Back to the plagues. Although I appreciated the respite, the reprieve. What do you make of the fact that only God can create lice out of dust, and that He did so for the purpose of causing pain and problems in order to motivate the Egyptians to allow the COI to leave?

thats one way of looking at it. i hope you are not insisting i adopt it as if it were straight from the mouth of God, right?

henry brings up a good point. why didnt the magicians try to restore the river to water instead of imitating the blood. why not try to relieve suffering instead of increasing it.

Exo 7:24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
Exo 7:25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that the LORD had smitten the river.

at the end of the seven days God restored the river to water tho it doesnt specifically say so.

i wonder if He made it even more pure than before.

Would you mind rephrasing this. I'm not sure I understand your intent. It seems less endearing than is necessary.

is that how you want me to see it? if not i would think you would have worded it differently....

MM, you do this a lot. You phrase questions in a way that any answer implies agreement with your premise. I've mentioned this to you a number of times (FOTAP, as you'll recall). The question, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" is like these questions you ask. If one answers "yes" or "no," then one is agreeing with the premise that one was beating one's wife to start with.

And so you asked:



So you are assuming it's a fact that God "did so for the purpose of causing pain ..."

How about if I ask you the question, "What do you make of the fact that God did not use violence in the plagues, nor did anything to cause pain upon the Egyptians?"

Did I ask you this question? I intended for Tom to address it. Sorry for the confusion.

PS - I agree the question is loaded and poorly worded.

Tom, you're right. The question was poorly worded. Thank you for point it out. Can we agree that only God can create lice out of dust, that evil angels are incapable of creating lice out of dust? If so, what can we conclude about God so far as it relates to the pain and suffering people experienced? It certainly cannot mean God employed the "withdraw and permit" principle and dust naturally changed itself into lice and caused the people pain and suffering! But what can we conclude?

i think that would be better addressed on the "Does God sometimes cause pain?" thread. i hope you see the point and agree.

thank you. it now gives me the freedom to be autonomous as opposed to being an automaton.

that is not meant as harsh, but purely a fact of i felt with some posts, but i do acknowledge that i am not able to feel what you do on reading it.