> << Why does he/she/it allow people to come down
> with diseases when eating certain foods?<<
>  Is he/she/it  **allowing** us to get sick or, since
> we have a choice in what we put into our mouths, are
> **we** making ourselves sick?  Why does a higher
> being
> **allow** anything bad to happen?  This sounds as if
> this higher being is punishing us for not doing what
> we are **supposed** to.

Put yourself in the "higher power's" shoes
(figuratively). Let's say you have a herd of something
... let's use sheep ... and you know from experience
you are going to lose some of those sheep to
accidents, predators, etc. You have two choices. You
could lock up all those sheep in a "barn", chain them
down, and keep them "prisoner" for the rest of their
lives. Or you can let them "happily" roam the fields
and put certain safeguards (maybe a paleo pet) in
place to hopefully keep them going in the right
direction. Nice analogy?

Whether you believe in a god or religion or not, WE
are the ones who "punish" ourselves. Sure, sometimes
things happen outside our control, but hey, that's
life, isn't it?

In religion, and in life, I think the "intentions" a
person has are much more important than following the
letter of the law.
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