Posted by Dave on July 11, 2005 at 23:16:40:
In Reply to: Re: I'm with you posted by timo on July 11, 2005 at 17:32:58:
The burden of "proof," if you want to call it that, is on those who claim God is an infinite yet personal being who cares tenderly about our finite needs here on this tiny planet (including the "need" to live).
Let's face it: when an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia sent a tsumani racing across the Indian Ocean last year, wiping out hundreds of thousands of Asian and African peasants (along with a few Westerners), the determining factor as to who survived and who didn't appears to have been random chance; those who happened to be away from the beach when it hit survived, while many of those who were in the wrong place at the right time did not.
I use the word "appears," by the way, because we really don't know the answer(s) to the questions posed by theodicy. But given that all we have to go on, really, is what our senses tell us, I still maintain that the burden of persuasion (in case you don't like the word "proof") lay with those who claim that, despite the gulf of darkness which separates us from knowledge of the Divine, we can still say for certain that God is personal, and that He cares for us.
Wow. Guess I'm out of the closet now.
Dave