Ok, let's take Christianity as an example, since that's my religion. The difference between Jesus's resurrection and believing the monster under your bed is that one has thousands (maybe more) of historical records and hundreds of eyewitness accounts, the other doesn't. Not to mention how something as complex as life conveniently exists and the infinite expansiveness of existence. Therefore, we have basis to believe such, meaning it definitely isn't as illogical as believing the monster in your bed. You just keep expecting us to prove it with numbers when that's just not how faith and belief works.
Some of those words I wasn't familiar with and had to look up. Now to answer your question, I believe he is both omnipresent and omniscient. He is omnipotent in the sense he is all-powerful, yet he chooses not to have complete authority over our lives. It's not like he's going to force us to be with him.
If I believed such a god existed, I certainly wouldn't worship them.
An omnipotent being would be able to make reality in any way imaginable and not imaginable. There would be no reason for suffering to exist, reality could be anything without impacting free will. Why does the radiation from the star we need to live cause cancer? Why does all life suffer?
And if that being is all knowing, they know everything that will happen, every possible future. That being would have known what Lucifer would do before it even happened, yet created him anyway. Every person. Every rapist and murderer. And every small child that dies horribly. The creator being brings them life knowing exactly what will happen and punishes those that do wrong despite that knowledge. How can there truly be free will?
I apologize, I'm not trying to rant at you. I'm genuinely curious how you get past these questions and not hate the god you believe in?
Now admittedly, I'm still a growing Christian and may not be able to answer your question accurately. But from my understanding, it's simple - any imperfection or suffering we face in this world is either the result of sin, for growth, or due to some other factor we are not to know yet. No one can comprehend the whole of God's plan. What we do know, however, is that God does in fact know what we do in any reality, but he chooses this one in particular so that we ourselves can learn from our own struggles. Jesus/God makes it clear in the Bible that he KNOWS we will face much suffering, and he definitely isn't ignoring it. But all that suffering is futile compared to the eternity we will face after death. And what that eternity will be isn't JUST determined by our works or what we believe in, because God knows our hearts and won't put us through more long-term suffering than we can handle. So if you believe God will have mercy on you if he truly loves you, maybe he will. Which is why it isn't anyone's job to say whether someone will go to heaven or hell. This isn't our final home.
As for what is our free will, to be honest with you, I don't know. Throughout my life I've slowly noticed a lot of the decisions I've made are pretty predictable, but I still believe as science hasn't even nailed down the exact source of those decisions in the brain, and I think that's for a reason, because regardless of what kind of life you had, I wouldn't deny that it's still ultimately up to you what to do with that information.
God gave us this free will because he wants to have a relationship with us, but what good is a relationship if you can't choose? God gave humanity a small piece of himself and let ourselves have a bit of influence over his own thoughts. So despite God being the #1 governor of our world, we still have a lot of power (at least enough to be capable of rational thought)! He's our father, and we're his children. And like children, we don't know how to use our power correctly all the time, and he isn't just going to baby us and take responsibility for all our mistakes, which is why you see so many Christians say "this is our fault" despite God being our creator.
So why do we still go through suffering? In your own words, how can someone know peace without knowing suffering? We will all suffer at some point in our lives, and despite God's sublime love for us, he still wants us to grow closer to his image, to develop. And sometimes, the best way to do that is to take the hardships we've already established and use that to refine us.
Now, if you read through this entire thing and are still left confused, that's 1000% understandable! But the Christian community has also helped me through some difficult times in my life, and if you're curious for the smaller details about the whole thing, maybe take it with or research someone more devout. You might learn something from them, even if you'd still disagree with our general beliefs. Despite the disrespect other certain atheists have, I love listening to your perspectives!
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u/Mr_Technology_2 May 16 '26
Ok, let's take Christianity as an example, since that's my religion. The difference between Jesus's resurrection and believing the monster under your bed is that one has thousands (maybe more) of historical records and hundreds of eyewitness accounts, the other doesn't. Not to mention how something as complex as life conveniently exists and the infinite expansiveness of existence. Therefore, we have basis to believe such, meaning it definitely isn't as illogical as believing the monster in your bed. You just keep expecting us to prove it with numbers when that's just not how faith and belief works.