all this evil .. and God ?

a friend mentioned to me today that they don't spend much time on God anymore ..
all the things going on in the world .. just doesn't make sense
the videos of isis slaughtering tons of people, using children to execute people ..
mass shootings ..
they don't have time anymore to do the apologetics to keep them convinced this stuff can happen with an omniscient god

and might i add
syria and the 1 million refugees this year
homelessness on the rise in many cities
corruption in the government of the 'greatest' 'democracy'
the ever-increasing disappearance of the middle class as the wealthy trump everyone else
   and use their wealth to expand their wealth at the cost of those without wealth
the rise of the new religious right-eous
   packing weapons for self defense
   pointing out the muslim for demarkation
   positing fear in the name of the God who drives out fear
   calling for war and killing
      while many many innocent civilians died this very year in war
         some from american bombings

who can blame my friend ??
i can't
and i won't
how can i

..

the question asked by my friend is one of the oldest think-inspired questions in the christian religion ..
and they're still trying to answer it today as best they can
and for good reason too ..
'cause we have been reared on a baseline of the sovereignty of God
and everything springs from there
everything ..

so that the obvious question " how can an omniscient ( think all-powerful ) God allow evil ? " dogs christianity as it runs over hill and dale proclaiming the christian god is God and everything is under God's control ! everything that occurs is according to his will ..

.. when the emPHAsis is on the wrong syllAble .. well ..

`|`

that conundrum has a term in theology .. it's called a ' theodicy '


i posit this one thing for our consideration ..
if the god-that-is controlled everything ( or even most things ), determining in detail what was going to happen
and if that god restricted evil
   then where would freedom be ?
and if there is no freedom in the creature
   then where would love be
because, my friend, love cannot be forced ..

love cannot be forced

now backtrack ..
if love cannot be forced, then God cannot determine our actions
and if God can't do that, then evil must be allowed to exist ..
if not, there isn't freedom
and no freedom means no love

and no love = no God
   at least not the christian god

..

that's my simplisticated argument
of course, you can google the theodicy thingy and find a library chock-full of theological treatises
and you can find some simplified ones too
like  this one
and you can get a wonderful audio book free that's written for simplisticated people like you and me
here

..

one other thing ..
we might be able to walk away from God because we can't explain this God alongside the persistent existence of horrible evil ..
but not Jesus

not Jesus ..

peace to you