You know, I really like what Splendra said about language.
Thou CAN not
is much different than
Thou SHALL not.
The latter implies we are able to, but, should not for other reasons.
The former means it's impossible.
Thou can not kill...lie...commit adultry....etc
Imagine....
What this example speaks to is the construct of language...it's ability to create a reality and its limits too. The eskimos have like 36 words for snow, each one denotating a different type of snow. I can think of maybe 6 used here in New England. Different realities created by language. It's all in the construction of words.
And I think, Clancy, that is the difficulty you are experiencing. You have a Christian construct of G*D and are *stuck* within those limits of the construction.
Because G*D isn't "all powerful" does not mean G*D is impotent. The two are not synonomous. G*D's power, in my construct of G*D, is not the physical power you envision. No, G*D's not able to sweep down and save that child. Nor is G*D able to end the pain my mom is experiencing daily, that has her hospitalized right now. But, G*D has the power to move you with that image. To move me. To move others to do rescue missions....to create....to invent....to expore....to heal...
I could NOT love/honor/admire a G*D that COULD save that child...
...and didn't.
And I wouldn't want to.
And that whole idea of the child being a different religion...therefore being damned?
What could anyone revere about a god like that? A punishing, hateful god that condems the innocent because of her parents choice of religion; of their history and culture?
Most Western religions require that you belong to that religion, or be damned.
I'm not a Christian, Clancy. I'm Jewish. Jews don't follow that idea. One is not required to convert to Judaism to be saved.
I follow the stories of Torah, (what some call the "Old Testament.") However, the stories in the Torah and the New Testament exist to teach a lesson. It's the story of humankind's struggle with G*D, like Jacob's G*D wrestle. (Like what we are doing right now!) I do not take the stories literally. They are moral stories. They tell *a* truth; not necessarily *the* truth.
I don't believe G*D wrote the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran or any other religious script for that matter. I believe it was G*D inspired. That's G*D's power. To move those men and woman who wrote the stories of G*D, sharing them with us over the mellinium. To enter each one of us; to speak to each of us personally and move us. That still small voice within -- is very powerful indeed.
So, G*D is quite powerful. Just not in the way power has been constructed over the years. Loose that construct of power, and a newer, more expansive vision emerges. That's power.
Under this new construct, the answers are not so vague afterall, now are they?
Again, please understand I am sharing *my* understanding of G*D. It's not a contest, and I have no need to engage in one. I'm simply trying to share my understandings in answer to your questions. Hope it helps!
Shalom!