Monday, September 23, 2013
week of September 23: We are going to enmesh ourselves in an argument that the existence of the traditional Judeo-Christian God is not consistent with the existence of evil in the world. How might we explain this apparent conflict between an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God and terrible things happening to undeserving people (for instance, a new infant gets stricken with a horrific and extremely painful and protracted form of cancer)??? If there is a perfect God, why would God allow such things? Or do you think the existence of evil shows there is no perfect God? Also, if some reason justifies the evil, why is there SO MUCH of it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
God has the perfect place waiting for us when we die, heaven. I believe the evil in the world justifies that there is something better to come. God doesn't want people to suffer or die from disease or violence. The problem is no matter how much we can't stand the idea of illnesses, diseases, and violence it will always be there. We can ask questions, why would God let this happen to this person? I believe it is the connection to God. Love and compassion toward one another and it makes faith stronger. If Earth was perfect why would there be a heaven? Sin will always be there too, everyone does it. I believe evil has a stronger presence in the world we live. We see all these shootings and wars and it is pure evil in my opinion. I just always look at the positive side and if I live the right way I will be where I want to be, with an all-loving, all-knowing, and all powerful God in heaven.
ReplyDeleteI believe this also. God does have that special place, heaven. There is always something better to come then what we have on Earth. For instance, if you see those pearly gates and god accepting you into his kingdom you will be extremely happy that he has that place for you. I like how you said that "I believe it is the connection to God. Love and compassion toward one another and it makes faith stronger. " Because that is exactly what god wants in all of his disciples is love. Every religion has the same underlying idea of be loving of one another and you will be loved by god.
DeleteI too believe that God is omniscient and forgiving. It is nice to know He does have place called heaven! It seems easy to be mad or blame God for illness and violence in the world, but He wants to see how we overcome these feats. God is forgiving, then why is there hell? It is a mystery the relationship with us and God, but it only makes us stronger. I agree with you and i too try to look on the bright side of things being that it is Gods will that everything has a reason.
DeleteI find it a little too convenient that a God who is all powerful and yet doesn't want people to suffer or die from disease or violence, is all good. Why wouldn't he intervene? Also, if everyone sins, then how would one know that they will get into this perfect heaven?
DeleteI think that God makes everything happen for a reason. Although that is extremely tough to say when you have a loved one die or someone close to you in a life threatening position. I just don't necessarily believe that god makes these things happen. In the bible, it always talks about how god sent all of his people down to Earth as a test and it says in the bible that the devil (evil) is in our earth. I think that it makes sense because people do evil things to get what they want. Even though we have evil there is no doubt in my mind that there is still that god because you just look at the way people are made and the complexity in every organism. We need oxygen to breath, water to drink and we have plenty of both. About 70% of the Earth's surface consist of water. According to the bible, travesties or going to happen no matter what god does or says. Maybe the things that happen to people make them go to heaven which should be a great place because they had to suffer to go. There is so much evil because the devil rules the earth because that is what is stated in the bible.
ReplyDeleteHi Darrell, i agree with you that everrything just does not happen arbitrarily for what is the sense in that? God is the creater of logic, love, good and evil. Yet if God has knowledge of the two than how come you say that God doesnt mean for these tertible things to happen? Since hell is on earth, i thing this is an automatic ticket to heaven. I think that life on earth is atest and that we either fail or pass , but if we are sinners, than how could we ever pass. I am not questioning Gods existence,i am just saying that there is a reason for evil god exists because we observe everything in nature, and that is proof enough! :-) the Bible is contradictory because it says God is good but this good coexists with evil.
DeleteI'm not so sure myself Darrel, seems like any subject these days can be explained away because it was written down in a book and because it says so we are to follow blindly. Are you saying that God is more concerned with our spiritual well being far than our fleshly circumstances? If God does exist I think to be realistic not everything was done by him, we as humans have carried some of the load ourselves, otherwise there wouldn’t be all the imperfection in world today.
