Expert: Vincent M. Wales - 1/17/2010

Question
Dear expert,


Some arguments to solve problem of natural Evil are as following:



diseases and congenital malformations are created by God in the sole purpose to make humans appreciate health more and love their normal shape more, in order that they will be grateful towards God.
Otherwise, in a world without any sickness and malfomations,
people would find that their condition is merely normal and usual and wouldn't be totally convinced how lucky they are, thus they wouldn't be so grateful.


Eg:  a man who became blind loves sight than ever when it's given back to him. or After seeing a man who was born without legs and arms, we tell ourselves 'Fortunately, i'm luckier than him. Now, i thank God for creating me correctly shaped.'



is this argument compatible with an wise, perfect God?



sincerely

Answer
This strikes me as a very self-centered approach to the subject.  To have the view of "wow, how lucky I am" strikes me as the antithesis of what God would/should want, which is for us to be compassionate about our fellow man, and to (in fact) put them above ourselves.  One message that was repeated throughout my own religious upbringing is that we are to put God first, others second, and ourselves last.  

More to the point, though, why would a perfect God care in the slightest whether we are grateful toward him/her/it?  Desiring such adulation is not perfect, nor godlike, but a very human trait.

But since we have created God in our own image, this is hardly surprising.