[[I ask why God could not create a universe where evil did not exist.]]
I must have misinderstood what you meant- God could have- and we’d all be mindless puppets obeying because we had no other choice but to obey.
[[Surely prohibiting evil does not achieve evil]]
Nope- it wouldn’t
[[So why didn’t God just prohibit evil in the first place, and use some other means to achieve all of His objectives that did not require the existence of evil?]]
I don’t think there really is any other way logically to produce TRUE love- in order for there to be True love, there must be the ability to choose. I don’t beleive there is any other way to produce that- you answered your own question in your response [[All of that is true, according to *our* conception of logic. As we perceive things, humans can not be programmed to love God and at the same time exercise a meaningful choice to love God.]] I see the direction you are attempting to go logically, after your statement, but I’m not sure it could work.
[[After all, He is the author of logic and thus can fashion the rules to whatever He wants. If God wanted a universe where 2 + 2 = both 4 and 5,]]
That would be a deceit- 2+2 can’t equal both without violating a natural law. If there are no laws, then everyhtign then becomes subjective, and htere are no objective answers, no absolutes by which to judge by.
[[Or is God constrained by our conception of logic, despite the fact that He is the one who designed logic itself?]]
That’s I beleive backwards- God isn’t constrained by our logic, He is only constrained by the logics He laid down and which we dimly understand. Speaking logically, the only logically possible solution was to create a logical world cosntrained by laws whereby everythign can be measured. No laws, no objective absolutes, no true love.
[[Is it possible for God to be constrained by His own creation?]]
Yes, God is constrained infact constrained by some of His characteristics and the created world. He was even cosntrained before the world was created.
Very interesting. The idea of a constrained God seems much more sensible to me, and would explain how He could create a universe where evil exists.
Something troubles me about this idea, though. Perhaps "troubles" isn't the right word...maybe I should say something about this idea makes me curious.
If it is possible for God to be constrained, either by his own nature or by his creation, that seems to suggest that there are "rules" which even He must obey. This further suggests that something created those rulea, or at least that something created the order under which God is constrained.
What do you suppose that "something" was?