Dear Belly,

«Thanks indy hope Yuyutsu answers his views are always interesting»

The question as presented, was: "why do you think does God tolerate stupid & nasty people?". This is a version of the big and famous "question of evil", which was probably discussed all over the world more than any other.

Christianity answers this in chapters 38-41 of the book of Job.

Judaism answers: "in order to allow them to learn and repent".

Both are true in their own way and Hinduism too has the answers, not one but several, on different levels, to suit the depth of understanding of the asker, thus this puts me in a dilemma because the answers I give you would be different to the answers I give Individual. So here are seven answers on seven different levels, yet all true:

Answer 1:

I do not think so (that God tolerates stupid and nasty people).

Answer 2:

So do mothers, when it comes to their children!

Answer 3:

There is actually no such thing as darkness: darkness is only the absence of light.
So instead of trying to fight darkness, bring in a light and where there is only a little light, bring in a bigger light, then bigger still.
Stupidity is just a stage of development, the light of consciousness is there but is not yet strong enough, so rather than countering stupidity, bring in more consciousness and more wisdom.

Answer 4:

God is not a person. Tolerance or intolerance can only be attributed to persons.

Answer 5:

While there is stupidity and nastiness, one can only be exposed to them if they were themselves stupid and nasty in this or previous lifetimes. Otherwise there is nothing for you to fear.

Answer 6:

A measure of darkness and suffering is a necessary quality of this world.
Otherwise there would be no incentive to advance, graduate and leave this world, then we would be dreaming an endless boring dream with no hope and no purpose.

Answer 7:

You too are God, so ask yourself!

You too are God, so ask yourself!
Yuyutsu,
if I were God none of that crap would happen, that much I'd guarantee !

Yuyutsu,

I would have thought that the natural condition of the universe is darkness, that light is the temporary absence of darkness.

And maybe, instead of each of us being a god, that there aren't any at all. That the natural condition of the universe is to be godless, but that some of us have to invent a god (or gods) to fill up the space of our ignorance and fears.

Hello, Runner, didn't see you there :)

Joe

Come on Loudmouth

you have shown yourself to be one of the reasoned characters over the years on olo. Your denial of a Creator is not only irrational but also dishonest.

Interesting and I know yuyutsu is far more interested than me in the God myth
But too he wants better for us all
It will be along wait
Yes bad people exist, far too many but they think they are ok
A link posted in the Trump thread told of a bloke who had signs all over his business warning who he thought he did not want to leave his business
Or be shot
No doubt we know why that business is failing to thrive
My God was going to reward me with eternal life, apparently on my knees in constant worship
My God I want to invent will dance with us and take his turn at cooking the snags on the Sunday bar b q

Hi Runner,

Rationality has nothing to do with belief in a supreme being (or a multitude of them). I thought that was the point, that the 'wonder' of such a being was its drawcard.

If there were such an all-powerful being, who has existed from everlasting to everlasting, then he/she certainly would have unbelievably special powers from the beginning. So why worship him/her ? He/she has what came naturally, like a devastatingly handsome bloke (such as myself) - one does not praise him for his looks, they're simply what he was born with. I certainly don't get such praise, not to my face anyway, and fair enough.

So a rational believer would simply shrug and say, okay, you're god, you've got powers and always had them, so what do you want me to grovel for ? Because you have the power, not only to give me eternal life for constantly praising you, but also the power to deny that debatable pleasure ?

Frankly, I think such a god would be a bit of a psychopath if he/she existed, a spoilt brat craving praise. A bit like Trump actually, come to think of it. I might be in trouble if ever I got into heaven, plinketty-plunking away on a bloody harp forever. Sounds more like hell to me, without the global warming. I'd be more tempted to have a go at the Muslim version with its 72 virgins, that sounds pretty good to me. 72 virgins, every day, forever. Better than X-Lotto.

Joe