Johnny Skeptic

Does God distribute tangible benefits? If so, does he distribute them with any regard for a person's needs, worldview, or requests?

Tigers!

I believe that he does distribute tangible benefits. He gives us air, rain (a lot of the time), family (usually), friends (usually) etc:
It is given to the world, usually without regard to person's needs, worldview, or requests. Theologically it is known as common grace.
However there are exceptions. Bad things happen to good people (without necessarily defining good or bad) and good things to bad people.
Some get ill, injured etc: Others have much money, good health etc:
He has the perogative to withhold or increase tangible benefits to any or all as he sees fit.

PS: Haven't you made threads similar to this before?

DBT

Why can these so called benefits be attributed to the work of a God rather than simply being the natural order of things?

In any complex system there will be those that are 'better off,' 'luckier,' 'richer,' 'poorer'...so why is there more at work here than just natural variation and chance?

achristianbeliever

Completely irrelevant to the thread. If God created everything then he created anything that is beneficial to us. Including sun, rain, plants, air. Thus Johnny's argument is ruined. Your only argument amounts to us not being sure that it is God which is irrelevant to this thread. If indeed God created everything then Johnny's argument has been successfully refuted. You moving goal posts does nothing to change that.

sensiblesue

Your mistake is imagining that the OP presupposes the existence of God. "No, because God doesn't exist; therefore he doesn't distribute benefits, period" is a valid response. Besides, even if God existed, his having created everything could still be in question.

(BTW, Johnny hasn't made an argument here. The implied argument you were trying to disallow is DBT's.)

achristianbeliever

Then trying to answer is pointless. No matter what answer we give the response can be, "Well how do you know that's God?" Even if its some supernatural miracle the response can be, "Well how do you know its not the devil?" It puts the criteria on such a high level there is no chance for an honest inquiry.

steamer

I believe that you are a mere human who seems to delight in attributing things to an imaginary god to make him seem more real.

Theologins like to make shit up for consumption by the unquestioning masses.

Almost as if your magical, invisible magic god were not even a factor.

His biggest power appears to be that he can do all this without the slightest indication that there was a "he" to do it.

steamer

Except that Johnny is an atheist and only offers the argument to show that such inequalities are more compatible to a naturalistic worldview.

I see you do not wish to discuss why a naturalistic worldview is more compatible to what we actually observe. If your god is only imaginary then his not being real explains perfectly what we actually observe.

Johnny Skeptic

And parasites and bacteria too, right? If God created parasites, then he has used them to kill more people than all of the wars in history. If God created bacteria, then he killed one fourth of the people in Europe with a bacteria that is called the Bubonic Plague. Do you have any evidence that those actions by God were useful to him or to anyone else?

DBT

Did you actually read the title of the thread?

"Does God distribute tangible benefits? If so, does he distribute them with any regard for a person's needs, worldview, or requests?"

What do you think these questions imply?