Why Does God Allow Evil? - Email from a Skeptic

Koinonea House Online ^ | Dr Mark Eastman

[xzins]

The skeptic that emailed me stated, in effect, that if an all-powerful God did not eliminate evil, then He was a devil! The implication is that the removal of all evil would permit a better, more loving world. A truly loving God, the skeptics assert, would have desired and created such a world because it is clearly superior to the one we have. Any God that did not follow this logic was not a God of love, but an evil tyrant.

As we have seen, this logic crumbles under its own weight. The existence of evil is the "side effect" of creating a world with love. But as we have seen, there are compelling arguments that a world possessing both evil and love is superior to a world where neither is possible. For God to eliminate evil, He would have to eliminate our capacity of choice and thus our capacity to do both evil and good. And such a world is inferior to the one we have: one where love is possible, despite its inherent evil. What kind of God would do this? Only one kind. A God of love.

Why does a God of love allow evil? Because He is a God of LOVE.

[xzins]

You'll definitely like this article ping!

[maestro]

Why Does God Allow Evil?

He doesn't!

Notice the 1st-2nd Law of Thermodynamics......

Yet,.....Miracles....Grace.....Mercy......Prayers abound!

Yet,.....Faith....Hope.....Agape!

God Rules........even,......Longsuffering.......!

Jesus/Lamb.......makes all the difference......VICTORY over 'sin'.....and sin's PENALTY!

ev Christ Jesus' Blood and GLORY!

(John 14:6.......John 3:36.....Philippians 1:6....) Maranatha!

(Romans 10:17)

[AppyPappy]

God is incapable of evil so I don't get the point

[franky]

It's all about free will. Your conscience says it's right, your conscience says it's wrong. Kick in free will and I'll make the choice.

God through his grace, let us be free to use that free will. Too bad, so many have used it negatively...and then God gets blamed.

Shame on those satanic apolgists who blame God on all the bad things...but never the good things.

[xzins]

But you accept that evil exists? Yes?

[xzins]

You are 100% correct. They don't give God credit for the good things.

[massiveblob]

Could God allow evil so that he can prove that the doers of evil don't love Him? Very good article by the way.

[xzins]

Good question. I've often thought that that is one of the positive things that can eventually be brought out of the existence of evil.

The way we treat our earthly families and fellow christians can be used as a measure of whether or not we love them.

[Cvengr]

bttt

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

Actually, I have pondered on this at length and believe the answer to the question "Why does God allow Evil" rests with God's purpose.

Here's an excerpt from my musings in the article Evolution through the Backdoor:

Did God have a beginning?

Some people assert that God must have created Himself.

Others (I am one) say that God the Creator exists outside of space and time and thus there is no beginning for God, i.e. the creation is not something in which the Creator exists. There is no "before" the big bang or any multi-verse or dimensional parallel in ekpyrotic cosmology.

This is another area wherein each person must work out his own understanding. Mine is somewhat unique but is based on the Word, Jewish tradition and science:

One of the words used to describe God at creation is Ayn Sof which roughly translated from Hebrew means infinite and nothing. The scientific term for such a state at the beginning of this universe, is singularity - in which there are no physical laws, no space, no time, no particles, no geometry, no energy, nothing - and yet everything. It has a parallel in math as well, the number zero - nothing can be divided by it, anything multiplied by it is it, it is in between all positive and negative numbers. Infinite and not at the same time.

I pondered on this state at length and deduced that God must have wanted to reveal Himself and thus there was a beginning.

Then I pondered how God would go about revealing Himself. I deduced He would create beings who could think to whom He would reveal Himself and would commune. I further deduced how He would go about communicating Himself to these beings, i.e. that He is good and truth and so forth.

These attributes would have no meaning in any language unless they were set in contrast to what they are not. (How would you know if you are happy if you have never been sad?) Thus, I pondered that He would create good and evil, love and hate, et al so that a language could be formed, the Word.

I then pondered He would communicate His will to the thinking beings so they would know Him. I also pondered that, for the words to have meaning, He would give them numerous manifestations of all these contrasts - space/time, geometry, particles, energy, matter, creatures.

One of the ideas of the Jewish Kabbalah that rings true to my spirit is that the Scriptures are another name for God, i.e. it reveals who He is. So I see all of creation - spiritual and material - and the Word as God revealing Himself.

Enter Satan, beautiful and thinking being as he is, decided he ought to exalted. He became "aware" of his beauty and self and thus was at odds with God's will for him.

Likewise, Adam and Eve became "aware" of themselves and sought to be more by gaining the knowledge of good and evil. So likewise, they were at odds with God's will for them and were banished to mortality (the frog view.)

When it is all said and done I see us restored to what was intended at the beginning, we will be the thinking beings to whom God reveals Himself and with whom He communes. His will is what matters over all else. The Lord's Prayer reveals as much, the meaning of life and the purpose of our existence:

Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

IMHO, every believer ought to meditate deeply, every day, on the Lord's Prayer - phrase by phrase and word by word. Our place is sandwiched between God's purpose and His dominion.

In sum, I perceive that Adam was made to be a spectator of the physical realm in order to know God better and be able to commune with Him, but was banished to become part of the story itself for his disobedience. Naturally, the only way to rescue Adamic man from the penalty of disobedience is the perfect obedience of Christ on the cross.

[AppyPappy]

Of course evil exists.

[dsc]

Helen Keller's answer to that question was,

"We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world."

Mine is, the only way we can become what God wants us to become is by living in a world where bad things can happen to good people with no apparent justification.

[xzins]

The question of this article relates to the evil that exists.

If God is Good, and if God is the creator, then how and why evil?

[Conservative til I die]

Some skeptics ask questions only a 3 year old would ask. THe answer is simple: Because God allows free will. Free will allows us to choose good from evil.

[massiveblob]

Maybe the best reply to why evil exist is a combination of the different theories presented here. We can never be 100% sure until we get the chance to ask Him ourselves.

[xzins]

One of the most thoughtful and brave posts I've ever seen on this Forum, Alamo.

Others (I am one) say that God the Creator exists outside of space and time and thus there is no beginning for God, i.e. the creation is not something in which the Creator exists. There is no "before" the big bang or any multi-verse or dimensional parallel in ekpyrotic cosmology.

God's relationship to time is something that PM and I have been discussing for some time now. When they come up in the future from "time to time" (no pun intended), I'm going to ping you to them. Is that OK?

PM pointed me to this link at Koinonea House, and I liked it. I think you will to. It's a series of 5 presentation via sound file. Worth it, though.

Thanks for the contribution.

[xzins]

I agree with you.

I like the presentation by the author, though. He does a thorough job in a relatively brief article.

[AppyPappy]

Because we don't see God as a puppeteer. Evil exists because we exist. It is the fallen nature of man.