Question for Christians

Just wondering how you explain where evil came from. If God created all that is, and there is no evil in God, where did he get the "ingredients" for evil. Also-- why would a God who is all loving and all knowing create a plan in which the vast majority of his own creation will suffer eternal damnation in a pit of fiery hell? That's not loving at all. Would be like me having 10 children knowing that 7 of them would be tortured for eternity. What kind of mother would I be if I did that?

 

"Why did God create evil?", I submit that He didn't. God allows freedom of choice. When we choose to against what is good and perfect the result is "evil".

So if evil is the result of wrong choices, why does God allow us to have choices? Look at it this way: I have a dog at home. Before I bought the dog, I knew that buying it would bring problems (housebreaking, chewing things, feeding it, etc.) but I bought it anyway. I could have gone to the toy store and purchased a mechanical dog which would do all the things a real dog does. When I come home, it could wag its tail, come to me, bark and feel soft when I pet it.

So, why did I choose the more expensive real animal instead of the no-fuss kind? Because, the real dog is capable of showing love of its own volition!! A robot won't do that! And if you want to have a real love relationship, the dog (or human) must be capable of free will. God gave us free will. We choose to do evil. That isn't God's fault. If evil wasn't a choice, then there would be no free will.

Fallen angels and fallen men are responsible for evil through their abuse of free will, we misuse our freedom to destroy ourselves and nature. Thus, our own choices sometimes produce evil over good. It is impossible for God to have created man with free will and evil not be a consequence. Also, the choices of others (including previous generations) can produce suffering. The consequences of bad choices sometimes affect not only the person who makes the wrong choice but also their family, friends, and sometimes even society.

So evil is not a created thing, it is simply the absence of good, like dark is the absence of light and cold is the absence of heat.

Without evil our world would be meaningless and boring. Evil allows us to understand what “good” is and allows us to choose between both. That way we can learn what evil causes not a better world, but a world full of people like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Sadaam Hussein. A world filled with actions such as divorce, murder, hatred, discord, jealousy, selfishness, pride, etc.

We have all contributed to the state of the world and to the suffering of our fellow man either by what we have done or by what we should have done but didn't.

The Suffering evil causes us is God's megaphone to a deaf world., it shows the need for people to be punished for their own acts of evil and their need for a Saviour to come and put everything right.

Instead of blaming God for evil and suffering we should accept responsibilty for our own decisions and blame ourselves for making the wrong choices.

Secondly, why is it unloving for God to punish those who choose to do evil? What sceptics and critics usually do not understand is that God’s love is not diminished when He brings punishment on people. Justice demands that people who are guilty get punished in an appropriate way to their guilt. If you have committed any moral crimes, if you have done anything wrong, you will be punished unless you receive a pardon and the punishment is Hell.

To allow evil and wrongdoing to go unpunished would be unjust and would indicate a callousness toward the innocent because wrongdoing that does not result in an ultimate punishment inevitably results in even greater and greater wrongdoing and that benefits no one and is detrimental to the common good.

However God is loving and He is merciful, He give numerous warnings and ample time for people to repent.

If they do He has mercy on them, if they don't then He has no mercy on them.

If you are a parent you know that positive reinforcement (mercy) alone is simply not enough to change the behavior of children. We all would agree that children behave in ways that are both acceptable and unacceptable. Parents typically reward acceptable behaviors in an effort to encourage them. But when parents fail to punish unacceptable behavior, they are, in essence, encouraging this bad behavior as well.

To fail to punish what is unacceptable is actually a reward in itself. When criminals stand in front of a judge, having been judged guilty of a crime, justice demands not only that they will fail to be rewarded, but that they will suffer an appropriate punishment. If the judge fails to be just toward those who have committed a crime, he fails to love those who have been victimized. Love requires the perfect balance of mercy and justice, and pain is often justly applied for the loving benefit of the object of our love.

Lastly, why have children if you know some of them will be hurt or end up in hell? I believe the simplest answer is this:

Just as God knew many would reject Him, He also knew that many would freely receive Him and enjoy eternity with Him. Apparently, even knowing that many would reject Him and end up in hell, He felt it worth it, so that we who would receive Him, could have fellowship with Him, and Him with us.

Why should God have not created humans, just because some would refuse to love Him and submit their lives to Him? That would allow evil to triumph over good.

I wouldn't refuse to start a family just because I realize that some of my descendants will reject the gospel and end up in hell. Why? Because I know that many will not.

I realize that by having kids it is very likely that some of my descendants will reject the gospel and go to hell. But should I have refused to start a family because these will suffer?

