To: Ilaine who wrote (16823 ) 3/15/2002 7:25:47 PM From: yard_man Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 74559 >>Did God really create a many billions year old universe just to make our sky pretty? << The question supposedly appeals to the attributes of God, yet it is man-centric -- as if only if He would create only for OUR appreciation or better yet YOUR appreciation. (The implication in the question is that God is our creation -- something from our imaginaction -- but that's no God at all.) >>Did He form the earth four billion years ago, and set man standing on two legs two million years ago, just to end it all after a fight in the Middle East over which flavor of monotheism best worships the one true God?<< Again, it's the same problem -- if a transcendant, eternal God exists -- it is very narrow-minded and arrogant to think that you can acquire enough understanding to judge the scope of His creation and the merits of His purposes in creating it, without -- I'm sorry -- REVELATION -- as in a divine revealing of that purpose. To even begin to answer such a question or ask a meaningful question you must start with a premise. If your underlying premise is: There is no God, I find the idea that He cares for man or me individually preposterous in light of what I see going on in the world. Why ask such questions?? All you are doiing is publicly reinforcing your own belief system. If you really are seeking an the answer that a specific religion gives concerning why God allows evil in the world or what solutions He provides or to what end He tolerates anything -- you need to look to that said religion concerning God's purposes overall and give up the man-earth-me-centric view and instead consider a God-centric view as discussed in the religion you choose to study. Not meaning to be over-bearing here -- just some thoughts, if your questions are really questions and not rhetorical or your own espousal of disbelief in a spiritual reality. Please take this in the spirit it is offered -- one for open discussion. Perhaps a better question or two would be: Does God exist? If so, what is His nature? If you decide He doesn't exist -- you're done and no further analysis is needed, right?