DeleteI agree with you. I believe everything does happen for a reason. Heaven is our salvation once we leave earth. We suffer from pain, deceit, and our happiness is ripped away from us at times. I think this is just so we can truly appreciate the marvels of Heaven. Who are we to judge if something is perfect or not? We can not even fathom the idea of perfect because we all think differently. God is perfect and he guides us through life one step at a time.
DeleteSo here's my question for you: If travesties are happening no matter what God does or says, wouldn't that show that God is not all powerful? Now that we have that established, doesn't that debunk the notion that the Judeo-Christian God exists? As far as everything happening for a reason, there will always be science to help us understand things.
DeleteIt is pretty hard to understand why an all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful God could bring such harsh things to us in our lives such as evil and the existence of cancer and other horrible diseases. I don't think anyone out there has had a particularly happy life; One without any misfortunes or unhappiness at any point whatsoever. Life truly is a roller coaster. There are always ups and downs. Why? I wish I knew the answer to that question. I think its to help those that do truly believe become stronger in their faith. It is to help separate those who believe from those who do not. The bible says that believers will have an everlasting home in heaven if they follow him in his path and don't stray. I do believe things happen for a reason. At this point I'm not sure exactly what those answers are, but I hope to find out someday when I meet my creator in heaven. Yes God created the world in 7 days and his original intent was for it to be without sin, but unfortunately the devil and evil exists, and tempted Eve to take the apple against the will of God because it was forbidden. As far as where this devil came from and how it exists if God was the creator of the world- that's where I get lost. I remember learning in confirmation class that Satan used to be one of God's angels and somehow fell away from him. When in the picture did all of that happen? I try not to think about that kind of stuff too often. I am a believer, but like any other believer, I do question my faith sometimes. I do however think that's another one of the "tests" God gives us to make sure we truly do believe in him. Maybe I'm just being naïve, but I believe simply because that's where I have chosen to put my trust since I was a little girl. I grew up in the faith and will continue to live my life as a Lutheran, despite life's harshness. I've had my downs in life, but I think that's pulled me closer to God because it has given me peace.
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out that Lucifer was once one of God's angels. I remember learning that the reason he chose to leave God is because he was narcissistic and I think that we can learn from that. There's a saying "How many people you bless is how you measure success" and I think that we should live by that and choose to be selfless, when someone is going down the low parts of the roller coaster we should help them out and hopefully in return we can get assistance when we are down. Even if there is no heaven or hell we should live like there is.
DeleteGod created the world/universe in six days and took the seventh to rest, however, it is unknown how long a day lasts to God. To us humans on earth, we decided that one day will last 24 hours, but to God, one day could last one-thousand years. As for when Lucifer had a fall from Gods grace, I believe it happened on the "second day" when God created/named heaven and earth. I think that it was during this time that all of the angels were created. It is unknown what year Satan had tempted Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge, but it is said that Adam lived for a total of 930 years(Genesis 5:5), and was cast out of the Garden of Eden before Eve gave birth to children. However, Cain, Eve's first child, wasn't born of Adam's seed, the first child of Adam was Seth, who was born when Adam was 130 years old. So it may be possible to speculate that Adam and Eve were thrust from Eden prior to Adam being 130 years old. However, who is to really know how long a year was to Adam and Eve, it could have been our standard 365.25 days long, or it could be as long as it takes our sun to complete one trip in orbit around our galaxy(~10,000 earth years).
DeleteI do not believe that there needs to be scientific theory for absolutely everything. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow...
DeleteKeyboard warrior, I guess I wasn't really understanding what relevance your argument of time then vs. now has to do with my post? I simply mentioned the amount of time it took God to create the world, but don't necessarily think it has anything to do with God and evil co-existing.
