I have to question your point and purpose in asking these questions on a martial arts forum at all. If you are sincere in seeking an answer, why not ask in a theology forum, dedicated precisely to the Judeo-Christian worldview about which you are inquiring? Do you really want to know? If I answer, will you take it to heart and change your belief? I will be discreet, honest, and forthright in my answers, if you are willing to do the same with your questions.
....God(according to the Judeo-Christian view)......
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I want to hear your opinion on whether an existent God is able but unwilling to help mankind(evil), or willing but unable(not omnipotent).
The question is framed so as to dictate an expected answer. I take exception to the question itself.
Take a step back - what makes you think that God (the Judeo-Christian one) is
not actively helping mankind? Why are you phrasing it as 'all or nothing'? Isn't it possible that God is actively helping mankind and working towards his greater good, just not in the way 'you would do it if you were God'? (or perhaps, not the way you would assume God
should act, based on our limited perspective of time and history?) Is all suffering necessarily 'bad' or 'evil'? What about 'discomfort' or 'hardship'? Are they included in your definition of suffering? OR, to state it another way, if everything you consider to be suffering were suddenly completely eliminated from planet earth (starvation, disease, warfare), would you later raise the same question about minor inconveniences and discomforts (traffic jams, muscle soreness after a hard workout, headache from watching too many video games)?
Doesn't pain serve a valid purpose, necessary in a temporal world (warning of danger, telling you to stay away from the hot stove, teaching by experience)?
What about suffering and its impact on character? We honor and admire those who sacrifice their personal well-being or their desires in order to help someone else But can there be such a thing as sacrificial giving, if there is no such thing as a
real possibility of loss or sacrifice? We also honor character traits like loyalty, courage, persistence, patience, and perseverance. Would any of these traits have any real meaning, if there were not also such a thing as the possibility of betrayal, or real fear with the possibility of danger/loss, or real hardship, difficulty, or obstacles to overcome?
And on the view that he is willing and able to stop the suffering, let us still assume that he exists and give me your point of view as to why he has not stopped the suffering in his creation yet.
I believe that God, who is sovereign, has allowed people self-autonomy: i.e., they can make real choices that have real consequences, for both themselves and others. I can make a choice that will benefit you. I can make a choice that will harm you. You might admire me if I make choices for your benefit, even at my harm. You would be right to vilify me if I make choices to benefit me, at the cost of your harm. Still, we see such choices made all the time around the world, with corruption, guilt/greed accounting for more human suffering than all the fires, floods, and famines in recorded history, combined.
God is just in punishing all evil, including the evil (bad choices) that I freely embrace. He could end it all in a millisecond, and stamp out all evil in an instant. The problem is, that if God instantly judged all evil, I would be lost in that hailstorm of judgment, too. All my 'good intentions' and hopes for the future can't 'undo' a single evil action or bad choice that I have already made. I can't make someone else 'unsuffer'.
By allowing me time, God offers me (and you) the chance to repent, turn from evil, and use the resources He has given (time, energy, effort, that 'second chance') for the benefit of others.
There have been many times when I have been wronged, hurt, injured, or made to suffer through someone else's unjust choice and action. God would be just and right in ending their evil and stamping them out in an instant, too. But by giving more time, He allows them the opportunity to repent/turn/change, AND He allows me the opportunity to share in His character, by choosing forgiveness, reconciliation, and the opportunity for redemption.
Speaking of redemption, who but a sovereign God could take our worst choices and most vile evil, and turn it into something beautiful in the end? And for that matter, while on the subject of redemption, only a God actively involved in the every-day events on Earth and caring about the smallest details of the human condition would even offer redemption in the first place, let alone making such a graphic demonstration of it, as to offer Himself in our place on a Roman cross in full payment of justice's demands.
Yes, God is all-powerful. Yes, He is all good, and tends to the smallest detail of human existence. Yes, He has given mankind the gift of a free moral will. Each individual's choices affect others' well-being, for better and for worse. Yes, He allows the situation to continue, for the good of all His creation, and He bounds it all with this marvelous creation we call 'time', so that any suffering caused you by another person will always be limited in its scope and duration.
I don't believe God made a broken world, but I do believe the world 'fell' (I'm sure you've come across that in your reading). Still, God in Jesus Christ is the One who has taken it upon Himself to fix it.
Please let me know how open you are to some links to insights from those far more knowledgeable than I.
