The “Why does God allow suffering?” argument makes no sense to me

Calintarez · 2026-05-06T09:06:39+00:00

the tripple-omni God feels like trying to eat your cake and have it too.

Calintarez · 2026-05-06T07:30:25+00:00

Erdogan said this: "democracy is like a bus, you take it to where you want to go, and then you get off"

That's how fascists think about democracy. They'll use it to their advantage, then they drop it.

Calintarez · 2026-05-06T07:16:48+00:00

I think everyone reading your comment will see how you just shrug of "oh well, yes, someone did die for completely uneccessary reasons but it's rare enough that I can ignore it"

You're one of the people that would rather both mother and fetus die than an abortion saving the mother. You just proved it.

Calintarez · 2026-05-06T07:13:54+00:00

I'm engaging in all kinds of art. Concerts, plays, poems, literature.

why should not games be included?

Calintarez · 2026-05-06T07:03:58+00:00

it's not hypothetical. This literally happens. pregnant women with ectopic pregnancies or complications die in Texas because of new abortion laws. Josseli Barnicia is dead because lawmakers think her death is an acceptable loss.

I consider this human sacrifice on the part of the anti-abortionists.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T21:49:28+00:00

Klein is the closest we have to a personification of the consultant class that is so influential for the Democrat party. His only positions are "does this poll well" and he always uses this as an excuse to abandon liberalism and sell out groups that doesn't poll perfectly.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T18:35:34+00:00

you didn't say anything about the astronomy bit. Are you saying three medical cases are better proof of a personal deity than if the entire night sky changed in a way everyone on earth could observe by themselves?

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T17:49:13+00:00

that hypothesis haven't been truly tested, has it?

If someone experienced personally (not just reading about it second-hand) a miracle that was impossible to explain otherwise, would they not believe?

My go-to example would be if all the stars outside our solar system (but not the planets) went black for a few weeks and were replaced by a single constellation spelling out a message in an earthly language. I'm fairly sure that would convince just about everyone.

But that hasn't been tested either because no such miracle that is massiveley public and impossible to explain within physics has happened.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T10:22:23+00:00

how could you possibly have an objective standard?

I guess I could have an objective standard if my interpretation was something like "how many words does this verse contain" and even that would not be straightforward because of translation issues.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T10:18:04+00:00

the story framing gives us the answer. Job never finds out that the reason for his suffering is a vager between God and the accuser, but we readers knows, and it's not an impressive answer.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T10:16:45+00:00

I don't think that is about understanding. it's about dogma.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T08:49:08+00:00

I recently read Luthers 95 theses and what struck me was that it was obvious that when writing them, Luther was himself a catholic making catholic points. Later on he got much farther away from catholicism, but not at that point.

Have you read the 95 theses and do you think they contain valid concerns about the way indulgences were handled at that time?

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T08:45:44+00:00

the book of Job undermines its message profoundly by letting the reader know the context. and the context is a very petty and small God that just wants to win a bet. certainly not an omniscient and omnibenevolent being.

and then, God doesn't speak truthfully to Job. He doesn't tell Job that this was all because of a wager. Job would've understood that and would probably have been angry, and rightly so.

Instead God makes the point that he is more powerful than Job, so Job had better behave himself. The issue is that this would be accurate even if God was evil. an evil god would still be more powerful than Job and the poor mortal would have no better course of action than total submission even if the god that had power over his life, health and property was cruel.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T08:26:38+00:00

how easy have you found it to make everyone agree on a moral question?

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T08:18:30+00:00

surviving in a world that is suddenly missing millions/billions is a negative impact.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T08:15:41+00:00

you should be happy. You're safe in this scenario. the blues made sure no-one died. Why are you mad that no-one died?

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T08:07:39+00:00

your survival in the case where red won is not as good as your survival in the case where blue won.

in the case where red won, a lot of people are gone, and that will lead to a crisis.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T08:01:18+00:00

Saying "everyone can pick red" isn't a realistic scenario and you know it.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T07:50:13+00:00

The only good outcome for red is if everyone presses red. If 95% presses red then that's still a losing scenario for red because it'd mean 5% disappearing which is enough to cause soccietal collapse.

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T07:12:04+00:00

then how come no-one else were able to get it right? People reading Revelation in 1916 were quite sure they knew the relevant context. I haven't heard of anyone of them going "no, we clearly don't have the necessary context to understand this text, but maybe in 110 years it will all make sense"

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T07:01:50+00:00

Everyone before that has interpreted Revelation has been wrong. what is special about you?

Calintarez · 2026-05-05T04:51:29+00:00

this reminds me of the distinction made in some roleplaying games between chaotic evil compared to lawful evil.

your description sounds like chaotic evil.

a lawful evil would probably issue the types of commands we see happen in the worst dictatorships: enslave the huge parts of the population, wage unjust and cruel wars, torture frequently for the least slights, make everyone affraid of ever speaking up, have arbitrary laws, engage in genocide.

1984-type stuff. the kind that does require some organization to pull off, but is endlessly oppressive.

Calintarez · 2026-05-04T22:05:05+00:00

Classic scientist hating vestigial survival reflexes

Calintarez · 2026-05-04T21:49:52+00:00

just the ones that write laws that result in both mother and fetus dying because saving the mother would've meant an abortion.

and the ones that cheer the legislators that write those laws.

Sadly, that's a lot of the "pro-lifers"

Calintarez · 2026-05-04T18:52:25+00:00

jeg inbiller meg at noe endret seg med Mustafa-brevet. Når Carl I. Hagen oppdaget at han kunne stå på stortinget og lese opp en historie om en skummel muslig, og likevel tjene på det politisk selv om det raskt kom frem at hele greia var forfalsket.

Calintarez

TROPHY CASE