DeleteI believe that if there is a God he can't be perfect if he bore any sort of evil in this world. If he is all good then how could he have created evil? How could he have created sin? I find it hard answering the questions because I don't believe in God. I do not think that the traditional jc God could have anything to do with by definition. I don't think that God could justify evil. I don't really even think that the things that happen are "evil" per say. They are just things that happen but people call them evil, blame them on the devil, and move on as a way to find peace within themselves. If that is something that you have to do then that is fine with me, but I don't think that a God has anything to do with it. If he did, then he isn't all good.
ReplyDeleteI like idea that you brought up about evil and the devil and being something that people use as way to almost comfort themselves. "This bad thing is happening to me because of the devil" is easier for some people to cope with then just the outright idea that something bad is happening to them for no reason at all. At large the human species likes for there to be reason for everything so the idea of the devil and God provide reasoning for many things for those people.
DeleteI really like how you say people just use the evil to make them feel better. this is a very hard questions that people have to really think about. how are some things related to god and are they really related to god. how do we really no that there is a god and if there is why does he let bad things happen. you brought a very good argument to the table and I hope to here more about this in class.
DeleteI think that the definition that we've placed on God as "omnibenevolent, omnipotent, omniscient" can't be accurate because it is a human definition. How can we really know that he is all loving? Even if we believe in him, we can't understand him. He is a higher power (maybe one of many higher powers?) and does not have the same mind set as us as humans do. In the story of Noah's Ark remember that he completely wiped the slate clean and killed off everything on the earth. That does not seem "all loving" to me.
DeleteI’m in the same boat as you Indiagoss. I have a hard time believing in something that doesn’t make sense. Why can so much bad be happening, and yet God who is suppose to be All knowing, powerful, and loving would allow evil to happen. I don’t think all bad things that happen are evil, but tend to get lumped in with it. I’ve never been a big church attendee myself, I usually had to work on the farm when not in school, perhaps if things where different I’d have a better or a varying idea of the possible existence of God and all his beliefs.
DeleteWhy do bad things happen when it is not deserved? That is one question that no one has a justified answer for. Its just simply not fair or maybe it's just bad luck. Either way God has a plan for everyone and everything happens for a reason. I believe that good or bad everyone you meet in life or that you cross paths with is there for a reason, to impact your life in some way. God is not perfect just like any being he has created. If you can embrace every flaw. It's just like when one says you must learn to fail before you can learn to succeed. You must experience pain before you can experience gain and strength. Everybody makes mistakes and learns from it. No body's perfect even God himself. However I do unfortunately believe that evil exists. I'm not sure how or where or in what form. Hopefully after learning about it I will have a better understanding of the concept of evil. :)
ReplyDeleteI do like you your argument. god is not perfect just like humans that does make a lot of since. and if there is a god why does he let bad things happen to great people. some times you have to wonder they he brings bad people into our life's is it to make us stronger or to make us believe that its a punishment for the bad we have done. question like these are just hard to answer but you put a very good thought into it.
DeleteGod is perfect in my opinion. God created us not so perfect though. It is through guidance and faith we can learn to live better, but still not perfect. I think its the world we live in that is corrupt and corrupts so many people. People want to live amazing lives and have everything their heart desires and that is were evil and greed come into play. People will do anything to get what they want, lie, cheat, steal, and kill. The great saying money is the root of all evil. The world made it that way. Everything is about money. Look at the American Dream for example. It sounds nice and pleasant, but is it really? People hurt people, not god. People are raised differently and some people are born with illness. This is life and no matter how bad we want to point fingers at a source we simply can't. If Earth was perfect why would there be a Heaven?
