omnipotent vs benevolent God ??

[Eaten By Cheese]

Faith Fairy

We are made for faith, and faith helps us stay healthy in mind, body and spirit. We don't need to know all the reasons God let some tragedy occur, and from our perspecitve it wouldn't make sense to us half the time anyway. All we need to know is that God is in control, He knows when something happens to hurt us and is there to see us through, and that somehow He will incorporate what happened into His eternal plan for our good.

So you are truly willing to follow because you are told that this God is all-mighty? I am not criticising your faith, simply saying: you should have justified reason to believe something before you do. Believe in God, not because you've been taught that you should, but because you have reason to do so.

 

[Tarrou]

Cometh The Inquisitor

Judging from the wikipedia summary of the book I most decidedly would not like this Paneloux. He's a fear-monger taking advantage of a crisis. As well, the conclusion that natural pain (the plague) was caused by G-d is, while possible, highly unlikely. If one is put into a situation like that of Paneloux, where they are a spiritual authority in a time of crisis, it is their job to rally the people to togetherness and compassion for others, for there are few higher callings than serving others.

Never, every use a summary. Paneloux is, with his first sermon, a dogmatic fear monger, although as Rieux says, it would be a mistake to think that he truly believes everything that he says. I'm more interested in his second sermon, where he argues that, as suffering is part of God's plan, we must embrace and, in a way, love that suffering—we should work to alleviate suffering, but at the same time we must be willing to suffer ourselves. But most importantly, you cannot believe in God's plan without, in a way, loving your and other's pain, as that plan is divine and its effects, however horrible, are similarly godly. Or, to use his words, a priest is not justified in consulting a doctor; he may not shirk his portion of the anguish that God has already inflicted on others.

I won't spoil anything for you, but I'll simply say that Paneloux does wind up living according to his second sermon. That is the character who's ideas I'm likening yours and other's to. There's a certain nobility in that philosophy, but as I've said, I cannot love a plan, divine or not, that tortures and kills the innocent. From where I stand, the God that allows that kind of suffering is ether benevolent and powerless or omnipotent and apathetic, but certainly not a loving and powerful God.