In news:alt.english.usage, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
<m...@peterduncanson.net> posted on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:39:47 +0000 the
following:

That would only be true if God could do something about the pain.  But to
create a universe of matter, the universe of consciousness had to be
crushed infinitely.  That contraction cut off people from God, but that
was the only way to bring materiality into being.  It must be the only way
because that's how it happened.  So the universe of consciousness wasn't
destroyed during the contraction of the universe.  The consciousness still
exists and is constantly working on the matter that makes up our bodies to
reformat it into its own design, in addition to pulling all matter that
exists into a design that existed as an idea before the contraction of the
universe began approximately 27.4 billion years ago, assuming that 13.7
billion years is the amount of time that's actually passed since the big
bang.

So to say all that in a more succinct way, people assume that to be God,
he must have infinite power and be able to do anything at any time, and
that if anybody suffers, God must either not exist, or if he does exist,
he must be incompetent.  But I tie in the expansion of the universe with
"access" to everything that God actually is.  It's not that God lets
suffering happen. It's that suffering distracts us from experiencing the
amount of God we're able to sense at this time in the development of the
universe.

I consider Jesus. If Jesus really could perform miracles and create
objects out of thin air, raise the dead and whatnot, then the power of God
would have to be beyond infinite.  It means it was possible for a few
people in history to tap into that beyond-infinite power and use it here
on Earth, though apparently that beyond-infinite power could not be used
immeasurably by Jesus or he would have remained and protected everyone on
the planet at the same time from all suffering for the rest of eternity.
He was obviously unable to do that.  I don't think he even had constant
access to his "miraculous" abilities and that's why the people of that
time were able to crucify him.  He wasn't obeying God by hanging on the
cross while he still had all his abilities intact.  He simply was unable
to do anything to stop them.  He was actually powerless!

So another is expected to come.  In a universe nearing its infinite size,
the one to come would get all the abilities and have full, unrestricted,
constant access to power beyond infinity.  Nobody will be able to crucify
that one, but when I look at this:

     1 John 3: [2] Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth
     not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall
     appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

...it makes me think that we won't see God as he really is until all our
bodies have changed.  It means that, somewhere, God is riding along in the
universe as a mortal, suffering the same things people are suffering,
decaying teeth and all, and is currently powerless to do immediately do
anything to stop the suffering.  He's waiting on the expansion of the
universe to complete itself, and when it does, if that verse is correct,
everybody will be changed into what they are going to be forever, and God,
currently in a mortal body, will experience the same changes in his body.

So...when we see him, we will see him as he is: immortal, and all people
will have been immortalized, too:

     1 Corinthians 15: [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
     at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
     shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [53] For
     this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
     put on immortality. [54] So when this corruptible shall have put
     on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
     then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death
     is swallowed up in victory. [55] O death, where is thy sting? O
     grave, where is thy victory?

I'm not quoting those verses the way some people do, as pastes of thing
that are believed solely because they're in the Bible.  I paste them
because I see, scientifically, how those events can come about through the
continued expansion of the universe into an infinite size that relieves
all density of the fabric of space.  Right now, we're living in a
compression chamber.  No wonder we suffer!  The molecules of our bodies
are vibrating all the time.  That we don't disintegrate, ourselves, due to
the effects of an expanding universe is proof in itself that once the
expansion stops at infinity, we'll be immortal.  Look at how we're able to
laugh, sing, dance, and entertain ourselves instead of screaming in
constant agony.  How much better will our conditions of life be when the
universe no longer has to expand?

Damaeus