DeleteThe probl of evil is a very complex one. The story by Dostoevsky told by Ivan, expains that how can you love your neighbor without knowing him? This is the mystery to the path of God for we know of Him, but can not understand Him, as complex as He is. I believe that He created the tree of knowledge of good and evil not out of evil but of temptation. Since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, we have Gods knowledge of good and evil, so we are all born with this knowledge. I believe we are all born sinners so how can we as children of God be innocent? We arecondemed to evil and to the pleasures of good in this world, so why do the innocent have to suffer for the sins of others? Animals do not have the developed brains we have, so they cannot sin. Did man create this evil? And if he did, what is its source? There is evil in the world, whether we accept it or not, because there is cruelty. But why do we enjoy cruelty? The answer is that humans are inherently evil. But why did God create evil? I believe that without evil we wouldnt survive, we wouldnt know our own strength as individuals. Necessity is evil and evil a necessity. God created evil as a temptation that there is so much evil because of sin and therefore can not live without it. With God, anything is possible and therefore evil is exterminated. Laws are created by man to combat evil, yet evil still exists and always will, it is a fact of nature. Yet humans create these laws becaused they have abused them and soiled innocent rights. Of course God is forgiving and just with grace, because He knows there is evil in the world. I believe humans love beating, hitting, and abusing because we are intoxicated by it, it is a natural high because we were born with this inherent characteristic leading to our demise and that is why hell exists. This is the harmony of life. We know in our hearts that God is omnipotent, but He created evil as a test for the final judgement day, otherwise how would he grade us on our final exam? Do we have no control of our lives or do we have free will?
ReplyDeleteThere are many different ways that religion is able to explain away evil. The first is that of the devil. Even though God is all-knowing, all-loving, etc. and perfect, the devil defies God and breeds hate and discourse in the world. Evil can also be explained by the likes of free will. Since God gave us free will we have the right to choose our own actions. We can choose to act justly and good or evil and corrupt and that is where evil comes from. In the case of free will God knows that there is evil in the world but because it is by our own design it is not something He can intervene in. This however, does not explain why a good person gets cancer or why a baby falls ill and dies only weeks after it has been born. Those types of evil could fall under the realm of the devil but, to me, that is a weak explanation for such occurrences.
ReplyDeleteI like your views, Laura! I too think that a God exists and he is indeed all-knowing, all-loving, and all powerful. Does that take away from his qualities knowing that evil does in fact exist and the world isn't perfect? I don't believe so. I try to leave my own personal beliefs out for the most part in this religious aspect of the class, but in this particular blog I do think that it is important to discuss what you believe and how it affects you. I try to keep an open mind about things very much so. I've often questioned my faith because of evil, the devil, and other miscellaneous bad things that occur in a person's life. As I wrote in my blog, I believe that if there is God out there, he himself is perfect and all the things that he created were (notice I said were) perfect, until the devil corrupted the perfection by tempting Eve. I truly do think that life is one big test to see where we are meant to go. Either follow God and go to heaven, or follow satan and go to hell. I do think it is unfair for good people that don't do evil to go to hell. I believe that if God was fair and just, he would make exceptions. It's strange how thinking in depth about these kinds of things can make you doubt your own beliefs. Then again, maybe God is testing me through this class.
Deletei believe that bad things happened to good people. there is really no way to understand why bad things happen to good people or little baby's. the only thing that I can think of is that evil has something to do with it. I understand that god is very powerful but something's evil does is over the power of god. God is watching over all the great people in this world and he misses some. but if you pray for the people that bad things happen to god will listen and help as much as he can. sometimes though its too late for god to help so the only thing that he can do is let them come up to heaven and get them out of there pain. just like humans god is not perfect he. there is just so much evil in the world that he cant control every thing.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that no one knows exactly why things happen to good people but our term for it would be evil. I do believe prayer will help many people with what they need. Also, I know that things can get out of hand too quickly. I know that I need to pray to go to heaven as well as anyone of all religions. In order to go where you want you must show your lord that you're capable of entering his kingdom.
