From: waltzgreen@fuse.net   
      
   Many religions invest ultimate power in a all-powerful God.  This leads to a   
   problem.  If this God is all-powerful and pure good, how could he allow such   
   suffering in the world.  Some people can accept various answers to this   
   dilemma.  For some people none of the answers sound really right.  They may   
   accept one because they are suppose to, but that is not the same as an   
   answer that really resonates with one's soul.   
      
   Perhaps a different question would help those people who are looking for a   
   different answer.  What if the 'deity' behind it all was neither all   
   powerful nor pure good.  Suddenly the issue of why such bad things happen   
   vanishes.  A imperfect, limited divinity would not always know what should   
   be done and would not have total power to make it happen that way.   
      
   Divinity would have some power, and could influence some things, but could   
   not just make everything right.   
      
   Would such a perspective of Divinity be helpful or upsetting?  Perhaps both?   
   Helpful in that divinity would look and feel a lot like what happens in real   
   life.  There would be less of a gulf between what happens in our life and   
   what we can perceive or feel of the power behind it all.  And perhaps some   
   would be comforted by this.   
      
   Perhaps others would be upset.  They would need there to be an ultimate   
   'good' to make everything right. They would be distraught to feel there was   
   no ultimate accounting to an ultimate standard of goodness.   
      
   Which view helps people feel whole and interconnected to everything?  Which   
   view helps people feel secure and validated?  Which system would propose   
   stronger ethics?  Which system would be more accepting of scientific   
   theories?  Does one view open the system to unknown possibilities of what   
   the human race can achieve? both good and bad?  Does one view close the   
   system so that the human race can get so bad or good, within the limits of   
   divine providence?  Is it important, needful or healthy for the human race   
   to have an open system?   
      
   Could it be said that an all-powerful God closes the human race to a limited   
   potential?  Would it be correct to say an imperfect divinity would open the   
   human race to unlimited potential?   
      
   Ultimately which system puts more responsibility on the human race?   If an   
   all-powerful God establishes and maintains the boundaries of the human race,   
   are we as responsible for what we may become or fail to become as we would   
   be under an imperfect divinity that could not control everything we do?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)