All-loving Perfect God?

Question: Why did an all-loving God create such a mess? The question, for me, leads logically to three possible conclusions: (1) He is not the Creator God to begin with; (2) He created a perfect world but another powerful entity (the Bible says that Satan is the prince of this world) took over and fouled things up, or (3) God, the Creator, is Himself imperfect.

Answer: Ever considered a software, or perhaps a still easier analogy, a video game, how it is designed and how it responds to the players' inputs? You see, the software designer engineers a set of possibilities which are programmed in a set of ‘if’ ‘elseif’ ‘else’ conditions or ‘while’ ‘do while’ ‘for’ 'next' loops knowing very well all the possible choices the player can possibly make, and even though the game evolves in exactly the same pattern as it was designed, yet, it is coloured in the choices made by the player. The player has no power over the result of his choices, but he does have a limited power to make the right choices. The perfect game that he plays, or the mess he creates is based on his own aptitude, and does not reflect the perfection/imperfectness of the designer. If the game crashed, gave an unknown error, then the programmer is flawed, but if the game continues till the end, then the programmer has done a very good job incorporating and designing around all possible user inputs. That our world continues, that inspite of all the evil perpetrated by humans upon humans, life goes on, and good things still happen, and all in all, everything continues till such a time as is prophesized that it will come to an end, all indicates a perfect designer. But, He tells us that this is no mere sport, that there is a purpose behind this world and this life, and beyond what we’ve been told, we will be acquainted with the reality of it in the Hereafter. Till then, we just have to trust Him, and wait……….He will tell us when the time is right, or so I guess!
And as far as Satan being the prince is concerned, well, like us He is also allowed to make His choices, but actually everything happens exactly according to the Divine plan….we can only make choices, whether we are humans or genies.
Have you seen the movie, Matrix? Sometimes I think perhaps we are simply plugged in here like in the movie!

God: All-Powerful?

Q: I may not have mentioned that I'm probably a much more liberal Christian than most --- I'm strictly New Testament, except for a few of the psalms and such. I 'm so liberal that while I believe God is all loving and all knowing, he is not all powerful (at least not in this world). If he could end the suffering, why wouldn't he? Even I have that much compassion, and I'm not God.

A: Earth is a place of trial…………. Health, wealth and material comforts are as much a trial as disease, poverty, hunger and pain……….. all get their own exam paper to solve….. for some the trial is more difficult than others…… they will be marked accordingly. Then again, those with an easy: healthy, wealthy and comfortable life will be judged more severely as they were made custodians of resources and how much of it did they use of it to ease the pain and suffering of fellow human beings. God is Most Compassionate, He gives life and provides sustenance to all those living… he does not discriminate between muslims, jews, christians, hindus, pagans, atheists, and so on. Our compassion is based on our ‘perceived narrow world view’ whereas God’s compassion is based on a cosmic view of everything………. We do not know so much, and we are so insignificant, we cannot even begin to comprehend Him, let alone judge Him. He is, indeed, All-Powerful! Saying that if He could, He would have solved all problems, is like saying if the Examiner knew all the answers, He wouldn’t make the students take the exam.