There’s been a LOT of attempts to explain this throughout history, none of them are really airtight. Until one day I finally cracked it. Like seriously, I think I have a solution without a contradiction:
What if… God is just not very clever? He’s doing his best, ok?
If he’s really all powerful - I hear you object - couldn’t he simply increase his intelligence? Yes. Yes he could. If he thought of it =(
As a worldbuilding/fiction device, it’s a hell of a lot better - genuine-looking limitations are always more convincing than “completely fantastical bullshit that just can’t do any damn thing that you’d expect, for increasingly suspicious reasons”, or that keeps switching capabilities after what the story/case needs. They’re major alarm bells for not only being made up, but poorly.
It isn’t the shtick for the major monotheistic religions, though. That wouldn’t be very omnipotent or omniscient.
Stupidity does not square with omniscience and omnipotence, though, unless one desperately needs it to. It would explain a hell of a lot, but you will notice how very little of the scripture goes “god, this god dude is such a stupe, but we’re just rolling with it for reasons”
Besides, Hanlon’s razor gets sorta short circuited by Occam’s, which would seem to take a dim view of an entire bible’s worth of waffling to explain suffering, war, famine, kids and good people dying horrifically from cancer, natural disasters etc etc etc
Tracks with the whole “god made us like him” premise. That just means god is an idiot about half the time. Also explains the cruelty, capriciousness, manipulation, uncaring, etc. with hypothetical random acts of kindness. It also means any potential heaven is going to be a complete crapshoot, you have no idea what fit of pique god will have built heaven in.
Either way, sounds like god is a real dumpster fire and has left humans to stew in their own as well.
There’s been a LOT of attempts to explain this throughout history, none of them are really airtight. Until one day I finally cracked it. Like seriously, I think I have a solution without a contradiction:
What if… God is just not very clever? He’s doing his best, ok?
If he’s really all powerful - I hear you object - couldn’t he simply increase his intelligence? Yes. Yes he could. If he thought of it =(
“if you’re a dumbass and you know it, clap your hands”
suddenly, rolling thunder
All-powerful, all-seeing and loving. 1 and 2 can’t be true for someone who dropped the ball this bad
Seeing is not the same as understanding.
Maybe humans like suffering and dying. They all seem to do it, so they must like it.
I like this idea of an all powerful toddler god
The “toddler god” idea has a flaw; he’d have tantrums.
Like flooding the entire earth?
As a worldbuilding/fiction device, it’s a hell of a lot better - genuine-looking limitations are always more convincing than “completely fantastical bullshit that just can’t do any damn thing that you’d expect, for increasingly suspicious reasons”, or that keeps switching capabilities after what the story/case needs. They’re major alarm bells for not only being made up, but poorly.
It isn’t the shtick for the major monotheistic religions, though. That wouldn’t be very omnipotent or omniscient.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Stupidity does not square with omniscience and omnipotence, though, unless one desperately needs it to. It would explain a hell of a lot, but you will notice how very little of the scripture goes “god, this god dude is such a stupe, but we’re just rolling with it for reasons”
Besides, Hanlon’s razor gets sorta short circuited by Occam’s, which would seem to take a dim view of an entire bible’s worth of waffling to explain suffering, war, famine, kids and good people dying horrifically from cancer, natural disasters etc etc etc
Tracks with the whole “god made us like him” premise. That just means god is an idiot about half the time. Also explains the cruelty, capriciousness, manipulation, uncaring, etc. with hypothetical random acts of kindness. It also means any potential heaven is going to be a complete crapshoot, you have no idea what fit of pique god will have built heaven in.
Either way, sounds like god is a real dumpster fire and has left humans to stew in their own as well.
This perfectly lines up with a series called Miracle Workers and in it Steve Buscemi is God and he’s an absolute fuck up.