The most common retort to any religious concept sounds like this:
How can a God who is benevolent allow for so much depravity, suffering, violence, etc.? Why would I want to believe in such a tyrant?
I’ve asked these questions myself — many times.
For me, the answer came down to free will.
Very short version: God graciously gave humans the option to do whatever they chose to do but strongly urged them to trust his discernment when it came to issues of good vs. evil.
Enter the serpent and apple and voila… we have bedlam.
God tried over and over to get his people to return to the covenant but their egos led them to believe they knew better.
Fast-forward a bunch of centuries and God finally decides it’d be best to send someone who can be the role model for how humans could and should act.
To follow Jesus’ example is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
You know how that went.
But that’s how it had to go and therefore, it’s not too late.
At any moment on any day, any of you can decide to live as a role model. You can choose to follow the example set by Jesus — knowing it is the path to creating Heaven on Earth.
Sure, I know… those who opt for this path are usually crushed. But what if way more people embraced the whole “love thine enemy” vibe?
What if so many people said ENOUGH that the Powers-That-Shouldn’t-Be could never stop them?
What if billions eventually followed some version of the roadmap laid out in the Sermon on the Mount?
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
It’s been maddening on this planet for far too long. More specifically, the past three years have worn all of us to the bone. So, before you scroll away, shaking your head at my naivete, I ask you:
Are you even remotely happy with the status quo, a world that promotes and tolerates war, poverty, corruption, division, human trafficking, and countless other forms of evil?
If not, what have you got to lose? And what if you gained more in return than your mind can even conceptualize right now?
Even if you don’t believe in any higher power, what’s the downside of helping others, offering forgiveness, and living a life of love?
Lead by example. Be the light of the world — living in a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.
After all, we’re all in this together, right?
(What follows, as well as what is contained in these parentheses, are expressions of my current judgement. My mind may yet change, despite my current confidence. If that happens, either I am wrong now or I'll be wrong then, don't you agree? Or am I not even making sense?)
Warning: possible devastating red pill follows.
The so-called free-will defence is a travesty. That the supposed maximally powerful uncreated creator of everything else even IMAGINED pain, suffering, misery, discomfort, or displeasure of any kind alone makes him/her/it a sadistic monster. NOTHING necessitates unpleasant experience such that even a maximally powerful being is powerless against it. So whatever persons—entities with wills—there are, as long as there is even the slightest discomfort, they have failed to demonstrate definitively that they can—let alone want to or will—permanently relieve those who are suffering.
That said, loving everyone, even one's enemies, is, I'm convinced, the best strategy for maximizing one's quality of life.
Blaming the devil for the results of humans' bad behavior is very...human.