i have been having some very difficult discussions with God such as:
You created this world and You also created satan knowing he was going to turn against You and wreak havoc in Heaven?
You created Man and put him here in satan’s jurisdiction knowing satan would torture and torment your creation whom you claim to love?
Why? How does this help your plan? Why do good people pray for years and why are you hiding from them? Why do the the evil prosper?
IMHO, God's desire is to build character in humans. He can't do that without an obstacle course.
Evil exists because evil exists. God didn't set out to create a fairy tail. He created reality...and in that reality, evil exists and strength to overcome that evil exists.
God is the ultimate purveyor of tough love (that is the only kind of love that endures).
i can help, i ponder the same.
1. God knew that to have true fellowship with creation like Himself - as persons, it had to have free will to genuinely choose to be with or reject, God. otherwise it’s not real.
2. giving someone the capacity to disobey, doesn’t mean you are responsible for their disobedience.
3. satan didn’t have jurisdiction until man fell.
4. satan is limited in what he can do. our current lives are a lot better than what we have earned. not only do we live under grace - God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, we don’t suffer nearly as much as we deserve to.
5. as far as your plan questions are, ask why God would separate part of Himself and put all the punishment for sin every person ever did onto His son, for all sinful people, when not all people would decide to accept His sacrifice? the sins of billions of people and the associated punishment for trillions of sins. look at it from God’s perspective. consider the suffering put onto Christ in a few hours, trillions of sins.
the fact is for genuine fellowship and love, God had to create creation with free will, and this means the real ability to disobey and say no.
But your comments describe the arguments of atheism.
As an atheist, how can you be having discussions with God?
Others have given you very good responses, but here’s my two cents.
We can’t blame God for mankind’s rebellion and fall; it was never His intention for us to suffer. But He made us, knowing we’d rebel, just as we have children, guessing they will one day do the same to one extent or another. He wanted someone in His own image to love and receive love from. Our relation to Him is unique and special; something even the angels don’t share.
I promise you He isn’t hiding from us. To the contrary-—He stepped right into the middle of us, in the person of Jesus Christ, and performed the ultimate act of love and sacrifice for us. Even when you can’t feel Him there, He never leaves you. And I can tell you there are so many tough life circumstances where leaning on Him is the deciding factor in making it through.
Ultimately, we can’t answer every question to our satisfaction....sometimes we just have to trust Him and have faith. His ways, after all, are so far above ours, and we can’t see His plan....not now, anyway. But keep talking to Him and asking Him to show you the truth. He will.
God bless.
In addition to answers already rpovided:
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known gthe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he hhas prepared beforehand for glory — even us whom he ihas called, jnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? Rom 9:22-24 (ESV)
Some reasons for the existence of sin:
1. So God can demonstrate His perfect mercy and forgiveness
2. So God can demonstrate His power and justice
3. So those who receive forgiveness will appreciate it (by knowing what they escaped from)
I still have a problem with the idea that Satan had Free Will.
I thought that gift was granted to man alone, who God made in his image.
Evil exists because Free Will exists.
If there is NO ability for created beings (angels/man) to do anything other than be a programmed robot, then evil would not exist because there is no evil in God.
However, How can a programmed robot love? It can’t because Love goes beyond reason, and what is logical.
What purpose was Man created for? To worship and enjoy the God!
Is this something he (man) won’t like? No!
If you have ever really loved anybody then you understand that there is no effort required to love someone (assuming of course who you are loving is a perfect person, which of course, God is!)