@XandryaNo, I am not saying you need to believe in said greater plan, I am merely pointing out that if one is going to critique a religion that they should probably set aside their personal feelings on it and weigh it by its merits. I personally find that a surrender of one's wants and desires to a greater system that benefits more people in a system of faith is for the better; this is where one also needs to assume God is both benevolent and all powerful. Even if that were not the case in either situation it is still a superior outcome to the raw, meaningless chaos that awaits the extreme opposite end of the pool, or the utter incompetency and inability of any system built by man.
I disagree that he could not somehow be both, namely because I ascribe to understanding the philosophy that if you are granted free will, which you are, that power to choose wrong rather than following what should be done then there is inevitably going to be fallout that affects others. It is not God who is sacrificing anyone or anything, rather it is the ongoing result of actions undertaken by people, many of whom even if they believe are not willing to follow; this is to as well utterly ignore the question of evil and its all consuming desire to destroy, which is another component to argue altogether. Nevertheless, while it might hurt you that said children lost their lives "just so you could go to work on time" it is ignorant to claim it was all about you, that somehow in such a system it would not or could not lead to more positives than negatives. Continued, your personal comfort and consolation are not the end goal, concerns perhaps, but the larger picture to be framed greatly eclipses your discomfort. In short, the ending state is unfathomably more important than your opinion in the context of a system that includes the Plan of God.
I need pose this, because so many argue this exact same issue, but in the entire story that focuses upon redemption and forgiveness what good would it do to instantly solve the world's problems? For one, it would violate the choice that is considered such a tremendous factor - others here mentioned it about the choice of seeking Jesus and Christianity as a whole, in addition to what a true death is - that being choice and another is, is that is indeed more or less promised. The issue people take with it is that they want it to be here and now, they want it to be
their generation where the judgment comes and all terrible things are destroyed once and for all. Realistically, even if one ascribes to that for themselves, they need recognize that it was explicitly stated no man would now when; you'd have your wish yet, just not when or how known to you.
Righteous by human definition is only proof enough that people are more worried about what is good for the human being rather than all things played out in consideration. It is as though they think they were promised that everything would be good rather than being told that God is good. You could argue, as you have, that he cannot be both based upon evidence around us, but again that is not taking the entire scenario and the context of the faith's system into understanding. It was not promised to be easy, the contrary was assured, and the book itself is rife with conflicts, injustice and lack of righteousness that all stem from mankind. At times they were used by God, others by Satan, but a large portion is people more or less proving to be self-defeating.
Finally, if those people choose not to find peace and forgive Bob for being obviously a sick man in mind, as well as spirit, I am afraid I cannot extend my sympathies there other than what is due. People are asked to forgive the unforgivable and set themselves aside from themselves; to cling to it is not their business and not what is asked of them. Again, I must state and affirm that it is not about what the person
wants it is about what
needs to be done. I admit, from my eyes I do not understand the issue in letting go and instead accepting it is not my place to judge the lives of men. The notion people hold that it is their duty is completely alien to me, for if example Bob did surrender himself for forgiveness and was forgiven clearly the already greater power has that greater understanding of sincerity that people's human emotional tendencies interfere with.
And in the end, Bob would never know until he was already dead. As the phrase goes, "Let God sort them out."
