Sorry, Arbo, this is worth a serious discussion.
>If evil exists in this cosmos -- and it is virtually 100% in agrement, a few philosophical wackos in exception -- then what hope is there save a God who is a just judge for that evil?
Agree. There is evil in this world! But if God does not have the characteristics we attribute to him then he may have other characteristics which don't require a next life for humans. Most other religions accept the concept "what goes around, comes around." This does not require a "personal" god.
>Further, what if that God intended, that what seems to be evil to us in our current state, is actually not evil in the sense that it is "something" but rather a distinct "lack of something" instead so that He could fulfill a greater and "gooder" purpose in the life to come?
This is a possibility. Personally, I have no complaints against God. I was born in the best times and the best place for the working class in the history of the world. I have never had a problem that was not generated by my sin nature and my bad judgement. I am satisfied with the hand I have been dealt and it has been a long time since I have asked for a new deal from God.
But many of the prayer requests I hear are from people who have also grown up in the best times and place as I, lived 50 or 60 years and still want special consideration and a new deal from God.
When Job's first set of children discovered that God let Satan kill them to win a bet he made with Satan . . . .
Also, I don't classify natural events as evil.
