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

[M Kehoe]

Free will can be a good thing or a bad thing.

5.56mm

[fireman15]

And that results in natural catastrophes, like earthquakes?

Alexander, obviously you have not kept up with the latest and greatest religion in the world today. Climate change causes all natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, wild fires, pandemics, bad behavior in children, etc. etc... and is the root of everything else that is evil in the world. God hates everything that emits CO2 or greenhouse gasses, especially large SUVs and cows, but also farts and heating and cooling systems.

[for-q-clinton]

The better argument is can God be all knowing and can you have free will? If he’s all knowing and knows your decisions and your end fate then it cannot be free will.

[reasonisfaith]

Here is what I would tell any victim of tragedy:

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. From the book of Revelation.

When a child suffers and dies, he is with the Lord and his suffering is gone, and not even remembered.

For the atheists out there, you have never justified your faith in atheism because it is objectively false.

[reasonisfaith]

I didn’t think you were threatening me with dire consequences.

[alexander_busek]

And what might be your own inner thoughts on the question of evil? If you believe they are strong and wise thoughts, then you will freely give them.

Stop deflecting! We can discuss my personal thoughts another day. Let's first deal with the essay at hand. Someone was bold enough - cock-sure enough - to post this assemblage of claims and statements of supposed fact.

The author / poster has, in effect, said: "I KNOW the truth! Here it is! Have at it!"

They have invited us to test it! So let's take them up on their offer!

(My personal "innermost thoughts" might have as little to do with this topic as the price of tea in China, after all!)

So let's first examine it in detail, determine the merits of the individual assertions, and - if possible - attempt to assess their truth-value.

I've already taken one of the essay's assertions ("For unless you want a world in which mankind is like a cloud or a robot, then allowing evil is a necessary good") and simply responded: "Okay, I'll take being like a cloud, or a robot!"

Presto! No more suffering!

Rather than saying, "Hey, that's actually a legitimate alternative!", the posters here have attempted deflection and distraction - and "going into the weeds."

I, for one, am taking the offer at face-value! Yes, make us all clouds! Then no human beings ever experience suffering, and no one is ever damned to eternal perdition!

Sounds like a great deal!

But, of course, it was an ingenuous offer!

Regards,

[reasonisfaith]

If atheism were justifiable intellectually or morally, then such justification would be known.

[cgbg]

Some folks around here had rumblings about what might happen to non-believers in Christianity both in the here and now and in the future...don’t recall if you were one of them...of course the Old Testament gets a bit threatening....

[cgbg]

I have not heard anyone on this thread claim to be an atheist...

Stop beating the poor straw man.

[Pappy Smear]

When I was a kid, I asked my priest if God could build a rock that he couldn't lift.

Boy did he get pissed at me.

[reasonisfaith]

I apologize, I didn’t see your posting of your personal thoughts on the question. It must have been to someone else. Now I know you did post them.

So you have spoken a rare opinion—that you would like to have no free will.

But maybe you’re only making this claim rhetorically. That is, maybe you don’t really hold this opinion.

[alexander_busek]

The only ones who question submission to God, and persist in this questioning, are those who will not be with him in eternity.

Proof by Assertion Fallacy!

So, our employing our - what you call "God-given" - powers of reasoning in order to determine with the greatest possible degree of certainty whether this is false or not will be punished.

Regards,

[nwrep]

Both argue about the intellectual problem of evil, not the emotional problem of evil, which is much harder to debate.

Plantinga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRx-3drWC-E

Craig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtx5GyP7i7w

[daniel1212]

For I am the Lord thy God and I created the good and the evil, I did it for my own glory.

And which is nother verse used by ignorant antitheists in order to charge God with actually creating evil, as in evil intents, character, the devil himself. Yet the verse, "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things," (Isa 45:7) uses word for evil in contrast to peace, as darkness is to light.

As manifest in the (ignored) larger content of the Bible, the sense in which it is meant is such as that of God justly sending judgment, (cf. Amos 3:6) by His own power, or even by allowing what evil entities seek to do, but not for the purposes of what is actually evil, but to work for what is just, as well as in showing mercy.

God sent evil upon Egypt in order to free the Hebrews, and thus hardening the hard heart of evil Pharaoh by acts which should have worked repentance. And which hardness was a choice of Pharaoh which was a result of previous choices. In this sense Pharaoh manifested his wickedness, like as did that of Pilate, yet in both cases it served a revelatory as well as salvific purpose, to the glory of God.

And as somewhat expressed before, what is evil and good is ultimately manifested in the light of eternity.

[alexander_busek]

Earthquakes, tornadoes and the like are not evil. They just are. There is no such thing as natural evil. Only moral evil.

But do they engender Human suffering?

Regards,

[reasonisfaith]

Did I accuse you of being an atheist? No.

Then you have nothing to fear when I address the topic of atheism (which is already front and center in any discussion like this one).

[zeugma]

One of the best treatments on this can be found in C.S. Lewis' book "The Problem of Pain.

Most, if not all of Lewis' books are available from Project Gutenberg Canada, due their slightly less insane copyright laws.

[reasonisfaith]

Reason brings us to faith.

How could it leave us, ultimately, in doubt?

[cgbg]

C.S.Lewis was a great author—and managed to make his case without threats or warnings....

[alexander_busek]

IF we were to receive what we're due we'd been wiped out a long time ago.

And Hitler would never have been born. And Santorini wouldn't have erupted in 1600 B.C., destroying the Minoan Civilization.

Hurrah!

I wish that we had gotten our COMPLETE DUE the instant it was due.

If only!

Regards,