You forget that God did not create sin, man did. Man did not sin until tempted by the serpent and disobeyed God. Therefore, blaming God for the sins that man commits is like blaming the mother for the crimes of her child. Is the mother of a murderer responsible for the sins of the child? After all, if she did not give birth to him/her, then the murders that her offspring committed would not have been committed.
Second of all, regarding why God allows bad things to happen, everyone assumes that this life really matters. After all, when compared to eternity, seventy years or less or more is nothing.
This is, of course, the Christian point of view. I’m not sure I agree with it, but as a semi-devout Catholic, I feel a certain duty to defend the faith a little.
Yea, but what happens during that 70-odd year span and how you react to it determines where you spend eternity so it’s pretty damn important. In fact, you can make the argument that your life is more important than where you end up afterwards (again, using the standard Christian dogma here) b/c then there’s really nothing you can do about it once you’re in Heaven/Hell. So: the whole question of why God allows bad things to happen to good people is very important. If She/He/It tempts someone enough that they commit a mortal sin and go to Hell, isn’t God responsible for that? Who’s to say if the situation (lets say adultery, for ex. and that one guy was born and raised in a monestary and another in the U.S. of A.) never came up, that the same individual wouldn’t have gone to heaven? I think that cuts to the core of the OP.
God normally doesn’t tempt you, but yes, he does allow Satan to. However, it isn’t like God just leaves you to fend for yourself. He left his teachings and his Church to help you out along the way. Not only that, but if you do give in, if you truly regret what you did and repent, then God doesn’t hold it against you.
As for being raised in different areas and having different temptations, there are temptations everywhere. Do you think that just because a person lives in a monastery or convent that they don’t still have the same urges as other people?
Of course, you might point out that a person growing up in a crime and gang infested area might be tempted to sin more than a person living in middle-class small town America. There is more of a valid point there. Some questions become apparent using this scenario. Does God hold a black and white list of sins, or does He/She/It use some judgement and consider the circumstances of the possible sin? Clearly, I think that God does take the context into account, since stealing bread to feed your children is not a crime in the eyes of the Church. The only thing is how far does God take this flexibility?
The other question is that maybe this inequality allows the rest of us to prove where our hearts are. If a Christian sees this state of things, does that person have an obligation to try and help the person from the “bad” area keep his or her life straight and not give into sin. I believe the answer is yes. That is why many churches and religions have outreach programs in such areas.
To tie this back into the OP, then, a possible answer could be that God allows different levels of temptation to see where our hearts are and if we are truly taking His/Her/It’s message to heart.
Interesting take, Neuro., but you realize you’re getting perilously close to advocating ‘situation ethics’ here! My understanding is that most Western churches (especially the more dogmatic ones) frown on blending the black/white line between sinning and living in grace.
Well, of course they do. Do you know how many loopholes that would leave open if they admitted that was their stance? Then everyone would just rationalize everything. In my opinion, the Church sets some black/white lines, and lets God make the final decision. Kind of like our legal system. While the law is certainly black and white in most cases, occasionally juries decided that the situation warranted the crime, or at least should be punished less severely than the same crime committed in different circumstances. Plus, having black and white lines helps give us poor souls something to strive for
