Does “god” take sides? I’ve been asking that question since, well, I can’t remember and to date, I have never received an answer from anyone, lay or pastor (even a priest at one point). Most will +give me a version of word salad where after I leave, I am not only more confused as to the answer, but why I even bother to ask a question like that. Does god even care? From what we experience around the world on a daily basis, it looks like the answer to that is “no”.

Consider all the wars, large and small, the people that are dying from starvation, even those that are being crushed by their own government. It seems to me that a caring god would want to put a a stop to all of the man-made death and disease, wars and massacres that we are more than capable of committing. We can say we’re given “free will” but then why does god hold us responsible for all of the evil we commit? With “free will” it shouldn’t matter.

We all like to say that god is on our side, but then, when both sides declare that, how do we know? Our own ego speaks for us, I think. Our enemies really don’t see the evil within themselves that we see, and vice versa. So what does god see? I think that, if he exists, he’s a disinterested parent. If you had two children that seemed to argue and “fight” all the time, what would you do? Separate them and send them to their rooms? You’d do something to solve the immediate crisis and hopefully find a way to prevent further antagonism. No supernatural powers required.

Would you let your small child out the door in the morning, telling him/her to be good, then when you call them back in at supper time, you discover they’ve burn’t down half the subdivision? Whose fault is that, really? When you punish them for their deeds, do you not take any responsibility for what was done? Eternal damnation is a lot when, as a kid, if I were disobedient, I’d just be sent to my room. “No TV tonight”. But then, my parents were interested. Can we say the same for some god?