~~ Reflection ~~
Why do bad things happen? People have been asking this question for thousands of years and no religious authority has ever been able to answer that question with any sort of confidence. This should strike us as odd particularly because these same religious authorities claim to personally know not just the creator of the universe, but this creator's mind as well. In fact, they claim to speak on behalf of Him.
In today's constant stream of 24 hour news and information overload, it's easy to gloss over stories like these so please indulge me for just a moment. I'd like you to close this book and think about each of these stories. Seriously - really give them some thought. Try to put yourself into those places. Imagine what it would be like to have the buildings around you suddenly shake and crumble. Imagine hearing your family members scream through the rubble of an earthquake only to hear their voices trail off into silence. Imagine Elisabeth screaming for help. Imagine the confusion and sheer terror she must have felt as she tried to claw her way out of a room built to hold her. Imagine the tears that she shed as her father violated her over and over again, often in front of her own children. Now put yourself into the church and imagine those young boys and girls unable to defend themselves and the shame they felt being abused by someone they trusted. Imagine the physical act itself of a priest inserting himself into a young child. What if that child were your child? Imagine the pain that this caused, not only physically but emotionally. Finally, imagine each of these situations and the people crying out for God's help. They're crying for a God that isn't going to come - a God that did not come.
The real takeaway here is that the Omni Paradox provides ample evidence to support the common cliche that life is not fair. Every day we can find examples of bad things happening to good people and good things happening to bad people. If a personal god were real and indeed had a plan for each and every one of us, then that would mean that we deserved the bad things that happened to us. The corollary here is that the good things happening to bad people are somehow deserved as well. The purpose behind the Omni Paradox is to show us that God is either imaginary or completely indifferent. When we apply the Omni Paradox to any of hundreds of daily or historical examples (consider the Holocaust for example), we see that life is absolutely not fair and we can reasonably conclude that there is likely no moral arbiter dishing out positive and negative actions. There is just reality and when we finally realize this, the rewarding of good behavior and the punishing of bad behavior takes on new meaning. We become more accepting and understanding of reality without resorting to a naive, cosmic security blanket telling us that good will always be rewarded and evil will somehow always be punished. Life doesn't work that way.
The next time there is a school shooting, an earthquake, flood, or any other newsworthy event take a moment to apply the Omni Paradox to the situation. Look at the situation and ask yourself whether God could have known about it in advance, cared enough to intervene in it, or was powerful enough to prevent it. You will find your own conclusions to be illuminating.