Is the problem of evil enough to convince you that a God does not exist?
- Thread starter AgnosticBoy
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God does not instruct anyone to commit evil. Let me go ahead and cut you off at the pass. I'm pretty confident you will refer to instances in the OT where God commanded the Israelites to destroy cities and peoples. What you miss is the fact that this was God's punishment. God has told mankind from the garden that the penalty for sin is death. How God decides to exact that punishment is completely up to Him. If He chose to use the nation of Israel to destroy another nation, that is completely within His purview.
So, now with the advent of Christ, mankind is no longer under the Law, but under grace. Show me from the NT any passage that indicates God instructs man to commit evil.
So, now with the advent of Christ, mankind is no longer under the Law, but under grace. Show me from the NT any passage that indicates God instructs man to commit evil.
You are saying that the biblical God stopped instructing men to do evil acts on other humans [as a way of punishing those others] with The Avent of Christ?
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The Avent of Christ = 193
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What made biblical God change his tactic?
Calculate word-string
The Avent of Christ = 193
Remember To Remember
Getting Somewhere
Virtual Reality
What made biblical God change his tactic?
The free-will defense! While that is a good defense in some cases, but it does not explain why good people (those who don't choose evil), like babies and even Jesus, experience evil.
Keep in mind that I'm not trying to persuade you to drop Christianity, because the problem of evil is not even enough to convince me that no God exist. If we stick to the Christian idea of God then that is a challenge because there you have a moral God who is all-good/powerful.
It's called Dispensationalism. Until the advent of Christ, mankind lived under the Law of God. With the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, mankind now lives under grace. The Law demanded death as punishment. Grace gives us all the ability to repent of our sins and seek forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Those who refuse God's grace will suffer the punishment prescribed by the Law...death.
Why do good people experience evil? That is the question for the ages. It is also the theme of the book of Job. Again, the answer is "sin". Sin has consequences. Like throwing a rock in a pond, the ripples expand outward affecting everything in the ripples touch. While we are free to make our own decisions, we are not free to choose the consequences. If you observe every evil act committed by man, you will discover sin as the root cause. When Christ returns and banishes Satan and sin, we will live in a world free from evil just as He intended at the creation.
Until "Christ Returns" none of this is verified as truth.
Given that the biblical God has been shown to change his mind, and since it is said that Christ cannot return until God gives the 'okay' - it is feasible that the biblical God changed his mind.
If so, the reason for doing so would be along the lines that humans are -for the most part - doing things the way they were intended. There seems little - if any - reason to interfere with that process given that both good and evil' co-exist without either being dominant.
Well, Jesus said He would return. The angels said He would return. John received the Revelation of Jesus and saw Him return. I believe there is enough evidence that He will return. Since Jesus is God, and God cannot lie, I accept His return as truth.