If God is all powerful, then why can’t he stop evil from happening? That would mean he’s not all powerful. If God refuses to prevent evil, then he can not be all good. So can a Christian explain how God is all powerful and good in this case?

Quora.com ^ | 9/3/2023, | Daniel1212

[daniel1212]

Certainly that logical fallacy, a superficial ignorant parroted polemic (such as invokes everything from the Flood to AIDS as a moral argument against God), can be answered.

There simply is no contradiction btwn God being omnipotent (and omniscient) and all good (from whom all good has come, as the creator of an exceedingly vast, systematicity ordered universe, exquisitely fine-tuned for our physical life), and the allowance of evil,

For unless you want a world in which mankind is like a cloud or a robot, then allowing evil is a necessary good if:

Man is to be a being with the ability to make moral choices;

And if such choices are to have effects/consequences, for both good and evil,

And which consequences can affect others as well as self, directly or indirectly.

But which God can make to ultimately work out for what is Good, in the light of all that can be known.

Which includes just punishment for eternal beings which manifest they wanted the opposite of God, (John 3:19–21) though only being punished according to what they could and did choose to do, (Deuteronomy 24:16; Luke 10:1- 15; Revelation 20:12; cf. 2 Corinthians 8:12) while making all to work out to the benefit of those who honestly choose Him over sin, seeking and finding the mercy of God in the Lord Christ. (Roman 8:28)

Consider some alternatives. God could have,

1. made us (and angels) with no moral standard or sense or deprived us from the moral ability to respond to or choose good [morally insensible, even as with clouds].

2. granted us free moral agency, but never have given us anything to choose between [negation of moral choices, and no devil or God].

3. left man only with recourse to finite competing sources as his ultimate object of spiritual affection and allegiance and source of security, and supreme judge of what is good [atheism and atheistic governments].

4. called man to make the Creator their ultimate object of spiritual affection and allegiance and source of security as being what is right and what is best for man, versus finite created beings or things being one's "god," and provided moral revelation and influences. Yet always have moved us to do good, and never have allowed us to choose evil (even if as by making believing in God and choosing good so utterly compelling — like God appearing daily and always doing miracles on demand, and preventing any seeming evidence to the contrary - so that no man could attempt to make excuses for not believing in Him [effective negation of any freedom to choose]).

5. allowed created beings a negative alternative to faithfulness to the creator, and the ability to choose evil, but immediately reversed any effects and not penalized such [negation of consequences to choices].

6. allowed us to do bad, but restricted us to a place where it would harm no one but ourselves [isolated consequences to choices].

7. allowed us to choose between good and evil, and to affect others by it, but not ultimately reward or punish us accordingly [negation of judicial and eternal consequences, positive or negative].

8. given us the ability to choose, and alternatives to chose between, and to face and overcome evil or be overcome by it, with the ability to effect others and things by our choices, and to exercise some reward or punishment in this life for morality, and ultimately reward or punishment all accordingly [pure justice].

9. restrained evil to some degree, while making the evil that man does to work out for what is Good, with justice yet with mercy, and grace, towards those who want good, and who thus the One who is supremely Good.

10. in accordance with 8, the Creator could have chose to manifest Himself in the flesh, and by Him to provide man a means of escaping the ultimate retribution of Divine justice, and instead receive unmerited eternal favor, at God's own expense and credit, appropriated by a repentant obedient faith, in addition to the loss or gaining of certain rewards based on one's quality of work as a child of God. And eternally punish, to varying degrees relative to iniquity and accountability, those whose response to God's revelation manifested they want evil, [justice maintained while mercy and grace given].

But man, as an exceedingly finite being who is but a speck in this universe,

and in the sea of humanity,

and whose existence on earth occupies an infinitesimal amount of time,

and who is very ignorant of what all the effects of his choices have been and will be, in time and eternity,

and quite impotent to make them all work out as he/she wants, not only in one’s own life but in others,

and for this life, as well as eternity,

is in no position to sit in judgment upon an omniscient and omnipotent being and giver of life,

who alone knows what all the effects will be of even our most seemingly insignificant actions or inactions,

not only in this life but for eternity.

And can make all work out for what is Good, for what is just, as well as showing mercy and grace.

And which the God of the Bible has often manifestly done already, and promises to do for those who choose the ultimate Good, the living and true God, (Romans 8:28) by His grace, thanks be to God.

