“Evil”, as Eagleton quotes from Andre Green, “is without why, because its reason d’étre is to proclaim that everything which exists has no meaning, obeys no order, pursues no aim, depends only on the power it can exercise to impose its will on the objects of its apetite.” 29 To the clichés like “God bless this country”, evil’s ...
(Ask Dr. Stanley) If God, Why Evil (Part 1 of 2) 521. If God Exists, Why Evil? Did God Create Evil? A Misunderstood Bible Verse: Isaiah 45:7 If There Is A Good God, Why Does He Allow Evil And Suffering? If God Is Good, Why Do I Suffer?: The Classic Collection with R.C. Sproul Greg Koukl - If God is all-powerful, why does evil exist?
Enable Audio. Lesson 3.1. Why Do Suffering and Evil Exist? When you complete this lesson, you’ll be able to explain from the Bible why suffering and evil exist and why a loving and almighty God has allowed suffering and evil to continue until now. Begin Lesson.
w e call evil is merely th e privation of good, th at evil in a positive sense, evil th at w ould really be opposed to good, does n o t exist. Many have agreed with Pope th at disorder is harm ony n o t understood, an d th at partial evil is universal good. W hether an y of these view s is true is, of course, another question.
So, the Biblical explanation of evil is this: God created everything good but man rebelled. Nature, Satan, Men were cursed. There was no death before the fall – even in the animal kingdom. God does not cause the evil, but He does control the outcome when evil happens.
Gen 3:17-18 shows that there was a curse placed on creation because of the fall. God removed man from the protective garden of Eden and forced him to live in the world where animals now ate people.
John 14:30; 1Thes 3:5 and the story of Job all teach that Satan is the ruler of this world. He causes pain and suffering and tempts man to sin. In Job’s case, Satan caused physical illness, natural disaster, financial ruin, etc. But we can’t blame all natural disasters on Satan.
Satan was created as a good being but with free will to follow God or not. He chose not to. Angels and people were not created as robots. They were created with free will because if they chose to worship and obey God, that would bring Him glory.
What they really mean is this: · God is good. · God is all-powerful. · God created the world. · The world shouldn’t contain evil. · The world contains evil. There is only an assumption on our part that there shouldn’t be any evil in the world. People assume that God must want to eliminate all evil.
If there are no dangers, difficulties or disappointments in life, how can we gain character traits such as patience? If everyone is nice to you, then you never have to display selfless love. If life is easy, you don’t have to learn patience, or endurance. Being honest wouldn’t be a virtue if it was impossible to steal.
James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. 5.
2.2.2 Evil is necessary as a means to bringing about goodness. The basic idea here is that God uses evil to bring about goodness, in much the way that we find that we often have to do something painful, like going to the dentist, to bring about some desirable end, like fixing a cavity.
1 The problem of evil. 2 Solutions to the problem of evil. 2.1 ‘Adequate solutions’. 2.2 ‘Fallacious solutions’. 2.2.1 Good cannot exist without evil, since evil is necessary as a counterpart to good. 2.2.2 Evil is necessary as a means to bringing about goodness. 2.2.3 A universe with some evil is better than a universe with none.
1 The problem of evil. Mackie begins the article by saying that he thinks that all the arguments for God’s existence have been shown by philosophers to be faulty. But he notes that this need not convince someone that there is no reason for believing in God: “...the theologian can, if he wishes, accept this criticism.
2.2.1 Good cannot exist without evil, since evil is necessary as a counterpart to good. The basic idea here is that God could not have made a world which had any good without allowing some evil, since it is impossible for goodness to exist without evil. The view that this is a limitation on God’s omnipotence; the reply that omnipotence does not ...
Mackie agrees that the problem for the theologian can be solved by giving up one of the three principles with which we began: we can deny that God is omnipotent or all good, or we can deny that there is any evil in the world.
The reply has to be something like this: (i) free will is a great good, such that it would be worse to lack free will than it is to have the various evils with which we are confronted; and (ii) it is impossible, even for God, to create a being which has free will and to ensure that it never brings about evil.
Fallacious solutions are solutions which, even though the may seem plausible at first, in fact do not amount to the rejection of any principle which gave rise to the contradiction. For this reason, Mackie does not think that they are of any help to the theologian trying to respond to the problem of evil. His discussion of each is intended ...