No. Why? Because many of my descendants will not go to hell but will get to enjoy the glories of heaven forever!

And those who do suffer will end up in hell of their own free accord. By me having children, I am not in any way forcing them to go to hell. They will have the option to receive God's mercy and forgiveness. So I'm not going to withhold the blessings of eternity from my children and other descendants, because of the evil actions of a few. This is also true with God. He knew that some would reject Him, but He also knew that some would receive Him and that there would be enough who were saved and enjoyed eternal life to make it all worthwhile.

 

Define evil

 

Of course jeffd is giving the stock answer as logically and concisely as possible. I have been taught these arguments since I was 5 years old - and have very little problem with them.

The question by SingflowerCat is interesting though and worth a second look. Man was created by God in the very image of God - and yet man has evil in his heart - he longs to sin. As Paul said - the things he wants to do, he doesn't and the things he dispises, he does. The emotion, this compulsion to harm others has to come from somewhere. If we are the image of God - where does it come from? It is more than simply making wrong choices - it is the desire to do so. Where does this come from. God had to give us this since he made us in his image, blew life into our nostrils and came us the job of caring for his earth.
Man could be made without malice without being a robot. If we screw up - so be it. But we have malice in our heart. Did this come when we were created? If not - when? Did God create it so he could play a game with Satin as was the case with Job.

Interesting.

 

Evil is a measure of human vanity. Vain means empty. Evil is a measure of human emptiness. The emptiness of understanding in regards the true nature of the world. Not all individuals bear fruit because that which appears is a measure of probability. Not every human "ascends" in the same manner that not every fishes egg reaches maturity.

 

Great answer jeffd_57! There are a couple different things to be said. One thing is life follows this law, if you are following the law, good things are happening and you are happy. If you break the law, there will be consequences, something bad will happen. Just flowing with the river feels good, going against it feels bad, you make evil by fighting the river.

The only real way to learn is to have free will. If god didn't give us free will, life would be boring and dull, and no real love, and no real learning would get done.

Another thing to see is, there is no real evil. There is no such thing is death, because we are eternal, there is no real pain, its only game. Life is a game, and people have wanted to play more and more intense.

They get there self into the game that hard, they make themselves get into. Murdering stealing and lying are just extreme forms of play, just another expression of energy. To god there is no evil, all is ever existing, all is just energy, there is no true pain, all is ever joyous.

If you look at the world, it is in complete harmony, only man with awareness about his free will begins to come out of that harmony. When you watch the whole rest of nature, everything is beautiful, everything is in bliss, everything is done out of love.

 

This is one of the great logical flaws in Christianity. The length of the replies you got demonstrates the high degree of rationalization required to explain this away.

 

This answers the question how?

 

There is no answer.

 

There is an embodied nature for every word we speak. You are mistaken that there is no answer. The questioner speaks of ideas that have consequences on the quality of and reactions to the evidence of life.

 

Creating "freedom of choice" when you have created all options is still creating evil.

 

The question contains multiple assumptions.

 

So did your response, which is why I wondered how it answered the question.

 

Hey,if God can love Hitler,Stalin,and at one point in time Lucifer he can love us to,right!jeffd_57 is totally right!God punish us cause he loves us like parents do to kids.

 

I hate that comparison - I have a son and if he ever defied what I felt was right, I might disinherit him but I can assure you -- I would never commit him to everlasting torment - an eternity of weeping and flames.

 

When you throw out a question in an open forum, every aspect of it is open for debate, including its underlying premise. If a question has no satisfactory answer, then that can be taken as evidence that the question contains one or more assumptions that are not correct. In my view, the standard Christian explanation of good vs. evil includes an inadequate explanation of the origin of evil. Attempts to fit it all together tend to create more questions than they answer.

 

I do not object to posting, I disagree with your premise that there is no satisfactory answer. To argue against the standard answer is not, answering the question.

 

No hint of self denial here.

 

This is no discussion at all. The only one who has tried to address the issue is Jeffd and though his argument is thorough it leaves to many assumptions which can only be verified by faith. I submit that the theory that I submitted is just as valid - That is that God created us with both a good side and an evil side and perhaps he is just showing Satin how man will follow Him. This what he did with Job - He gave threw all sorts of grief at Job just to show Lucifer his faithfullness.
I believe we are created by God with all the tendencies that God intended us to have, good, evil, joy, depression. He now watches to see which of these tendencies we follow - and prove, in the end just who his people will follow.

 

More concisely - God created both good and evil, said avoid evil and that is where the choice comes in.