Does God Exist????

A friend forwarded a mail one day with 4 basic questions which every individual asks him / herself at some point of life or other -


Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?


I'm penning my thoughts as they come, so they may be confused, contradictory etc. at times...

Let me start with 2 things I was taught since childhood:
A power called God exists and it is a good power.
God is present in everyone.

Now if the above statements were to be believed, a person like Osama Bin Laden would have God in him, thus making him a good power. This kind of analogy would lead to oversimplification of the entire situation.

A better way to look at it would be by comparing the power of Godliness to powers / qualities / senses like intelligence, ESP, humanity, kindness etc. I believe that mankind - every one of us are endowed with each of these qualities. But the level of development of these senses in us is what makes us different. A variety of factors - social circumstances, upbringing, inculcated ideologies, life experiences - all these culminate and bring out the best or worst in us. In addition, there is a strong prevalent factor called Will Power.

The saying "If I will, I can" is the truth most pivotal in human existence.

If you will the good in you to be stronger than the evil then you can be good. Goodness may be exemplified by qualities namely kindness, empathy, truth, love, forgiveness, humility...Doesn't it then follow that if you are good, you are a representative of God to someone, somewhere, sometime.

On the other hand, if you are weak and give into failure, depression, evil ways etc. then obviously you defeat the very purpose of your existence on earth i.e. to do and be good.
Its not easy to be good but its not too hard either. When you wake up in the mind with a good thought - for or about a person or a world as a whole you have begun the chain of goodness. Every time you decide to smile at someone, to withdraw from an avoidable fight, to fight the urge to bitch about / curse someone you are continuing to be good.

Evil is also a relative term. I recently read in a Readers digest article that when famous news personality Barbara Walters asked a Jihadi whether she, being a on Muslim would be allowed into heaven, he promptly said "no". The same answer was given by the priest of an evangelic church. The 2 people who gave the same answer come from diametrically opposite social backgrounds - one who has spent a life time killing in the name of faith and does not regret it and the other who has spent a life time preaching faith. But to both these people, non allegiance to their religion was cause for non entry into heaven. As it is the evil who are denied heaven, by the same logic a non Muslim or non Christian becomes evil automatically - their perception of evil is the same though they are evil in the eyes of each other - Ironical!

My take on evil:
When jealousy clouds every action and decision of yours
When your urge to hold power and wealth far exceed your capacity to use it for good or your need for it
When your sexual desire over powers you and doesn't stop you from crushing innocence
When you start valuing things more than people or their feelings
That’s when you are evil.

Answering the 4 questions, I have been able to do justice to the 1st 3 questions:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

because I believe that existence and non existence of evil is a purely human factor. I do not see an evil tree or an evil sea or an evil mountain or an evil star. I only see evil humans. As indeed evil is the propagation of humans, it has to be brought to an end by human actions alone. If we as a living vibrant genus will to put an end to evil, we can. But as long as there are a million interpretations to the word evil, there will be a billion ways to end it and all these ways to end evil will be perceived as evil by someone. It’s a vicious Circle.

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? - this is a question for which I do not have an answer. This can be answered by an atheist. I do not believe in a power which is neither able nor wiling. I believe in myself and my immense power to do good and my staunch willing to do good within my limited capabilities. If I believe the above statement, then I believe in God or let me say "the power called God".

LOVE HURTS

Love hurts! It’s a known and established fact.

The moot points here are:
Is love worth all the hurt that it inflicts?
Why do people willingly fall prey to this eerie concept well aware of the pain involved?

The answer to the second question is decipherable to some extent from the social behaviour of man. He smokes, drinks, does drugs, bungee jumps, scuba dives and does a lot of other totally crazy stuff just for the rush he gets doing it. He is well aware of the risk involved and of the final consequence in case the risk materializes. But he goes ahead unabashed because he justifies it as taking a calculated risk. If all goes well he will come out a winner with the thrill of his life. After all it’s a great story to tell the grand kids that your grand parent once jumped off the ledge of a 40 story building.

The second and maybe the most obvious and simple reason is that you normally don’t have much control over what your heart falls for. It’s difficult. It’s like a moth getting attracted to the proverbial flame. It just can’t help itself. When you start liking a certain person for whatever reason – because they are beautiful, because they are smart, because they love you, because they make you laugh, because they care for you or just because they exist… the ball is on the roll. Its just cascades like a snowball from the top of a steep slope. Its uncontrollable and it just gets bigger and intensifies as it goes ahead. It takes every thing that comes in its way.

I love walking, not for a particular reason or not to a fixed place. It is a unique experience when u, for a split second step into the shoes of other people - the young girl standing at the bus stop with a shy smile and a far way look in her eyes, a man walking with down cast eyes lost in his own world, the middle aged, over weight housewife rushing to run errands for the house……

Many a times such musings of mine have led me to believe that most of these people just wished they had someone walking with them, someone to share the journey with, someone to talk to, someone just to be there…Maybe that answers the first question to some extent. If only there were someone with whom I could walk that extra mile of life, if only there were someone whom I could count on to be there when I am feeling down & out, maybe then I would be willing to go through the hurt that love actually inflicts. The hurt that you feel when a loved one ignores you, the hurt when you feel when a loved one disregards your feelings, the hurt you feel when a loved one pricks your heart for something you did or said unknowingly, the hurt that you feel when your loved one promises to call you but does not, the hurt that you feel when your loved one does not attempt to even understand you, the hurt you feel when some one you love loves someone else….

That’s a lot of hurt, but you know what – I think the heart is emotionally conditioned to accept all that hurt and still keep beating. Love is necessary and I guess it comes as a package deal… u want love, u gotta get hurt!!!!!