Reader asks God for help

READER ALEX WRITES: “I have just had a brief look at your website. God help us all”

BB SAYS: Interesting point Alex.

It only makes sense to appeal to God for help if you believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing God. But even that is not enough. If you believe in a Deistic God (who is indifferent to human beings and their destiny) then it makes no sense to petition him to help you. But if you believe in a Theistic God (one who is infinitely good, and concerned with your well-being) then it may make sense to petition him for help.

However, there is a problem with believing in a Theistic God, which is known by Philosophers and Theologians as The Problem of Evil. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, and also infinitely good, then why does he allow so much evil in the world? Why does he allow the innocent to suffer?.

Theologians have struggled with this problem for centuries. Some have argued that this world is, despite appearances, the best of all possible worlds. There may appear to be evil, but that is because human beings are incapable of understanding God’s mysterious ways. The innocent may sometimes suffer, but that suffering is ultimately necessary, even if we humans are not able to understand why. These are the arguments of some theologians.

Nevertheless, if one believes in an infinitely good, omnipotent and omniscient God, then one could still argue that there is no point in praying to Him for help– if he is omniscient then he already knows what help you need; if he is omnipotent then he already has the power to help you, and if he is infinitely good then he already wants to help you.

Given this, it would appear that your request to God to “help us all” is redundant. Perhaps we would be better off trying to help ourselves, rather than appealing to a hypothetical God.