Yesterday's blog post covered the 10 plagues on Egypt. Yet it has left me with a rather uncomfortable feeling, that I'd like to take a day off the Bible to explore with your permission (or without it, after all I did not ask!)
Abraham asked God "should not the judge of the earth do right?" so what am I to think of the suffering wrought on the Egyptian nation in the plagues?
Critics of religion like Richard Dawkins will no doubt tell me that this story is living proof of a vengeful and vicious God who does not deserve belief let alone worship, and that I am not using my brain when I follow Jesus and believe in a loving and merciful God. Where was God when every first born son in the land died? I can almost hear his challenge.
Somehow I find the scientific explanation actually helps me here, if it seems that natural order sent these plagues, the God is not being malicious or vengeful directly It changes the question from "Why did God cause this suffering?" to "why did God allow this suffering?"
Why should God allow these things to happen? I hear the question echo across the web.
Perhaps a partial answer could be if God wrote the laws of the cosmos and nature who are we to get all upset when bad things happen as a result? Why should God set aside the laws that govern the cosmos for our benefit?
If God did not write the laws of nature as Atheists believe then it is all the luck of the numbers. I'm very sorry Egypt, but your number is up due to these natural occurrences, tough luck you caught a bad break, shame about that.
If I fall from a cliff, is it wrong for gravity to make me hit the base? If I am caught unprepared for a thunderstorm is it the fault of the weather or a vengeful god? Of course not! Gravity has a number of terrific benefits - not least being able to find my keys where I put them down! And as for the weather - If I am not prepared for bad weather I've probably lost my British Identity!
Another thought - Abraham pleaded with God for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, did nobody plead for the Egyptians?
There is one other thought, later on God sets apart the first born from Israel as holy to him. and later still Jesus, God's only begotten Son, suffered a horrific death - perhaps nothing God dishes out is so bad that God himself is not prepared to share the same pain?
I don't think I'll ever have a full and totally satisfactory answer to this question - the simple answer is I honestly don't know and sometimes it bothers me. However I would far rather believe in a God who, i believe, is just and right and holy, than have to live in a godless universe populated by chance, where there is no meaningful moral background or higher authority than society or the state.
I'm also haunted by the question - if Pharaoh had let the Israelites go initially would the plagues have happened? We will never know.
Abraham asked God "should not the judge of the earth do right?" so what am I to think of the suffering wrought on the Egyptian nation in the plagues?
Critics of religion like Richard Dawkins will no doubt tell me that this story is living proof of a vengeful and vicious God who does not deserve belief let alone worship, and that I am not using my brain when I follow Jesus and believe in a loving and merciful God. Where was God when every first born son in the land died? I can almost hear his challenge.
Somehow I find the scientific explanation actually helps me here, if it seems that natural order sent these plagues, the God is not being malicious or vengeful directly It changes the question from "Why did God cause this suffering?" to "why did God allow this suffering?"
Why should God allow these things to happen? I hear the question echo across the web.
Perhaps a partial answer could be if God wrote the laws of the cosmos and nature who are we to get all upset when bad things happen as a result? Why should God set aside the laws that govern the cosmos for our benefit?
If God did not write the laws of nature as Atheists believe then it is all the luck of the numbers. I'm very sorry Egypt, but your number is up due to these natural occurrences, tough luck you caught a bad break, shame about that.
If I fall from a cliff, is it wrong for gravity to make me hit the base? If I am caught unprepared for a thunderstorm is it the fault of the weather or a vengeful god? Of course not! Gravity has a number of terrific benefits - not least being able to find my keys where I put them down! And as for the weather - If I am not prepared for bad weather I've probably lost my British Identity!
Another thought - Abraham pleaded with God for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, did nobody plead for the Egyptians?
There is one other thought, later on God sets apart the first born from Israel as holy to him. and later still Jesus, God's only begotten Son, suffered a horrific death - perhaps nothing God dishes out is so bad that God himself is not prepared to share the same pain?
I don't think I'll ever have a full and totally satisfactory answer to this question - the simple answer is I honestly don't know and sometimes it bothers me. However I would far rather believe in a God who, i believe, is just and right and holy, than have to live in a godless universe populated by chance, where there is no meaningful moral background or higher authority than society or the state.
I'm also haunted by the question - if Pharaoh had let the Israelites go initially would the plagues have happened? We will never know.
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