said it again. It is you who sees everything through a single lens. God is good, God is great... ignore the dead babies, wars, pestilence and famine because these are all part of God's Plan. God IS because Ding said so. And just so there is no confusion, God might be but likely not in the mode as portrayed by Ding.
Bravo
for stepping part way into the light.
But it's more than a mixed bag. It is overwhelmingly good. You are literally trying to define the rule by exception. You point to things that are 0.001% and ignore the other 99.999%. And you call it a mixed bag. I am not the one who is single minded. The one that is single minded tries to define reality using the 0.001% percentile outcome.
I don't ignore dead babies, wars, pestilence and famine. I point out that they serve a purpose which is not to say they are desirable but that they lead to desirable future outcomes. I don't think I would ever use dead babies as any justification for anything. There's something ghoulish about using the suffering of others to make a stupid point on an anonymous internet discussion forum. I actually hope you have done something for them in real life other than to use their suffering to make a point on a message board. Because otherwise, I'd probably have to say you don't really give a **** about dead babies if all you have ever done is use them as a chip in an online message board. That wouldn't be a good look. But putting that aside, AS I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU BEFORE, I suspect the parents of that minuscule subset of all babies that you wish to define reality by loved them more than you ever loved your kids because they faced adversity. You look at adversity as something that should be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately that's not life. That's not existence. And until you experience the full spectrum of life - the good and the bad - you cannot have a proper perspective on life. Just as salt makes sugar taste sweeter. Adversity and suffering makes success and happiness taste sweeter too. Forest fires, like war, serve a purpose. It clears out old growth so new growth can occur. War serves a similar purpose in that it allows lessons to be learned both in victory and in defeat. Famines and pestilence serves as a reminder that life is fragile and precious. From the ashes of every tragedy resolution and new growth springs forward. Similar to my comment about dead babies, I hope you have made contributions to food banks and relief efforts. Otherwise your use of those tragedies rings hollow as well.
My perception of God is based upon the physical, biological and moral laws of nature. I believe it is the nature of intelligence to create intelligence and I believe that there must be a first cause and that that first cause must be eternal and unchanging which means beyond energy and matter. I believe that Mind, rather than emerging as a late outgrowth in the evolution of life, has existed always as the matrix, the source and condition of physical reality - that the stuff of which physical reality is composed is mind-stuff. It is Mind that has composed a physical universe that breeds life, and so eventually evolves creatures that know and create. This is a life‑breeding universe because the constant presence of mind made it so and imbued His creation with His attributes. My perception of God is that God is infinite logic, infinite truth, infinite intelligence, infinite wisdom, infinite knowledge, infinite love, infinite patience, infinite justice, infinite mercy, infinite kindness and infinite goodness. I am not saying God has those attributes. I am saying God is those attributes. The polar opposite of those attributes are not extant. They only exist as the negation of the attribute. And that's how I know God is good and compassionate. Because good and compassion exist.
You minimize tragedy in this world in a twisted attempt to defend your God's lack of compassion. Care to share where you got the .0001 tragedy rate? How about a link?
Currently, there are more than three-quarters of a billion people in the world suffering from malnutrition. That's virtually 10% of the world population. The child mortality rate (children who die before age five) runs anywhere from a few percentage points to ten points depending on the country. In the 14th century the Black Death wiped out a third of Europe's population in the span of six years. In the modern twentieth century hundreds of millions died in war and millions more paid other prices.
Most people are aware that the Vietnam War cost 50,000 American Lives. What they don't see is that almost another half million Americans were wounded... and that doesn't account to the mental scars. The US Military commanded a 10:1 kill ratio in Nam; that's another 500,000. And we have still to address the millions of civilian casualties throughout Indochina. In Cambodia alone an estimated 1.5 to 2.2 million people perished (nearly 25% of the country's population). What about the orphans, the widows, the mothers who endured their personal pain and losses.
You marginalize tragedy in the world and attack my character solely to defend your fairytales of 99.999% good. I find your conduct in that regard to be disgusting.
If God is both compassionate and omnipotent, he could achieve his plan without cowering to evil. I look at the world and I see reality, good and bad. On a personal and material level, I have much - but I don't pretend, as you, that world problems are a trifle.
You look at the world with your eyes closed, and dare to speak of logic? God is this, God is that, he has a plan that we don't understand, don't even know. That isn't logic, it's simple declarative, what some might call bullshit.
