A God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell -- mouths mercy, and invented hell -- mouths Golden Rules and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship him!
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The passage critiques a deity that creates suffering and injustice while proclaiming moral virtues.
- In plain terms
- It questions a God who allows pain despite moral claims.
- What can you take from it?
- Reflect on the problem of evil in theology.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do we reconcile suffering with belief in a benevolent deity?
- What alternative explanations exist for evil?
Another view
Interpretations of divine purpose vary widely.
More from Samuel Langhorne Clemens
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