Is God cruel or is He good? For those who want to reject God, all they have to do is point to all the sufferings in the world, which effectively silences most Christians. How can God be so powerful and so loving, and yet continue to let all these daily horrors go on and on and on?
Well, in defense of God, I would like to stand that argument on it's head. I will now point to all the GOOD in the world and state: If God is cruel, then where did all these good things come from? If God was truly cruel, then I would enjoy NO GOOD THING! The only food a cruel God would give me to eat would be edible gravel, sharp briers and animal feces. The food a cruel God would supply would taste terrible, smell awful, look nasty and set my intestines aflame.
If God were cruel, I would never have a fine variety of clothing to wear that consists of such a huge selection of fabrics, colors, textures and styles that we now enjoy. The only garments a cruel God would allow me to wear would be something the equivalent of scratchy burlap. The clothes provided by that God would be to torment me, constantly irritating my skin and be ugly to the eyes.
If God were cruel, the only music in the world would be the screeching of fingernails on a chalkboard or the amplified sounds of a dentist's drill or the never-ending shrillness of a whole parking lot full of car alarms going off.
If God were cruel, there would be no beautiful flowers; no fresh, cool breezes; no fragrant perfumes; no bright-colored tropical fish; no clouds; no colors; no desserts; no playgrounds; no smiles; no hugs; no kisses; no intimate love-making with our spouses.
If the God who made our world is cruel, then He must surely be a very stupid and careless God to have allowed so much good to come leaking through. Since that argument is so weak, I can only conclude that behind all the pain, there must indeed be a Good God.
