Posted on 12/19/2014 5:48:05 AM PST by Gamecock
I found this little ditty in the comments section of a theological liberal:
Old Epicurean trilemma (although also attributed to Carneades the Skeptic):
If God is unable to prevent evil, then he is not all-powerful.
If God is not willing to prevent evil, then he is not all-good.
If God is both willing and able to prevent evil, then why does evil exist?
It sounds profound and deep, but the Bible has answered this question over and over again in its denunciation of our own goodness. When the man said to Jesus, “good teacher…” Jesus replied that only God was good. He was not speaking in hyperbole. He was making a statement about the goodness of man. We don’t have any inherent goodness in us. We are conceived in iniquity and without God’s grace in our lives, we continue on in iniquity until we receive our just rewards in the after life, a punishment that no man wants, but fully deserves.
The problem with the above statement is that those who make it assume the lie that we are born innocent and therefore, with the right education and upbringing, we can be good people. This is just not the case. As Paul wrote Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… (Romans 5:12). If there are those born innocent and never sin, then they would never die because death is the result of sin. Yet, all sin and all die because of our inherited sinfulness.
So is God being unjust by not preventing evil? Not at all. But we must understand that if He is to wipe out all that which is evil, that means He would have to wipe out all of humanity. It is in His grace towards some that He doesn’t deal immediately with the evil that does exists. Remember that He is not slow in His coming because He still has many to save before that day, since He is not willing that any of His elect would perish.
Yes, He could stop all that is evil, but does not do so for His own glory. He will be glorified both in His dealings with the just and the unjust at the end of time
I don’t suspect that those who hold to the above position to accept my answers here. But for those of us who have tasted His grace unto salvation, we can rest assured that the truths of the Bible about God are trustworthy. Only God is good. Only God is just. And thankfully, only God is truly merciful.
Just one more thought on the above statement: it really does show the arrogance of man. Who are we to question God’s motives, intentions and plans? He is not looking to us for instruction or wisdom. The people who make such statements are foolishly arrogant, and will have to answer to God some day for their stupidity. God will not be mocked, even if their statements seem profound. But that is the foolishness of the non-believer.
Apparently the author has left “free will” out his little theorum.
Evil exists because God has given us free will, and because, though weakness or wickedness, we choose evil.
Isaiah 45:7 must make the head of that “theological liberal” explode, in that case. God actually creating evil?
Also funny how Satan never figures in this liberal “theology”.
We sin because we are sinners.
Our “free will” died in the Garden on the horrible day when our parents first sinned.
We still have free will.
Freedom to sin or to be obedient to God.
Are you one of those people who insists that our free will is a gift from God? By your definition it would appear to be a curse.
Which is it?
Sin is the curse. Free will, at the beck and call of fallen, sinful creatures, plays itself out in ways that fall short of its intent and purpose.
God intention for us was that we would exercise free will in worshiping Him and enjoying Him forever. This is what will happen in heaven.
When I surrendered my life to Christ, my free will became His will. Since he now dwells within me, it is He that controls my life.
It can be either, and we are faced with that choice daily.
The question could be asked about Joseph.
His brothers hated Joseph because he was Jacob’s favorite son and Joseph had a dream that all of them would come and bow down to him.
His brothers hated him so much they wanted to slay him, but God prevented that from happening so they sold him into slavery.
Joseph was lied about when his master’s wife tried to seduce him and him trying to be pure and righteious before God he got the shaft anyway and got grown into prison.
In the end, what the devil meant for evil, God turned it around for good.
IsSo yes, sometimes God allows bad things to happen to fulfill his will.
God’s ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not his thoughts.
However ? For the most part and his love towards to saints, his elect ones ...... He does prevent evil from happening to them.
For we do not always see with our minds and natural eyes the bad or evil things THAT COULD have happened to us or even aware of them.
Now for the wicked that are saved up for the evil and terrible judgement day ? God leaves them to their own devices for they are not his elect.
That not to say that God does not substain the normal things for life like the air they breath, the rain that waters the food for them to eat, for God reins over the just and the unjust alike.
The real question here should be ?
Why do we not thank God for preventing the evil THAT COULD have happened that we will never see or be aware of.
Yes there is much evil in this world and believe it or not ? There could be or could have been much more in this world if he had not have kept “ the restrainer “ the holy spirit that holds back the full force of evil to have full reign in this world.
It’s for the sake of God’s elect in his mercy that he does kept “ the restrainer “ the holy spirit in this world to keep pure evil in this world to have full reign.
The bible does tell us though that in the end times that God will remove “ the restrainer “ the holy spirit that keeps pure evil from having full reign in this world, from this world.
I'm probably only one of a handful of FReepers who believes this, but Paul is talking in the present tense here, not talking about his pre-Salvation life:
Romans 7:15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Find me one person who is obedient to God and that person doesn't need a Savior.
Do you sin?
"The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
When we choose to ignore or deliberately break these two commandments our thoughts, words and deeds eventually become less and less "good" and more and more "evil". Because God is completely Good and Loving, anything which is NOT done from the motivation of the love of God and the love of my neighbor is less than Good & Loving. Initially these thoughts, words and deeds may appear to be from a "good" person but eventually the errors accumulate and the results become labeled as "evil" by even the least spiritual among us.
The evil began when I chose my way over God's way.
The theme song of evil is Sinatra's "I Did it MY Way!"
Yes.
The only time that it was purely “ free will “ was before the fall, after that, what ever choice he makes is tainted , unless they are born again.
However Jesus said that you can not serve to masters, either you hate the one or love the other.
In the life of a christian, the spirit is rebirthed, but the flesh is still of the fallen nature.
Paul’s explanation in Romans chapter 7.
However, that Christian who is reborn in and with Christ is made justified, and given Christ’s gift of righteousness in the court of God judicially.
The spirit of a christian is saved, and is being sanctified, the mind is being renewed by the word of God , and the body, the flesh will be saved when Christ returns.
It’s a struggle with the flesh, the world, and the devil’s temptations every day that we live with until Christ returns.
That’s why the book of Romans says in chapter 8 that all creation grones, cries out to be released from this present corruption, that includes Christians in their flesh.
Case closed.
A creature without free will is basically a robot...and humans are anything but.
One thing I often see in witnessing to unbelievers (particularly atheist ones) is a rejection of the existance of a loving God because of all of the evil in the world the He seems to permit.
How does one rebut that? Do we just say, “Because Adam fell”? Do that and the unbeliever will typically start throwing evolution at you and the discussion goes nowhere.
I usually try to approach it from the other direction and start with Jesus. That works better, but then I get asked why a loving God would still permit all this terrible evil everywhere. How would you answer that?
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