Originally Posted by
TraSoul82
Originally Posted by ChampionEdition
bro. he gave us free will. he gave the entire planet free will. he's letting things do as they do and is hoping man will turn around for the best.
if we, and this world didnt have freedom on ALL levels, we would become emotionless robots.
he made us simply and we became complex. he's just sittin back watching everything. cause our interpretation of time is on a much MUCH MUCH smaller scale than his.
think of a ant. for us to walk 1 mile may us take an hour. it might take the ant a day.
we are on a scale that the ant cannot comprehend.
you get it.
he steps in where he see's fit as to not %%!$ up the whole flow of things, but he cannot touch on everything or else he would be giving us no freedom at all.
The free will argument is the one I truly can't stand. Letting things do as they do? Isn't this the same god who flooded the Earth and mass-murdered the planet's population when he didn't like the way things were going (save for the ONE guy who had faith and his family... Oh, and two of EVERY animal)? The same god who put a tree of knowledge of good and evil in front of ignorant people and then got mad when they "sinned?" How in the hell is it a sin to LEARN the difference between good and evil? Talk about a trap game. The same god who knows everything yet did seem to know that one of his angels would turn against him and become his arch-nemisis? The same "all-powerful" god who can't seem to defeat this arch nemisis?
If god really just wanted things to just go as they are then he wouldn't have created anything. According to the bible, god is just some lonely cosmic being who suddenly decided that he wanted to bring people into existence for the purposes of worshipping, praising, and thanking him. Like he just got bored one day and decided he was lonely and wanted some entertainment and friends.
The bible doesn't make much sense when taken literally. This is the type of thinking I cannot understand. Belief in god/God/gods is understandable. No one knows how we got here, so it makes sense to wonder. But to tout the bible around as if it's some fact-filled reference book for all of life's problems in inexcusable.
I also can't get into this "interpretation of time" nonsense. If there is one constant in this universe, it's time. It doesn't stop and cannot be controlled, even by god. According to the bible, it took an all-powerful being 6 days to create the universe, and then he was so worn out, he needed to rest. What in the hell is he resting from?
He spoke things into existence. I guess that's why he doesn't talk to us now. He must still have a sore throat or something.
Long story short: Whether or not you believe in god is one thing. Acting like you have all of the answers is another. The bible proves god's existence just as much as "Amazing Spiderman" proves Peter Parker's existence.
Those are some great points you brought up. I can't speak for my Christian NTers but I can speak from the Islamic point of view.
This worldly life is just a test before the final destination at an unknown time known only to Allah. As such, Allah gives us the tools and enough free will to face the test and pass it or fail it. Now notice I said "enough" free will rather than complete free will which I think is the case in Christian theology. Allah is all-knowing, all-wise and one of his names in the Islamic tradition is "The Provider" meaning that he provides his slaves (human beings) with sustenance as he sees fit. Allah appoints every human being with health, wealth, family, etc as He sees fit meaning that no one can earn more than Allah has appointed for them or any less. As you can see, this is clearly not complete free will then. Why does Allah intervene in these things then and still expect us to pass the test of life? The answer is simple: these things are what we are tested with. Some men are poor to test their patience and their reliance on Allah while they also serve as the test for those with money to see if they will help the less fortunate. Some men are rich to see if they begin hoarding their wealth and spending it unnecessarily or spending to help the less fortunate and in the way of Allah. Now with this being said, it moves on to my next point which is called "sunnatullah" in Arabic which means "the way of Allah".
Sunnatullah refers to the nature in which Allah does things. He does things in a constant way. In the physical world, this is called the laws of nature. One hydrogen and 2 oxygen, for example, will always be water, gold will always melt at the same temperature, etc. This is also the case in how Allah deals with people when his messengers and prophets are sent. In the Qur'an, Allah says that He has sent a prophet to every nation on earth (starting with Adam and ending with Muhammad). Prophetic traditions from the Prophet Muhammad record this number to be in the hundred thousands but we don't know for sure. Anyways, Allah sends these prophets to people (as in the case with Noah as you used in your example), the people could have either rejected that prophet or accepted him, and then Allah destroys the people who rejected as a sign for later generations. In the case with Noah (Nuh in Arabic), the Qur'an states that his people were destroyed but there is nothing in it about the whole Earth being destroyed and modern science proves that a flood destroying the whole world is just not feasible. This falls just in line with the way of Allah as only the people of Noah were destroyed.
Your next point about Allah and Satan is an issue for Christian theology but Islam answers this clearly through the Qur'an. First, I want to stress that Allah is almighty and there is nothing in comparison to His power and He shares His dominion with nobody (no sons, daughters, grandparents, etc). With this said, Satan (Shaitan in Arabic) was not an angel but from a creation called Jinn which are made of smokeless fire. Shaitan was the leaders of the angels in heaven and the most faithful worshipper of Allah until Allah announced to the angels and Shaitan that He created His best creation - Adam. Allah commanded the angels and Shaitan to bow themselves in front of Adam to show them that Adam is superior to them. All the angels bowed but Shaitan refused because he was upset that a physically and mentally weak creation took his place as the favorite of Allah. Allah is all-knowing so He knew this was going to happen, it was no surprise. In Islam, we call this the first act of racism. Allah tells Shaitan to enter hell but Shaitan begs Allah to allow him to stay alive long enough to lead the children of his enemy (Adam) astray. Allah allows Shaitan to live until the day of judgment in order for him to be a test for humanity. Shaitan is in no way an arch nemesis of Allah. As a matter of fact, the Prophet (pbuh) told us that as Shaitan tempts humanity into sin and as they are about to perform that sin, Shaitan runs away from them saying "Allah, separate me from what they do because I know what they do not and I fear Allah." Clearly, this is no arch enemy of God.
To answer your last point about Allah creating humans just so we can worship, I'm gonna have to go back to the concept of "sunnatullah" (the way of Allah). As I said before, Allah has a way of doing things that we humans cannot even begin to understand. Allah creates creatures out of His own wisdom and mercy. He says "Be" and it's there with no burden on Him. Long, long before the creation of human beings, Allah created the universe and His angels which all worship Him continuously. The rocks, trees, mountains, Earth, Mars, etc all constantly worship Him. His angels are not given free will and they MUST obey the commands of Allah. They have no will of their own, no desires, no need to eat, drink, sleep, etc. All they do is worship Him continuously. With that being said, why is are human beings, who are so forgetful, who are so weak, who cannot possibly spend all their lives worshipping, Allah's favorite creation. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that Allah created human beings for the sole purpose of repentance unto Him. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that Allah loves when his slaves (human beings) sin out of error, ignorance, etc and then return to Him in repentance. Repentance, in this case, is not asking God for forgiveness knowing full well that you will sin again. It is sincerely, full heartily asking Allah for forgiveness and trying with all your strength to never return to that sin again. When the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) asked him why, he responded that this is what Allah loves and that if human beings were sinless, Allah would just create another creation that would sin and ask for forgiveness. Like I said in the beginning, all we as human beings know is that this is the nature of Allah.
Sorry for the essay and excuse my grammar mistakes, I'm fighting a cold right now and am typing this as I wait for this nyquil to kick in