The problematic aspect of god is whether he is active in mortal lives or not, and how far that goes. Did he set everything in motion and just let it run? If so, then he is, at worse, an observer of all this free-will stuff, not callous but certainly not omnipotent. Omnipotent means he can do anything he wants and there's no reason for him not to do it--he isn't restrained, like us, by gravity or trying to teach our kids a lesson...because he's god. He can instantly enlighten the bad person and make them into a saint (see St. Paul). So why not do that with crazy gunmen before they mow down children?
The reason most people give for that "Why?" ("Why did god let this happen?"
, however, is that they believe god does have reasons for, say, letting a manic murder 20 children...we mortals just can't understand why because we're not god. The problem with this is that it negates his omnipotency (see above), and that includes the fact that god should be able to explain why he let this happen. It doesn't matter how unfathomable he is to us as a deity, he is a deity, omnipotent, omniscient, and that leaves no room for the excuse we'd give to our kids of: "It's complicated. You'll understand when you're older..." Sorry, god can or should be able to do better than that.
In the end, however, the whole scenario seems rather spiritually absurd. There is eternal life united with god after our time on Earth....so isn't death a good thing? And what is the point of life on Earth anyhow? That is the REAL question someone is going to have to answer me before I'd be able to buy any of it. And usually, the only answer any spiritual leader has to it..."god alone knows." It always comes to that. Bow your head and trust in god. It's all part of his big plan.
Translation: Please don't stop believing in god and coming to our church because you've realized that god suddenly makes no sense at all....
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