DeleteI think there are some "evil" things that happen in this world really have no correlation with god. People put the two together so they can have someone to blame it on and/or so they can have some sort of peace with it. Why do we say god gave some young child cancer or another deadly disease? it could have been a mutation of the cells or something hereditary. I think people like to bring up god when something evil occurs so they can feel better about the evil. There's many other types of evil in this world. A sociopath who has committed murder has done an evil act. Did god make that person have a chemical imbalance in that persons brain or did it just happen? Heaven and Hell are places people desire and fear, and evil doings are the root of those emotions. If there was a perfect god why would heaven and hell exist?
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think you have a really good perspective. God is perfect obviously but evil and the devil is the extreme opposite. I also do not think that evil and God are tied together because they are such extreme opposites. I believe God is powerful, but so is the devil. I don't think that takes away from the power of God, I just think that Satan, like God, is also extremely powerful. Never thought of the way you put it, but it most certainly makes sense that people like to have something to blame so they feel better about why they think the way they do.
DeleteI really like the point you brought up about sociopaths and whether god created that chemical imbalance in their brain or not. Why would an all powerful and perfect god create someone without a sense of right and wrong?
DeleteTo follow a similar train of thought from other posts, Heaven and Hell could also be something used to bring a person comfort or as a "scare tactic" to either ease a person's passing or scare someone into behaving properly.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe that morality predates the existance of the judeo christian God. Evil has existed in many forms, but most all of them are human. Of course, you hear the stories of certain animals who take pleasure in other animals suffering like the Hyena, though i am unsure if that is true. The point is, evil is a fundamental thing of man. We talked about a world of possible and impossible things earlier on, and i cant picture a world devoid of evil. Lets just say that bad things happen arent exactly evil, but are just that, bad. Unfortunate. Evil is the malicolious nature of man, a curse of having a brain able to imagine and create, but i do not believ e God is responsible for evil.
ReplyDeleteWe are going to enmesh ourselves in an argument that the existence of the traditional Judeo-Christian God is not consistent with the existence of evil in the world. How might we explain this apparent conflict between an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God and terrible things happening to undeserving people (for instance, a new infant gets stricken with a horrific and extremely painful and protracted form of cancer)??? If there is a perfect God, why would God allow such things? Or do you think the existence of evil shows there is no perfect God? Also, if some reason justifies the evil, why is there SO MUCH of it?
ReplyDeleteI think natural evil is a natural way to maintain the population level. If one would look at it from a scientific view then we would see that not just humans suffer from natural evil. Dogs get cancer and their newborn offspring can die from natural ways also. God isn't picking on us humans. Natural evil is proof that God doesn't pick favorites. God is just looking out for the human race as a whole. God made earth with all its complex systems and built in safety nets. By safety nets I mean cancer, death, disease, starvation, and dehydration. If Earth was an infinite source of food, shelter, and water then I am sure God wouldn't allow natural evils to occur because he is all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing.
I totally agree that "natural evil" must exist. Things happen in nature every day that many would consider brutal or unfair. But these things never would have been conceptualized as evil until recently. Death and suffering have always been a part of life. I believe the modern era has somewhat softened people's outlook on the ways of nature. The only thing I disagree with here is I think it's kind of a cheesy argument to always fall back on the answer God. If I really wanted to I could sit and be asked questions for hours and reply with nothing more than the word "God". I wouldn't be lying or giving false information, just giving my explanation of why I think things are the way they are. I just think there are much stronger arguments than "God said so."
DeleteIs it possible that God has a reason for allowing evil that man kind just plain doesn't understand? In addition doesn't there have to be evil in the world to make us appreciate the good? When there is good there has to be something on the opposite end of the spectrum. God can't give us a free will life but yet still make everything perfect. There is no way for God to take away all the problems of the world because its defeating the purpose appreciating the good in the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is no way for God to take away all the problems in the world. There is are to many problems in the world to take all of them away and if he did how would we grow as people and learn. The problems are the reason we learn and can truly see the good when something bad happens. Even though it is not fun to experience someone close to you pass away or lose your job. But you learn and grow. When one door closes, another one opens.
