>This is the one that interests me the most, because I wonder
>if people ever stop to consider that maybe God is
>malevolent.
>I mean, He puts us through all the awful shit in the world:
>pain, sorrow, loss, poverty, oppression, rape, murder,
>racism, hatred, etc. If he's omnipotent, He could easily
>prevent it. But He created evil and allows it to continue to
>exist - why?

I'm not a Christian, but I'm familiar with a common answer to this question amongst many theologians.

Before the fall, humankind (adam & eve) were simply granted a free pass to paradise for eternity, without ever having to make any choices, prove their loyalty or earn such a privelege.

Upon the fall, Satan took the form of the Serpent, evil was introduced to the world through the famous apple, Adam, Eve and the future of humanity was corrupted, and human beings no longer had an automatic greenlight to eternal paradise.

This serves God purposes, because Jesus' crucifiction offers humanity an opportunity for redemption and salvation through faith, penitence and begging for forgiveness and alas, humans must 'deserve' to go to heaven in order to be sent upward.

Cool story, I like it, Milton's "Paradise Lost" is one of the best pieces of literature from the middle era of the second millenium (much better than anything in the bible *dodges lighting bolt*.

>I would never let someone I love go through that stuff if it
>was in my power to prevent it. So, how do we know he is
>inherently "good" and really loves us? How do we know that
>this life is not just one big game/experiment for God's
>amusement?
>
>Of course, one could also take the stance that God is
>neither good nor evil, neither beneficent nor malevolent,
>because He is above and beyond such concepts. That
>discussion doesn't really go anywhere though.

"If life is prison, then music is the yardtime"--Gift of Gab

"I've been a big genesis fan ... take the lyrics to "Land of Confusion," in which a singer addresses the problem of abusive political authority. This is laid down with a groove funkier and blacker than anything Prince or Michael Jackson-or any other black artist of recent years, for that matter-has come up with ... yet as danceable as the album is, it also has a stripped-down urgency that not even the overrated Bruce Springsteen can equal"--American Psycho

"I'm tryin' to read your poetry but I'm helpless like a rich man's child"--Bob Dylan

"The only thing you owe the past is wasted time"--Beck