Al's post below is a good illustration of the problems encountered when choosing to believe in an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, benevolent God like the Father-God of the Judea/Christian/Muslim tradition. If you're going to give that God all the credit when favorable things happen, then you're going to have to assign God the blame when unfavorable things happen. Or, you can credit God with only the good things and blame all the bad things on someone else (yourself, your sins (karma), the Devil, etc...). Of course then you have to question why God didn't care enough, or wasn't strong enough to counter these other evil forces. Or you can just question your own judgment on what is favorable or unfavorable.
Believers in such a God today usually do all of the above. In the past they were a little more flexible to believe that such a God also had his malevolent side. All I can say if you believe in such a God is 'May God help you!'. Gassho...Bill! >On Friday, January 06 Al posted: > >Today I ran over a large rock that someone had either laid onto the road or >it had dropped off someone's truck. I thought it looked like a white paper >bag (maybe I need glasses?). What a shock to hit that rock. Thankfully it >seems like nothing happened to the car's transmission, axle, oil pan, motor, >etc. > >My daughter said "Thank God nothing happened to us." I thought "If G-d >wanted to be so helpful, why do only half a favor and leave the rock in the >middle of the road? Why not just do the complete miracle and have the rock >bounce to the curb when it fell off the truck?" > >So I wonder, was G-d helping us? Should we be thankful we were not injured? >Was the rock in the middle of the road a sign that G-d could care less? > >A couple of days ago an 11 year-old girl was run over by a car as she >crossed the street to go to school (at the school crossing, during the >slow-speed time). She was holding her older sister's hand when she was >killed. The car only hit one girl. Should the surviving sister thank God for >such a wonderful miracle? Why didn't God save them both? ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