DeleteI agree. We can't appreciate the good in the world if everything is perfect. I also believe that the world goes round because of the natural evils. Death is just a way to balance out our ecosystem . If everyone lived for 100 years then we would not have enough food and water to sustain everyone. Not every evil is "bad evil" I like to call natural evils the "good evil." Natural evils take care of limiting our population.
DeleteI'm not sure about God "allowing" evil to happen. I think that there is an abundance of evil in the world but I don't know how much it has to do with the traditional Judeo-Christian God. I suppose the argument would be that people are living in this existence to be tested and to walk the righteous path even with evil surrounding them. Without darkness there can be no light etc. I don't really think God cares much about this world if he ever did at all. I think there is evil ingrained in everyone. It is the will to resist the temptation that makes a good person. If you live a terrible life then whatever comes after life will probably be terrible too. In the traditional "heaven and hell" sense or whatever you choose to believe.
ReplyDeleteI agree that without evil there could be no good. But I don't agree when you say that God doesn't care anymore because why would he even create the earth and people if he didn't care. Just because there is evil in the world doesn't mean he doesn't care. There has been evil in the world since the first people on the planet. If he really didn't care he could destroy us all and then everyone could be damned to hell.
DeleteI'm not trying to take a shot at the traditional Judeo-Christian God. I'm really trying to explore avenues of a nontraditional god. Much like the problem with the cosmological theory, even if we were created by something, who is to say that we were created by that picture of god? Wouldn't it be just as likely or supported by evidence that maybe god sneezed out the universe wiped his nose and went about his daily business? I don't think God would "destroy us all" if he didn't care. I think he just wouldn't care. The traditional Christian definition of hell is to be without god. Are we not in hell now?
DeleteI agree that there is evil ingrained in people, and it's their choice whether to act on that evil or refrain and become a good person. I also like to explore the different avenues of a nontraditional god. For all we know we could be a giant experiment; "let's see what happens when I do this or create that". As of recently I have started to think that God doesn't care much about what happens. With all the negativity and murdering that's been escalating you'd think that if God cared they would intervene and try to stop us from annihilating each other.
DeleteWell first i think to enmesh myself in the JC God, i have to look at it from the perspective of believing what is taught about him. Which first and foremost is not that he is All-loving, but rather the bible tells us that God is also a wrathful and jealous God, He does not allow the worship of other Gods, and while he gives us the freedom of will, he expects you to understand that ill deeds will be met with punishment. Now while this is what i was taught growing up, i would not say that's how i see God, I don't think its God that allows evil but rather the human being that has allowed it. We took our freedom of will and the ability to make our own choices and we made the wrong choices, we choose to be violent, hateful, selfish and judgmental. God said go out into the world and make it what you will. Only we stopped following his will and his message of love and peace, and diluted it and twisted it into something horrible. I do not believe it is the JC God or any other God/superior being that has allowed so much evil to take over, it is our own choices. If you look at the JC God in the form of "the father" than i believe that he is probably a very disappointed parent, looking down on his children ashamed of the decisions we've made and the paths we've taken and especially the lives, families, countries we've destroyed all in his name. Perhaps people assume that a perfect God means all-loving when maybe it actually means having evil in you but choosing to be good and following the path of righteousness, if we were truly created in his image it is more likely that the God that created us is not without vengeance or violence but rather he chooses not to be evil, and he has given us that same choice.
ReplyDeleteWow. I really like your answer, it is thought out and well put. I wish i could write something that can be read like this insyead of my garbled jumble of words. This point of view of God is at once different and similar from many others in here. You say JC God allows evil because it is part of free will, which is the best way ive heard explain it by someone who belevesvin him. But you also say that he is wrathful and jealous and won't let us worship other gods. Is jealousy evil and if so would that mean God, in his infinite benevolence, has evil in him too?