This the choices of an omniscient omnipotent Being cannot be judged as being evil or good by extremely finite and relatively ignorant man. Not that - in my ignorance myself - I have/do not too often protested His dealing with me as I subjectively imagined Him, though objectively blessed, and I am being blessed right now listening to,

uplifting spiritual worship: Oden Fong and Friends: Lord of All Creation. Glory to God

[daniel1212]

*[YouTube “wall of text” formatted into readable form, mostly by use of https://poe.com, which was instructed to just provide punctuation, paragraph spacing, capitalized pronouns, and place any interpolations in brackets for better readability (instructions needed for each instance of operation). To obtain transcription, if captions are available, pause YouTube vid at beginning, then hit 3 horizontal dots below pic to choose “Show Transcript,” and then hit 3 vertical dots on the top right of the transcript, and choose Toggle timestamps. Then select the first word of the text, and then scroll down to the end, and hold down the Shift key and select the last word, and then copy the text you want to paste for AI editing)

[Hambone 1934]

Funny,they always sneer at the words”” free will””...I have never heard one ever say, yeah,I want to be forced into doing the right thing....ALL THE TIME...

[reasonisfaith]

You get an A+.

[wiseprince]

I suspect how man and God view both power and goodness differ immensely. Not to mention man doesn’t have God’s context or perspective. Are you really trying to box God in with that question? Talk about hubris.

[nwrep]

Plantinga and Craig have clearer and better responses to this question.

[ryderann]

Allowing free-choice evil is God’s way of sorting out who gets to share eternity with Him.

[NWFree]

Because he gives man free will and they screw it up

Next question

[Big Red Badger]

As Moses lead Israel out of Egypt so the Son of Man,First Born of the Dead and
The Holy One Israel leads His Children out of Bondage to sin to Paradise.

[daniel1212]

While https://www.quora.com is a mixed of truly informative and interesting answers on many subjects, as regards religion, it abounds with anti-theists with their typical ignorant and often irrational rantings against God, mostly that of the Bible, and with very very few Christian answers for such challenging questions as this (many of which I suspect are planted by anti-theists in the light of their pile-on of scornful, often vulgar vulgar responses) getting many upvotes compared to anti-theists.

I have gone rounds with some of them (as here) in comments, by the grace of God, but usually they are so recalcitrant that further extended debate is not warranted.

[daniel1212]

Thanks be to God. Takes time.

[reasonisfaith]

It’s a good point you make.

We have only our own view to work with. Our own view shows we can choose right or wrong. It shows us God gave us this choice, and that he gave it to other beings he created.

I think this is all we need to answer the question of evil, but I could be overlooking something.

[daniel1212]

Plantinga and Craig have clearer and better responses to this question.

Yet they are not on Quora. But links please.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Thank you dnniel.
I look forward to trying POE

[PeterPrinciple]

Allowing free-choice evil is God’s way of sorting out who gets to share eternity with Him.

---

Your assumption is people of their own ability would choose God. They many choose their idea of God, that is granted but to choose God and His ideas of God, ALL have fallen short.

One of the most revealing questions is: Did you choose God or did God choose you.

[cgbg]

This theoretical discussion gets real when tragedy gets personal—as in discussed in the “drunk driver” thread of today.

If a family that “follows all the rules” by anyone’s definition loses a family member to a drunk driver then the “happy talk” rings rather hollow.

[patriot torch]

Two words, free will.

What was predestined was the plan of Salvation.

God knew man kind would fall, causing Him to send His only Begotten Son to be a sacrifice for sin.

Through the fall, sin entered.

[stars & stripes forever]

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the LORD, and a thousand years is like a day. The LORD isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think.

No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the LORD will come as unexpectedly as a thief.

Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. (2 Peter 3:8-10)

[Lazamataz]

“Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He’s a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It’s the goof of all time. Look but don’t touch. Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, don’t swallow. Ahaha. And while you’re jumpin’ from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He’s laughin’ His sick, f***n’ ass off! He’s a tight-ass! He’s a SADIST! He’s an absentee landlord! Worship that? NEVER!”

“I’m here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began. I’ve nurtured every sensation man’s been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him. In spite of all his imperfections, I’m a fan of man!”

[alexander_busek]

For unless you want a world in which mankind is like a cloud or a robot, then allowing evil is a necessary good [...]

Sold!

Anything to avoid evil, misery, and suffering!

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

Because he gives man free will and they screw it up

And that results in natural catastrophes, like earthquakes?

Regards,