The Merchant Republics wrote:The problem with calling God cruel is that it requires one maintaining that there is an objective morality which is not from God.
Might be a language barrier here, I am used to using cruelty in the non-moralist sense of the word. As in it simply showing and feeling indifference to or taking pleasure(shadenfreude) in the (inflicting of) suffering of(/unto) others.
Suffering being defined as the experience of unpleasant stimuli(What most would call pain, depression, shame, etc.).
That said, it's certain this is not the world God wanted, I don't think this proves that God isn't all-powerful, all-knowing or all-seeing, merely that he made decisions that he regrets. He knew He must do them, but He regrets.
How can God make regrettable decisions? Seems rather moot if he is omniscient.
To me God has shown a clear indifference to suffering(not always, but enough to the point where it becomes noticeable) and an inclination towards inflicting unbearable suffering.
Remember that the God of the Bible considers humanity to be his children. His actions in flood roughly represent God killing his own children because they were evil. Yet it's clear He regrets needing to do that. The crux however is that His regret is not a regret for His failure, but a regret for ours. We are the one's who became evil, launched the Crusades, started the Holocaust, enslaved the Jews, and more. He regrets needing to discipline us, but he doesn't regret infusing us with the spirit to rebel against him.
If God is still omniscient than it(I prefer using it over he/she) could have foreseen and actively prevented the holocaust and the holodomor from ever occurring.
Yet God did not stop them.
You can make no mistake that God wept over the Holocaust, but did He do anything to stop it from happening? No, because He doesn't want to control us, He wants us to be family, not merely servants and puppets like the Angel.
Where does free will come from(If that is what you are insinuating us of having)?
Consider the prodigal son, God doesn't stop His children from leaving his grace, but He knows that away from Him is evil. He will not stop them from rebelling, but He welcomes us back when we have realized our follies.
Where does evil come from?
