That's the mistake a lot folks make. The vast majority of scripture is not in for personal interpretation. That's precisely why we have these discussions on these forums. People far to often impose personal belief onto scripture rather than aligning belief to scripture. It's fairly obvious you are doing that. Talking about the insanity of God? Or God keeping from going insane? What? Where on Earth in scripture does that come from?
You see, I didn't make up the story of Lucifer, nor the story of Adam and Eve. THAT'S SCRIPTURE. It's also a HORRIBLE PREDICAMENT TO PUT SOMEONE IN. Giving someone the 'opportunity' to condemn himself to hell? What kind of a cruel monster what NEEDLESSLY put someone (much less 100 billlion humans who've live and died to date plus countless angels), in that sort of predicament?
Problem is, the Bible ALSO says that God is perfect in love. That itself is ALSO SCRIPTURE.
Has anyone noticed, yet, that my position is founded on Scripture? The stories of Lucifer, Adam and Eve, the demise of th world, and the eventual climaxing of it all on Calvary are so historically tragic that I for one could wish it weren't all true. YET THAT'S SCRIPTURE.
So it APPEARS to be a contradiction, on the face of it. This is a problem known historically as the 'problem of evil'. A considerable number of theologians (and numerous philosophers both Christian and non-Christian) have TALKED about it because it IS A REAL PROBLEM. For atheists today, it is their most staunch objection to any (theistic) Doctrine of God.
So unless we want to live a life of denial, we need to resolve this problem. We need to respond to the atheist's insistence that our God is a monster.
And the church has had 2,000 year to do it. I still haven't seen anything convincing yet. I took a university class on the Philosphy of Religion, and the problem of evil was one of the central topics. Saw nothing very helpful or convincing.
What do you want me to do? Wait another 2,000 years? Watch His Name continue to be slandered for annother two millennia? That would be your definition of being theologically responsible? I would call it irresponsible.
After 2,000 years of unsatisfying traditional 'solutions', it's become pretty obvious that a NON-TRADITIONAL solution is called for. So yes, while I feel your pain that, FROM THE TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE, it feels like insanity to talk about God's insanity, it's also insanity to continue to assume, after 2,000 years, that a traditional perspective will solve the problem.
Let's review our options:
Either:
(A) God created us because NEEDED us OR
(B) He merely because He WANTED us (He made us just for the fun of it, which seems monstrous). He's an infinitely self-sufficient being who, as such, didn't need us for us fun but created us anyway? This is a problem.
Therefore if we're going to step outside the bounds of TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE, we'll have recourse to option A. Fine. But WHY would God need us? Answer: perhaps He is a FINITE BEING whence the possibility of weaknesses and vulnerabilities such as insanity looms on the horizon.
So He evidently has one weakness or another (viz 'God rested on the 7th day' as though FATIGUED).
Note: Jesus is God and became fatigued.
Conclusion: God is potentially susceptible to fatigue.
Second example:
God came to the earth as the man Jesus.
As a man, Jesus was POTENTIALLY susceptible to every human frailty, including INSANITY.
Conclusion: God is potentially susceptible to insanity.
Whether or not you happen to AGREE with this kind of reasoning, no one's likely to convince me that it's peurile. Unfortunately my hands are tied to defend it, because there's only so much I can say for fear of Staff deleting this thread for a second time (not sure how far I'm allowed to go).
One final example. Genesis features an enumeration of God's creations. After each one is itemized, it is sealed with the words, 'And God saw that it was good' - UNTIL HE CREATED ADAM. That was the ONE THING of which He said, it is NOT good, for "It is not good for man to be alone."
WHY is it not good? Afer 6,000 years of human history since Adam, it's pretty clear why. Too much loneliness and isolation can corrupt mental health to the point of INSANITY.
What's God's REMEDY to the problem of Adam's loneliness? A BRIDE. The logic is irresistible. Where there is danger of loneliness-based INSANITY, God's first and foremost solution IS A BRIDE.
Now, what role does the CHURCH play for God? She is His bride.
So if you're going to try to tell me that the Bible has NOTHING to say about God's sanity, I will simply beg to differ.
Insanity is only one possible weakness justifying our creation. Actually I provided a SECOND weakness as well (but personally I think both weaknesses factored in God's decision). The second weakness is that the task of becoming holy (whereby He acquired merit and thus now merits praise) was probably too daunting for Him to undertake without some hope of reward. The angels and the church, as His eternal companion, was that reward.
You're welcome to come up with a better solution to the problem of evil. But I for one am not going to wait around for another 2,000 years, holding my breath for it.
