Is god cruel?

Did God create such entities as the AIDS virus?

If you believe the creation story in the bible, yes, God created everything, including AIDS, malaria, and any number of even more horrible viruses, bacteria and parasites - specifically to cause suffering. Not very benevolent, huh?

Simply a Rose to brighten your day,
And maybe lessen the cares in your way;
And also, too, to help you to know,
That in knowing you, many others grow!

 
No! All life is a result of evolution. God may have started it all but then left it to His tool, evolution, to continue the progress of everything.

God is Love and in control - I believe as long as we strive to stay close to Him in our daily lives (our walk), praise Him, and seek to please Him in all that we say and do He grants us Mercy (withholds what we deserve) and Grace (gives you what we don't deserve).

amblessed: How does that actually answer the question?

Amblessed, I think that you are one of those atheist internet satirists who takes the P out of fundamentalist christians. But you are not that funny.

In case you are sincere, I would be looking forward to an informed and relevant reply to my question from you.

No Satan did it *rolls eyes*

But did God create Satan? xD

God let us have our free will. if we do the right things in life, we will be rewarded with good. If we follow the ways of the devil, karma will attack us. Aids is the virus of the devil, whom God created. also God never created sicknesses. remember in genesis, what eve did. if they didnt eat from the tree we wouldnt have to worry about death, suffering, etc. Humans bought this among themselves. SO therefore, GOD IS NOT CRUEL.

some possibilities:

- there is an omniscient creator god who *poofed* all lifeforms into existence. This god is then culpable for AIDS

- there is an omniscient creator god who got everything started, and then let evolution take over. Since he knew AIDS would come about when he got things started, he is culpable for AIDS

- there are multiple creator gods and one of the mean ones created AIDS, but the nice one only created people, bunny rabbits, and butterflies. The mean one is responsible for AIDS, and the nice one is responsible for making people susceptible to AIDS

- there are one or more creator gods, but they're not omnicient or omnipotent, didn't know how things would turn out, and can't stop it. They're just omni-incompetant oafs.

- there are no gods

Take your pick.

Hey ohsounique (love your nickname), I was just reminded by someone who presented herself as a christian that God burned down a city or two to deal with a couple of 'free wills' himself. The direct approach, no devil involved. Burning cities? Do you know how CRUEL that is?

Since you brought up the Eden affair... was that also not a bit of a nasty business? Tempting two vulnerable creatures with a magic fruit that would provide them with the wisdom they needed not to fall for the tricks and hidden traps created by a superior deity? That reeks of bullying. Intolerable behavior!

Thanks for so much clarity toadaly. Even omni-incompetant oafs can be hold justifiably responsible for appalling concoctions like AIDS.
But it seems not easy to find people who believe in the existence of any god, and have the courage to hold that god responsible for all the cruelty he committed (imaginary or actual, oaf or almighty) .

Ever since Jesus Christ gained victory over Jupiter, the faithful lost the will to criticize what they worship.

How can we ever know the answer to this question.
But if I had to decide I would go with ohsounique answerrr.

I kind of dont believe there is a god its possible but I think liver cancer is the worst of all! it is what killed my 2 mommy (who was my favorite teacher) did god write the bible or did people write the bible? well when the people saw and heard about things that were happening did they write down the right things? I think some one else wrote them down and then said god wrote it... but how could you tell who created the heavens and the earth? when we die do we really go to a magical land that we cant see but has nothing wrong with it? and you are happy all the time? or does your brain go nowhere? does "god" really capture your sole when you go? I dont know but "god" didnt save my teacher she would have still been here and "god" would have kept her alive so I dont believe "GOD" I believe in my teacher! I know that sounds a little wacky but I saw my teacher and now she is gone so I guess I can believe she is "GOD" and you would too! if you knew her! so thats my wacky story and dont worry I am just throwing almost everything I know about this as fast as I can so dont judge me... and I am jewish so I may have a different bible that you and I might say more things that are wacky! and off the wall but thats just my and probably only MY jewish thing talking K? byee

I am truly sorry about your mum allmeroth. And I hope that you will find a way to live your own life without her. I am sure that you can.
As it so happened, I lost my own mother as a result of cancer too. She did not believe in a god and I think that that provided a helpful level of comfort during her suffering by not having to wonder about why God had this in store for her. I still admire her strength and courage to see life as it is and not to waste a moment with irrational occupations.

nooo!!! GOD - 1- z one who crated us to show us how beautiful our world is.
- 2 - z one who gave us a free will to do any thing.
- 3- z one who is patient to see whn his crature do all z bad things.
- 4 - z one who came 2 zis world through his son JESUS to show us how to live and love our friends.
- 5 - zonly one who still loves us wz all our sins. ETC... MAY Z LOVE AND MERCY OF ALMIGHTY JESUS BE WZ U!!!

I believe God creates through evolution, and has created the mechanisms which go on to produce new diseases. It doesn't seem cruel to me - are we blaming Mother Nature? In that sense I guess God is Mother/Father Nature. We all know the facile yet logical arguments that without disease animals and people would not die and make way for new generations... It's not cruel, it's how nature works.

The AIDS virus was not 'created as a punisment' or anything like that, but came into existence through a number of natural and man-made events (man-made such as eating monkeys for instance - not evil, but not a good idea it now seems). The evil involved in it comes from people thoughtlessly or even wilfully continuing to transmit it, and others failing to care for or provide treatments from those who suffer from it.

flossheal: If god is omniscient, he must have known that AIDS (malaria, parasites, etc) would come about. If he's omnipotent, he must be capable of arranging the course of evolution so those things don't arise.

So it seems to me that God must either not be omniscient, not omnipotent, or cruel, to allow such things to come into existence.

God DID create Satan, but Satan was once an Archangel in Heaven. Now that Satan's pure evil, he tries to destroy all God's people, which CAN mean that he can make a perfectly healthy person have cancer or AIDS or whatever. Look, I'm not one to push my beliefs on anyone, but the whole question here is "Is God Cruel?" The one true and obvious answer is NO! God created all things GOOD. And also, it all depends on what you consider to be cruel.

Which God?
I'll asume you mean the biblical.

Well. didn't God creat everything?
Even to those people who might say Satain did it, God created Satin.
So the answer is yes he did creat AID's too.
Is God cruel?
Depends what you believe, I'ld say yeah.
He burns people in hell for all eternity, his own creations.
& for those who might say "well you were sinful in your life"," you didn't follow god" blah blah blah, God knew us before we were born, he stitched us together in the womb knowing what we would become, so why didn't he stop? He made us knowing the way we were going to turn out then condem us to hell. Wouldn't that classify as cruel to you?

Arachnid, your argument only works if you think that life is meant to be easy. I can't see anything in nature or in the Bible which suggests that's the case! These things happen, they're not cruelty, they're just the way things are. God has created them, but not to be cruel. Internal parasites, for one little example, reduce our tendency to allergies and skin problems. They're not CRUEL, they just ARE.

Why should God have arranged the course of evolution so that human life is simple and painless? It's a rather anthropocentric view.

flossheal: No, it only works if the god you believe in is supposed to be both benevolent and omnipotent - which the god of the bible is. How is it not cruel to leave humans - many of them innocent - to suffer and die horribly when it could all be prevented with the most trivial effort on god's part? Why would god create or allow to be created such things as malaria, the candiru fish and other things that make human life miserable, seemingly without referfence to the people they afflict?

"Why should God have arranged the course of evolution so that human life is simple and painless? It's a rather anthropocentric view."

The christian view is generally that god created the entire universe for us. That seems a great deal more anthropocentric.