With the recent outbreak, you may encounter people who may ask you this question:
***”If God is all-good, He would eliminate evil. If He is all-powerful, He could eliminate evil. How can the existence of evil possibly be reconciled with the existence of God? “***
Share us how you answer this question.
What do you mean by “evil”?
We are evil. He is eliminating evil.? I think that’s kind of cold. Let me think first I’ll comment later.
The statement “if God was all good, He would eliminate evil” presupposes something not inherently, obviously true, namely that there is no reason why God would choose to allow evil to exist. No greater good that causes Him to (temporarily) overlook evil. What it is ignoring is His love of us. A love so true that it requires freely given love from us in return. Which can only be given if we have the freedom to choose between good and evil. To summarize, God allows evil to exist in this present age because to eliminate it would eliminate our ability to offer Him freely given love and adoration, relegating us to the roles of robotic servants, blindly obedient, but not truly loving Him in that full and complete sense.
We’ve been asking this question for ever and noone has a satisfying answer. I believe all evil is temporary and ultimately works together for good. God would not allow meaningless evil to exist.
Good and evil cannot logically exist outside of the revelation of the Triune God of scripture.
The reason a person sees it is because they are made in God’s image and know Him Rom. 1:18
Unbelievers have to borrow from Christianity in order to condemn it.
By what standard do you call something evil? And what is the presupposed expectation that makes it evil? What’s the absolute unchanging standard of good to even make such a claim? And what makes one think that God has the moral obligation to humans that is assumed, and what about our moral obligations to God?
Also, God ordains and is sovereign over all, including who loves him in response to another comment. People love or hate God according to their nature. If God chooses to remove their hearts of stone thus changing their nature to give a heart of flesh, that person will love as truly and fully as one could conceive of
His love for us supercedes His desire to destroy us…..
We are given a lifetime of freewill to try and and reciprocate the love back,
but we have an adversary who manipulates & tempts us or ppl around us in order to stifle or stop our efforts to reciprocate such love.
2 Peter 3:8-9 (Especially vs. 9)
Short answer ??♂️?
Evil can never be anywhere near God. When God created us, Satan rebelled against God and the love God has for us. God’s way will be played out perfectly in front of the faithful angelic hosts. And who is the created to question how the Creator reconciles us to Him? Is He not The Father of all?
He will. He is giving us a chance to rebuke our own evil and follow him. Once He comes again, there will be a short time left for evil, and then into the fires of Hell
That’s a false dilemma, all while supposing to know the mind of God
2 Peter 3:9, His grace allows us time to be saved and His mercy keeps judgment at bay…
“If God is all good, he would eliminate evil” is really something we do not want to happen.
Why, because, evil is the twisting of the good God has initially provided to us, all of creation.
To eliminate evil God would have to destroy all creation, including us.
Thankfully God has provided a way out through Jesus Christ. To allow us mortal and evil creatures to stand in His presence.
So yes, God would and could eliminate evil. In fact, from his timeframe (outside of time) He already has.
We live in a fallen world !
Don’t blame God for the evil in this world. Blame satan, he introduced it to eve and because Adam chose to disobey God, satan became the God of this world. Jesus Christ had to redeem mankind and creation also. For believers, our soul and spirit have been redeemed, we wait for the rapture so our redemption of our body will be reseemed. And with the tribulation payment will be complete and after the 1000 year kingdom reign some time after its completed God will create a new heaven and earth as satan has defiled both. God doesn’t have dominion over the earth today. He owns it but doesn’t have it under his control.
An example of redemption” you pawn a pistol to a man in a pawn shop. Who nows has control of your pistol? The man at the pawn shop. Who owns the pistol? You own the gun, but you have lost control of it. Until….. you redeem it. You must pay the man at the pawn shop a price to recieve it back in your possession. I hope it helps. Thats alot to tell someone!
An example
If God is all good, then He would not eliminate evil, because that would mean eliminating us, since we are evil. Instead He tolerates us and our evil temporarily. In time, all evil will be wiped out, and only good will prevail. He won’t tolerate us forever, but he will wait for some time for us to repent.
1. You assume that everything must be good, or all form of good must happen around you. How did this come to be? You assume you are good and hence only good things can happen? or you assume the world is good? or that everyone in the world is good?
2. What if I say no one is good and we all deserve hell? What if I say our level or standard of good is not good enough? Only God is good and perfect, and we all fall short.
There is the ten commandments and we have failed to meet that standard. I mean if you want to hold Him to your standard or definition of good, then you too must be accountable to His standard of good no?
3. But here is a proven historical fact. There was a man named Jesus, he called himself the son of God and he died as a sacrifice for our sins, so his righteousness can be imputed to us. Due to his claims as the son of God, the Jews and the Romans killed him. Also a fact is his ressurection, there are many historical proofs as to why this is not faked or the disciples did not try to steal his dead body. (Roman guards are not that lax, especially if your failure = death sentence)
So here it is, God is good. so good to the point that He did not spare his own son from the cross.
Instead, maybe ask, how can God be so good? How can He not nuke us to ground zero? Especially since the created creature is so disrespectful to the creator.
The answer is in the Bible. Go read it. That simple.
Evil is not a tyrant that controls our mind and actions. No, he gave us a will and in that freedom.of will he wants us to choose what is right.
Evil is the absence of goodness. The world is suffering consequences of evil actions by humanity. But this evil will be one day eradicated and the original sinless order of things will be established.
I ask them if He took all this away, would they go back and continue to live a sinful lifestyle
Evil is a necessary “evil” required for the ultimate end of optimal moral good using morally freewill agents.
Ie, this is a perfect required step in a perfect process to rid freewill moral evil.
Becaused God allowed us to act contrary to His desires though not contrary to His decree. The Corona virus, though God knows and decides when and how it would actualize, and who would get affected, it should be clear that it (the virus) was brought forth out of our own sinfulness and disobedience
God is good and is in control. He could eliminate evil. But, God doesn’t do everything He can or is able. God does things which He wants or sees necessary. We need to understand that we live in a wicked world.
ask not why do bad things happen to good people ask why does a righteous and Holy God allow anything good to happen at all.
I recommend:
http://www.trinitylectures.org/god-and-evil-the-problem-solved-p-86.html
If a person believes that God should do this, he also believes in slavery.
The answer: See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. Ecl 7.29… it’s not God it’s humankind. This is the results of sin. We were in a perfect state in Eden. Where animals were not vicious, weather was perfect, but then when sin came to the world through men the whole world suffered the animals suffered and all this pestilence is product of the increments of sin. Not God, God loves us and comes to give life but sin gets in the way. This is why we should yearn to be cleaned and pray for others to come to repentance
Free Will works both ways. You really want Him to remove that from the equation?
To eliminate evil would be to eliminate free will. While God made evil possible; man made evil actual.
The argument assumes there is no valid reason why God acts as he does. Given God is all-loving and all-powerful, it is still entirely plausible that he refrains from doing things differently for a range of reason that we simply are not aware. In other words, his all-knowingess means he knows things we do not, and he acts according to that. So, there’s no horns of dilemma in the question proposed in the OP.
God is a great King. He is not servant to sweep way the evil when we pray. God will act to glorify His Own name, not ours. For us, may God’s will be done. In life and death we would believe in Jesus, yet this faith comes from God.
Short answer:He gave us free will.
Free will
God wants US to CHOOSE to love and worship Him, even in the face of great trials and tribulations.