Hardly hot potatoes, part 1

While participating in an Amazon.com "purchase surge" to help promote the new book "The Irrational Atheist," I came across this web page. My first thought was, "really... is that the best you can come up with for "hot potatoes" religion supposedly doesn't want to answer? Let's put a fork in them, shall we?

Some religious leaders seem to tell us that we're not smart enough or good enough to discover God on our own. Who says?
First, a point: what individual "leaders" say is far less important in the Christian faith than what Scripture says. So let's go there:
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." 2 Corinthians 4:4
The Bible is also clear all have sinned and fall short of God's perfection. So yes, any Christian leader preaching from Scripture WILL say none of us are able, on our own, to reach a relationship with God. That is the point of God's revelation to us -- HE had to take the initiative. Human beings don't like the idea we're not in control of the process. But to pretend otherwise is to argue with God... that's "Who says."

If God is good and perfect, why is there so much evil and suffering in the world?
Because we choose it. We make selfish choices daily, not necessarily considering them "evil" in our conscious thoughts, but without regard for the impact of those choices on others. What the question is really complaining about is why God doesn't put a stop to all those choices. And yet, if He acted as the Great Puppetmaster, controlling everything directly, these same critics would, if allowed, criticize Him for being controlling. This issue isn't a problem with God's character... it's a problem with ours. For those critics who complain about evil, I ask: if you recognize evil, you must recognize a Standard of Good. What are YOU doing to align yourself with that Standard?

More in the next post...