God and COVID-19

[Immanuel Can]

God could make me better too.

How much better? How much better than you are now, would a truly good God make you?

I mean, if He were a truly good God...

[Gary Childress]

God could make me better too.

How much better? How much better than you are now, would a truly good God make you?

I mean, if He were a truly good God...

What is your point with all these questions?

[Gary Childress]

God could make me better too.

How much better? How much better than you are now, would a truly good God make you?

I mean, if He were a truly good God...

For starters, God probably needs to work on himself more than he does me. He's got the bigger body count.

[Immanuel Can]

God could make me better too.

How much better? How much better than you are now, would a truly good God make you?

I mean, if He were a truly good God...

What is your point with all these questions?

To see how far your objection against God goes, and whether or not you really want to sustain it all the way it logically requires.

You said that if He were good, he wouldn't have allowed COVID-19. Then, that He wouldn't allow other things like bacteria, cancer and hurricanes. Then that he would prevent human evils as well, such as wars, rapes, enslavement, and so on. Then you even said that He would also make you a better person.

So now we're at the "how far does that go?" question. And it can go no farther than if Gary says, "All the way."

What does Gary say?

[henry quirk]

COVID-19 was created by human beings

Really? I thought it was just a lil virus that jumped species cuz commies eat garbage animals.

You sayin' wu-flu was manufactured?

No.

I'm saying its existence, and the present plague which Gary so deplores, is attributable to human action. It would never have existed if (depending on which story one believes) a man had not created it in a lab, or a Chinese person had not eaten something in a wet market in China. Whichever it was, it was somebody's decision that precipitated the present crisis...whether he knew it or not.

It was commies eatin' garbage animals: raw bat brain soup, raw snake intestine tar-tar, pangolin toenail sammiches.

[Gary Childress]

God could make me better too.

How much better? How much better than you are now, would a truly good God make you?

I mean, if He were a truly good God...

Pretty sad when most people I know are better moral beings than God.

[Immanuel Can]

It was commies eatin' garbage animals: raw bat brain soup, raw snake intestine tar-tar, pangolin toenail sammiches.

I've heard that. I don't know quite what to believe, though, since fake news is all the rage these days.

There's another theory that it was created in a lab in Canada, then shipped to China, where it was accidentally released. I think that's hokey, but what do I know about it?

Nobody -- least of all the Chinese government -- seems to be at all forthcoming.

[henry quirk]

My god requires no worship, hears no prayers, so I don't pray or worship. His use to me is, again, as explanation.

Explanation of what?

And why that idea for explanations, rather than other ideas?

As I say: I accept the existence of god as explanation for personhood, free will, etc.

As for why god instead of another idea: cuz only god fits.

[Immanuel Can]

God could make me better too.

How much better? How much better than you are now, would a truly good God make you?

I mean, if He were a truly good God...

Pretty sad when most people I know are better moral beings than God.

That was not my question, Gary. You don't need to prove you're better than God. But in your belief that God is not being good enough, I just want to see what it entails.

Does a good God have to deal with whatever propensity for evil is inside Gary Childress, or could a good God eliminate it from everyone else, and give Gary an exception?

[Gary Childress]

How much better? How much better than you are now, would a truly good God make you?

I mean, if He were a truly good God...

Pretty sad when most people I know are better moral beings than God.

That was not my question, Gary. You don't need to prove you're better than God. But in your belief that God is not being good enough, I just want to see what it entails.

Does a good God have to deal with whatever propensity for evil is inside Gary Childress, or could a good God eliminate it from everyone else, and give Gary an exception?

I may not need to be better than God but I still have a smaller body count than this God of yours. What more do I need to say?

[Immanuel Can]

I may not need to be better than God but I still have a smaller body count than this God of yours. What more do I need to say?

You're not wanting to say it, are you, Gary?

And I wonder why. Since you've gone so far in (rightly) condemning the evil in the world, and condemning the evil others do, and even being so humble as to admit you'd want yourself to be improved morally, why, at this last post, are you pulling up?

What is it that makes you not want to say, "A good God would eliminate all evil -- even the small evils inside Gary Childress?"

[Gary Childress]

IC, between me and God, who is responsible for more deaths in this world? Which of us do you think has been an agent in the destruction of more human beings?

[henry quirk]

It was commies eatin' garbage animals: raw bat brain soup, raw snake intestine tar-tar, pangolin toenail sammiches.

I've heard that. I don't know quite what to believe, though, since fake news is all the rage these days.

There's another theory that it was created in a lab in Canada, then shipped to China, where it was accidentally released. I think that's hokey, but what do I know about it?

Nobody -- least of all the Chinese government -- seems to be at all forthcoming.

Parsimony, when in doubt: simplest explanation is a common virus jumped species, the means of the jump bein' wet market sales.

[Immanuel Can]

IC, between me and God, who is responsible for more deaths in this world? Which of us do you think has been an agent in the destruction of more human beings?

I'm not contesting that, Gary. I'm trying to take the measure of your accusation against God. I want to see how committed you feel to this idea that God should eliminate evils.

Whatever your view is, it is. If it holds water, it holds water.

I'm saying, let's you and I see if it does.

[Immanuel Can]

Parsimony, when in doubt: simplest explanation is a common virus jumped species, the means of the jump bein' wet market sales.

Well, whatever the truth is, those wet markets are super nasty, and they shouldn't exist at all. That much we can safely say.