Lots to unpack from your post, TS, so let me respond by point, please:
TS: "
If heaven is going to be utopia, but you still have free will there, then why wouldn't Yahweh have put all living things in the Universe, including people, there to begin with?"
First, I think you make a mistake by imagining 'Utopia'. One detriment to lack of a classical education, is that people fail to understand that '
Utopia' literally means '
no where', as in a place which cannot exist.
I would suggest that a better concept would be a place where everything is as it should be, which also explains why we do not start there. The Bible tells us we
started in Eden, which is Paradise, but screwed up the place through our decisions and actions. To you this may be just a fable, but if one accepts that Adam and Eve, who were not born in sin, screwed up, then
anyone who was human would sooner or later screw up. I know you're not into Bible reading TS, but if you read through the Bible you will find many accounts of human failing and redemption through God's love.
Therefore, it makes sense that heaven would be a place God has prepared for us
after we have learned from our mistakes and His grace.
TS:
" Why subject them to struggles and misfortunes of this life?"
Why did you go to school? Why did you have to complete assignments and study for tests? When you started working, why did you start at the bottom of the crew, with no credibility or reputation? Don't you have to work your way to accomplishment, even if you have great potential? The struggles and misfortunes of this life serve to remind us not to love the short life here too much, to be sensitive and compassionate to those around us who suffer, that we might work to ease each other's pain and troubles, and we grow through challenges and tests of life.
TS:
" Why require them to believe in just one religion out of thousands?"You see from an invalid perspective. Why does 2+2 equal 4 and not whatever we want it to be? Why are there specific chemical properties, so that we are warned against mixing certain chemicals, and to check our numbers before we put something into practice? Why does computer code have to be written in a certain syntax?
Everything requires order, and one cannot serve God while denying Him. It matters therefore that we seek God in our hearts and work, and love each other as creations of God. If someone is able to do this, the details will sort themselves out in due time.
TS: "
Would any loving god really require all of the convoluted mental gymnastics necessary, to reconcile all of the biblical contradictions, and inconsistencies?"
You see what you believe to be '
contradictions', although they are not, because you are bigoted against believing, and so you create excuses to run from God. It's important to understand Scripture In context, and not confuse it for something it never claimed to be.
Jesus once advised people to give Caesar what was his, and to give God what is His. The same principle applies here to biblical wisdom.
TS: "
Why require the convoluted justification of biblical atrocities that one has to embrace, in order to convince oneself the religious culture one is born into is true and virtuous?"Strange, the only atrocities I see in Scripture were evils done by men, and are no worse than atrocities still committed today.
You seem to be confusing human behavior for divine direction. And you certainly seem blind to the history of humanism.
TS: "
Would a benevolent god place mankind in this position, in a chaotic universe, demanding blind faith in the unbelievable, without objective evidence, and under penalty for failure to believe?"All this question tells me is that you are emotionally bigoted against faith, and desperately want God to be under human control. Your demand for "
objective evidence', for example, amounts to nothing more than demanding God prove Himself to human satisfaction, limited to human comprehension and human standards.
That notion is frankly absurd if you give it any real thought.
TS:
" Isn't it all nonsense?"No, faith is not 'nonsense'. It is beautiful, like the trust of a child and the love of a couple who have been married a half-century. Faith makes things possible which ordinary humans cannot imagine will ever be so.
TS:
" Isn't belief nonsense?"No. Belief is the necessary floor on which all accomplishment starts its walk. This is true of secular atheists as much as the most devout priest.
That which does not kill me, will try again and get nastier