DeleteIf the traditional JC God is supposed to be omnibenevolent, then I believe that he gave us the power of free will out of love. The saying "if you love something let it go, and if it returns then it loves you too" (or something like that), I believe applies to this situation. The existence of evil can be a test to tempt us into leading a life away from God. In Christian teachings we are taught that if we live a "good" life that we will be brought into heaven when we leave the earth. However I feel like there is a big contradiction if God is omniscient as well then he should already know what path we will choose to take, and if he already knows that then do we really have a choice? Or is free will simply an illusion? As far as bad things happening to good people such as a young child dying, one can view it that the child is being brought into heaven and ultimately being better off there than down here in a dark world, or is it just a tool that humans use to describe things that we cannot explain?
ReplyDeleteI feel like you give a real good point with God being omniscient, and free will being an illusion. However, if God were to interfere with human behaviors, wouldn't He no longer be omnibenevolent, because He would be harming one human's will just to save another human. Then we would have to discuss how an omnibenevolent God can act in this world and be fair to all humans.
DeleteI like how you pointed out the fact of us having free will. God can't teach us lessons or allow us to do as we please if he is controlling everything we do and say. I believe that only God knows why people are taken from us so early in life. It may seem unfair but i also believe they are in a better place.
DeleteI'm not sure that I believe in an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God anymore. I did at one time, but with all the horrible things going on in the world you would think that an all-loving God would not allow these things to happen. Supposedly, God used to show himself to various people in the past and give advice and laws, so where is this God now? Especially when we really, really need them. Most people say that the reason God allows bad things to happen to good people is to test them, but why would he allow bad people to continue what they do and thrive off of it? I do think that things happen for a reason, but I don't think that God has anything to do with it. For those people who triumph over adversity, I think that it has to do with their hard work and brains than anything. I survived an abusive marriage, and I credit that to my own strength and sense to get out of it. And as far as natural disasters killing people, it has nothing to do with the devil. When a natural disaster happens there are many people who still believe that it's the devil's work trying to bring us down, when in reality it is just Mother Nature doing her thing. There is nothing evil about nature; there are just evil people.
ReplyDeleteI feel that "good" and "evil" are just a difference in perspectives, and acted upon in extreme measures. Most societies have a social contract that decides what is considered "good" or acceptable. However, if a person were to break the social contract, they would be considered "evil" or bad. If the J.C. God exists, it would love all creatures equally, and would give them the power of free will. As for the incredibly unfortunate new borne deaths/disease, I find that there can be two explanations: God loves that soul more than usual and decided that it wanted the soul returned to heaven, or that God doesn't exist and nature was acting without prejudice against the world.
ReplyDeleteSocietal behavior and morals, i agree with. In some places the morality is oppisite other places and therefore what is good here isnt always good elsewhere. But we are a very self pious country where we see most acts as evil or wrong anyway so its hard to get a grasp on that. But what of the things everyone sees as evil? Like murdering someone from your own "tribe" as it were. Or stealing? These things are universally evil aren't they?
DeleteI definitely like your perspective on stereotypes of good and evil. Good and evil are also opinions. Most people do conform to the same as their friends and family but when someone decides to be different it seems like they are crazy. I believe in the fact that God knows when its time to go back to heaven since they will be better off there. Everybody has there time sooner or later.
DeleteI believe that with good there must also be evil. We were given free will by God. Because he lets us make our own decisions, we don't always make the right one and that is the devil working in us. I believe in the two little men on our shoulder, we know what is right and what is wrong so why do we constantly make the wrong decisions. You can ask why God would allow so much evil in the world but really it is ourselves that allow so much evil in the world. We are the ones doing evil. I think evil shows that we are not perfect and we constantly need to be conscious of our actions. I believe that things happen for a reason. When something bad happens to someone, I believe it is to better the person and somehow bring them closer to God. As for an infant having a cancer, I really do not know. I believe though in the end we will suffer because of our sins.
ReplyDeleteI would like to think there is a God and perhaps one day in the FAR future I’ll meet him in heaven but for now there are always questions in my mine about him. If God is good then why do bad things happen? Does God hate me? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow rapists, murderers and so on do what they do? Perhaps it’s because God gives us free will and that it rains on the just and unjust alike. I guess my curiosity gets the best of me about the subject of God, beings you can’t see, touch or talk to him but yet he exists according to the bible. Even though God is suppose to be omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence and yet we have so many of these bad things going on in our society, perhaps Mackie is right when he mentioned that God might be a limited God, I really don’t know for sure myself.
ReplyDeleteShaun, I too have questions about God, and I have a hard time understanding why they would allow evil and hatred to run rampant like it seems to be doing at this time. The point you make about God giving us free will possibly being the reason why makes sense to me. Some people choose to do bad things and some choose not to. But, even though we have free will, if there is a God, it would make sense to me for them to intervene and remind us that there is no need for such cruelty and violence. Maybe God really is a limited God like Mackie said. I don't think we're ever really meant to know for sure.
DeleteSometimes I too think about meeting god in heaven one day. It may sound silly but even as a kid I would imagine angels flying around in the clouds with God and our loved ones. After a few minutes of thinking about it I decide that In order to go to heaven I must be deceased :( then I don't want to think about it any more. However on to a different topic, I agree with you that God gives us free will. I don't think God would purposely create someone to do such harmful things. I think people make their own decisions and their life growing up and their past decisions of their own make up who they are as a person in society. Although on the other hand bad things do need to happen for people to grow stronger and learn from mistakes, so maybe that's part of God's way of helping us evolve and grow up as human beings. Part of me still questions why God would want bad people to exist or for bad things to happen to bad people??
DeleteIn my opinion, the world isn't as God wants it to be. When God created the world, everything was good. Suffering in the world is a result of human beings turning away from God - our relationship with God and other people has turned sour. Instead of doing what is right, what pleases God; we all do what pleases ourselves, at the expense of angering God, and hurting other people. It is as if we have taken what God has given us, the ability to love him and one another, and turned this ability into weapons that randomly shoot and harm anyone that happens to come by. Now God is just and will not allow this rebellion to last forever, every human being and the world itself is under God’s judgment, and He wants everyone to understand the state of things and so uses our circumstances (including suffering. He wants to makes us aware that the world is not as it should be and He wants us to turn back to him and be reconciled. So my point is that the suffering comes from our selfishness and rejection of God, we as a human race has bring it upon ourselves, and we and our world are also under God’s just punishment because of this. But this is not going to last. God loves us dearly and has already suffered himself in order to bring us out of this suffering world. We have a choice to accept this gift from God, or to persist in our selfishness and remain under the punishment of God.
ReplyDeleteIf there was a God that was all loving like this then why not flood the world a second time, save some of the well-mannered people then give humanity a restart? Why start off a child's life with HIV or cancer and let them suffer long enough to witness "evil" but not take part in it? It seems pretty unlike a loving God to let all of the world suffer for only some of the world's sins.
DeleteLike a few people have pointed out, the evil in the world abolishes the notion of an all loving God. One way to explain this would be to assume that the Judeo-Christian God does not exist. The countless "evils" of this world have always and will always exist with or without any god or gods. I'm not going to say that I know for sure that there is no higher power but with little to no evidence I don't find it rational to blindly rely on something that has such a high probability of not existing.
ReplyDeleteI believe that God wants everyone to be good and do the right thing. There is evil in the world because of the devil. The devil does things to make you question God and your religion. He does horrible things to turn you against God. You can choose to be more religious when bad things happen to you, which is what God would want. But sometimes when bad things happen to good people, they start to turn against God and their faith and that is exactly what the devil wants. God can't make everything be perfect and he can't make us choose the right path. That's what makes us humans. There is a good way or a bad way to go and only we get to choose. All humans have a little bit of evil in their core, but we can choose. God can't choose for us and he can't control what the devil does.
ReplyDelete