image provider

God and Evil


Here is an email I received in response to one of my essays.

God and Evil

Kurt Kaufman : k_kaufman@hotmail.com : 1999-09-21

I could never understand how a just and merciful God could create a universe in which evil could exist and then penalize his creations for exercising their free will in choosing evil. What’s the point?

The usual response I get: ---"Well, the ways of God are sometimes mysterious and not for us to understand"---

In other words, end of discussion, I guess.

Morality is such a human thing. It does not seem to apply to any other species. Animals kill without any regard to the suffering they create. They happily practice cannibalism or infanticide. Morality seems to me to be a human creation. I find it even stranger that God would direct me in ethics via a band of lying scoundrels (aka creationists). My own thoughts on the motivation for behaving ethically are in my essay on CCism.

On another subject, you might be interested in a book that was just published: Bearing Witness (To AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome)) is a collection of photographs taken by my aunt’s husband, Tom McGovern. He worked on this book for years and I believe the emphasis is on depicting supportive relationships between persons with AIDS and their loved ones (I haven’t yet seen the book).

Amazon says it won’t ship until 2000-12, but Tom told me it would probably be available before then. I’ve ordered some copies for our local libraries; some people react differently (hopefully with greater compassion) to photographs of real people than they do to the printed word, especially if that word isstatistical in nature.

book cover recommend book⇒Bearing Witness (To AIDS)to book home
by Thomas McGovern 978-0-923183-24-0 hardcover
birth 1922 age:95
publisher A.R.T.
published 1999-10
Australian flag abe books anz abe books.ca Canadian flag
German flag abe books.de amazon.ca Canadian flag
German flag amazon.de Chapters Indigo Canadian flag
Spanish flag amazon.es Chapters Indigo eBooks Canadian flag
Spanish flag iberlibro.com abe books.com American flag
French flag abe books.fr amazon.com American flag
French flag amazon.fr Barnes & Noble American flag
Italian flag abe books.it Nook at Barnes & Noble American flag
Italian flag amazon.it Kobo American flag
India flag junglee.com Google play American flag
UK flag abe books.co.uk O’Reilly Safari American flag
UK flag amazon.co.uk Powells American flag
UN flag other stores
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock. Try looking for it with a bookfinder.

Thanks for providing a thought-provoking website.

Kurt Kaufman


This page is posted
on the web at:

http://mindprod.com/feedback/god/godandevil.html

Optional Replicator mirror
of mindprod.com
on local hard disk J:

J:\mindprod\feedback\god\godandevil.html
Canadian Mind Products
Please the feedback from other visitors, or your own feedback about the site.
Contact Roedy. Please feel free to link to this page without explicit permission.

IP:[65.110.21.43]
Your face IP:[18.97.14.86]
You are visitor number