Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!porthos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dg@pallio.uucp (David Goodenough) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: An atheist's question Message-ID: Date: 2 Nov 90 09:03:22 GMT Sender: hedrick@porthos.rutgers.edu Lines: 40 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu duncant@mbunix.mitre.org (Thomson) asks: > I don't know if you'll want to discuss this on your group, but I am really > interested in how Christians will answer this question, so here goes... > > I read a story in the news yesterday about the killing of a politician > and his family in Lebanon. [nasty story deleted] It goes something like this: God doesn't want to be worshipped by a bunch of mindless zombies, so all of us humans have something called free will. This means that he only gets people worshipping him that _WANT_ to. Unfortunately, as a side effect of this, we get to do whatever we want. Also a price has to be paid for our actions, but just what the price is, and who pays it, is another aspect of Christian doctrine that I won't go into now. Now if God were to stop gunmen from killing people, then he'd be removing free will, and that defeats the whole purpose of what we're after. My next sentance may take a lot of understanding, but this is what my Christian faith is all about. I grieve more for the gunmen than for the dead people, because if the dead people were Christians, they will be rejoicing in God's prescence now, whereas the gunmen may wind up in hell if they don't repent of their actions. All four of my Grandparents are dead now, and I remember the deaths of three of them. At the time, I was really hurt: when my father's mother passed on, I wasn't sure how I was going to cope with the realisation that Grandma was gone. But in time, I got over it, and while the loss hurts, I force myself to consider the larger view, and rejoice that she is in a better place than I am. Death is part of the contract we all sign at our birth, as has been remarked there are only two sure things in life: death and taxes. However because of my faith, death holds no fear for me. Can an atheist make the same claim? Yours, -- dg@pallio.UUCP - David Goodenough +---+ IHS | +-+-+ ..... !harvard!xait!pallio!dg +-+-+ | AKA: dg%pallio.uucp@xait.xerox.com +---+