[Buddha-l] Natural Evil

[Richard Hayes]

On Monday 09 April 2007 10:19, Bob Zeuschner wrote:

> You want to excuse God for doing things that, if a human being did them,
> we'd consider that person a monster and either execute them or put them
> in jail for life.

Unless I'm very much mistaken, God IS in jail for life. There is no place to 
live but the universe, and every region of the universe is filled with pain 
and affliction. Just think what a prison this universe is. Everywhere you go 
there are exploding stars, toxic gases, high levels of radiation, black 
holes, It's worse than Guantánamo. And God has to be everywhere at once, so 
he can't escape these dangers even temporarily. To make matters worse, he has 
to listen to all these whining human beings asking for favors and complaining 
about their lot in life. Being everywhere at once, God can't even run, let 
alone hide. He stuck here forever in a hell of his own creation, You and I 
can achieve nirvana and get out of this mess, but God is stuck with having 
his nose rubbed in his monstrously painful creation for eternity. Just 
imagine how he must feel.

Being the kind-hearted and forgiving sort of person that I am, I'd really like 
to help God out. But you know how he is. Too proud to accept help or advice 
or constructive criticism.

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes