Is God Incompetent

Is God to blame for natural disasters? Does He cause volcanic action, flooding, earthquakes, plague and genetic disease? Can He Prevent them? Why doesn’t He? Geoffrey E L Bennett uncovers deep Biblical insights linking them to twenty-first century cultural and scientific answers. Is God cruel or callous? Is He impotent or incompetent? How can I know if God even exists? Part one explores pain and shows how different cultural groups understand God to be vindictive and cruel, or else limited in power, or believe that suffering does not really exist. Part two examines Old Testament teaching on suffering, challenging the idea of ancient wisdom. Profound teaching is dissected from the minor and major prophets as well as the story of Job. Then the New Testament fulfillment of prophecy is examined, challenging perceived ideas, and finishes with an interpretation of the Apocalypse. The concluding solution to pain and suffering of God. Part three deals with scientific theories and twenty-first century concepts of the universe and the physical world, together with raw nature and biogenetic problems. What place does God have in our modern world? Do natural disasters “Acts of God” show a limited or incompetent Deity?

Is God to blame for natural disasters? Does He cause volcanic action, flooding, earthquakes, plague and genetic disease? Can He Prevent them? Why doesn't He? Geoffrey E L Bennett uncovers deep Biblical insights linking them to twenty-first century cultural and scientific answers. Is God cruel or callous? Is He impotent or incompetent? How can I know if God even exists? Part one explores pain and shows how different cultural groups understand God to be vindictive and cruel, or else limited in power, or believe that suffering does not really exist. Part two examines Old Testament teaching on suffering, challenging the idea of ancient wisdom. Profound teaching is dissected from the minor and major prophets as well as the story of Job. Then the New Testament fulfillment of prophecy is examined, challenging perceived ideas, and finishes with an interpretation of the Apocalypse. The concluding solution to pain and suffering of God. Part three deals with scientific theories and twenty-first century concepts of the universe and the physical world, together with raw nature and biogenetic problems. What place does God have in our modern world? Do natural disasters "Acts of God" show a limited or incompetent Deity?

Is God to blame for natural disasters? Does He cause volcanic action, flooding, earthquakes, plague and genetic disease? Can He Prevent them? Why doesn't He? Geoffrey E L Bennett uncovers deep Biblical insights linking them to twenty-first century cultural and scientific answers. Is God cruel or callous? Is He impotent or incompetent? How can I know if God even exists? Part one explores pain and shows how different cultural groups understand God to be vindictive and cruel, or else limited in power, or believe that suffering does not really exist. Part two examines Old Testament teaching on suffering, challenging the idea of ancient wisdom. Profound teaching is dissected from the minor and major prophets as well as the story of Job. Then the New Testament fulfillment of prophecy is examined, challenging perceived ideas, and finishes with an interpretation of the Apocalypse. The concluding solution to pain and suffering of God. Part three deals with scientific theories and twenty-first century concepts of the universe and the physical world, together with raw nature and biogenetic problems. What place does God have in our modern world? Do natural disasters "Acts of God" show a limited or incompetent Deity?

Calculating God is the new near-future SF thriller from the popular and award-winning Robert J. Sawyer. An alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. A six-legged, two-armed alien emerges, who says, in perfect English, "Take me to a paleontologist." It seems that Earth, and the alien's home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling on the alien mother ship, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at about the same time (one example of these "cataclysmic events" would be the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs). Both alien races believe this proves the existence of God: i.e. he's obviously been playing with the evolution of life on each of these planets. From this provocative launch point, Sawyer tells a fast-paced, and morally and intellectually challenging, SF story that just grows larger and larger in scope. The evidence of God's universal existence is not universally well received on Earth, nor even immediately believed. And it reveals nothing of God's nature. In fact. it poses more questions than it answers. When a supernova explodes out in the galaxy but close enough to wipe out life on all three home-worlds, the big question is, Will God intervene or is this the sixth cataclysm:? Calculating God is SF on the grand scale. Calculating God is a 2001 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

While atheists such as Richard Dawkins have now become public figures, there is another and perhaps darker strain of religious rebellion that has remained out of sight--people who hate God. In this revealing book, Bernard Schweizer looks at men and women who do not question God's existence, but deny that He is merciful, competent, or good. Sifting through a wide range of literary and historical works, Schweizer finds that people hate God for a variety of reasons. Some are motivated by social injustice, human suffering, or natural catastrophes that God does not prevent. Some blame God for their personal tragedies. Schweizer concludes that, despite their blasphemous thoughts, these people tend to be creative and moral individuals, and include such literary lights as Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Zora Neale Hurston, Rebecca West, Elie Wiesel, and Philip Pullman. Schweizer shows that literature is a fertile ground for God haters. Many authors, who dare not voice their negative attitude to God openly, turn to fiction to give vent to it. Indeed, Schweizer provides many new and startling readings of literary masterpieces, highlighting the undercurrent of hatred for God. Moreover, by probing the deeper mainsprings that cause sensible, rational, and moral beings to turn against God, Schweizer offers answers to some of the most vexing questions that beset human relationships with the divine.

A recent string of popular-level books written by the New Atheists have leveled the accusation that the God of the Old Testament is nothing but a bully, a murderer, and a cosmic child abuser. This viewpoint is even making inroads into the church. How are Christians to respond to such accusations? And how are we to reconcile the seemingly disconnected natures of God portrayed in the two testaments? In this timely and readable book, apologist Paul Copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including: God is arrogant and jealous God punishes people too harshly God is guilty of ethnic cleansing God oppresses women God endorses slavery Christianity causes violence and more Copan not only answers God's critics, he also shows how to read both the Old and New Testaments faithfully, seeing an unchanging, righteous, and loving God in both.

With our American Philosophy and Religion series, Applewood reissues many primary sources published throughout American history. Through these books, scholars, interpreters, students, and non-academics alike can see the thoughts and beliefs of Americans who came before us.