If The Higher Religious Entity is so good, why does he/she/it do terrible things

Thanks for sharing that with us, Joel.

 

OK, having read the whole thread . . . . . . would like to express support for HC's sentiment, obviously. But sometimes - and not in this thread, which was a one-on-one skirmish from the get-go - the mob mentality apparently must have its blood.

My initial reaction was to wholly support hockeybeat, since I also question what the point is of Higher Power (HP for short) creating people who already start off with a mental impairment. And I do question that. I wonder somtimes why HP would waste people's time by hindering them from the very start.

A close relative of mine has a child with Down Syndrome, and when that youngster was born, I wondered what the hell the kid had done to deserve such an affliction. Because yes, while people with mental illness can be quite happy and live full, good lives, true "normalcy" according to what family and society expect is more difficult to come by.

I remember Rex Hudler being on the Jim Rome show a decade ago, shortly after my relative was born, and Rome asked about Hudler's own situiation, since he has a child with mental retardation. Hudler spoke effusively about how blessed he and his wife felt, because they felt that "God trusted us to be able to raise this child in the best way possible." That's a great way of looking at it.

But from my point of view, it's tough; I see where hockeybeat is coming from. Children do nothing to bring these things upon themselves.

 

Re: If The Higher Religious Entity is so good, why does he/she/it do terrible th

When my wife was pregnant her gynecologist asked us if we wanted a bunch of prenatal tests, one of which would test the unborn baby for Downs syndrome. Why, we wanted to know. Well, if it has Downs we could abort it.

My wife and I thought about it long and hard but really there was nothing to think about. We said no to the tests. We're hardly devout Christians but we would never be able to abort the baby. So there was no need for the test. We trusted whatever had to happen would happen.

Turns out our daughter came out "normal." But really, we've met some kids with Downs in recent years and I can honestly tell you that every one I met had to be one of the happiest and most enjoyable kids I've ever seen.

Kids are much stronger than we give them credit for, Piotr. I think as adults, and especially parents, we tend to put our own fears into our kids when, in reality, they turn out just fine on their own. Many kids handle stuff much better than adults do.

And again, I don't see the reason to blame God. Sometimes we're to blame and sometimes it just is. God's there to help us through it, to help us become the people we should be.

 

Or just maybe there is no God.

And shit happens.

Or maybe not.

 

This, for me, sums up the whole thread without three pages of name-calling and ire.

I understand HB's initial reason for posting, even if his language didn't exactly work. The idea wasn't to imply that a physical or mental handicap leaves you from enjoying a happy life. Rather, from the perspective of someone WITHOUT those handicaps, it prevents people from living a life that HE knows. Could it have been said better? Certainly.

I will say this. I have Gulf War Illness and there are NUMEROUS cases of children of Gulf War veterans being born with problems both physical and mental. When I found out I was going to be a dad, I was terrified there would be something wrong, like a heart defect, etc.

But when he was placed in my arms, he could have had three heads for all it would have meant to me.

I'll leave it at that.

 

This post needs to be stickied somewhere.

 

Hockeybeat,

It's OK to question why things happen. It doesn't make you an ignorant asshole. God/HRE gave us brains. We should use them every once in a while.

 

Flash, if God really is a woman, what do you think she looks like?

 

Emma Thompson.

 

Re: If The Higher Religious Entity is so good, why does he/she/it do terrible th

While I completely agree that God is, in fact, Emma Thompson, let me ask this in an effort to redirect the thread:

If God grants humanity free will, as was stated earlier, why throw Adam and Eve out of the Garden?

 

As I understand it, they were thrown out for breaking God's rule that they not eat from that particular tree. The choice to obey God has no value without free will.

 

But if we have free will, how can God impose the death penalty for exercising it? I.e., eating from the Tree of Knowledge?