This is probably the most common answer from Christians to the Problem of Suffering. But for it to be true, then there has to be another premise that is true and no one ever states that premise.Thus the free will of HIS creation is an absolute necessity to fulfill HIS plan of the heavenly marriage with us.
I'm pretty sure the problem with this statement is just with the phrasing. The universe isn't the best because God chose it. You believe this universe is the best because God chose it.This universe is the best possible universe because it was chosen by perfect God who cannot err.
God doesn't design things He creates? That seems weird.Your question does not make any sense. God did not "add" suffering. God "saw" all possible universes and chose the best one.
Its not cooking.
The existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibus mind is presupposed.The thread is "why does God allow suffering". If you want to talk about the existence of God or whether He is perfect, this is not the place. Its a presupposition, here.
That's a poor analogy.Of course its not the same thing.
My human nature and a mobile phone are not the same things.
A couple of points: I don't think we should distract ourselves with Euthyphro. 2) But, since we're here, it doesn't matter what our conceptions of good are; theists routinely say that everything that God does is good. AND, God has freewill.
So to the question of free will, there are beings that exist that have free will and have never done evil. These include God and some angels. Those that go to heaven will always choose good and most would assert that there is free will in heaven.
So, I conclude that God wanted free will and had to allow suffering to get it doesn't seem to hold up.
It is interesting that in the kingdom it is said the evils, pain, suffering etc. here will be forgotten. Forgotten is a reversal of the knowledge gained in the Garden.
You want to go back to ignorance?
But, I don't recall the Bible saying about reversal of knowledge gained.
"Free will necessarily leads to choosing evil at least some of the time"
I like this explanation, but it just seems a tad insufficient, because true free will would seem to necessitate the knowledge of good and evil, and then the question becomes, did the gaining of the knowledge of good and evil cause us to choose evil, or did it simply cause us to become aware of the evil that already existed? Did it simply cause us to recognize the evil already inherent in our actions?The common theistic answer is that free will does not necessitate suffering, but it does give rise to the possibility of suffering (via evil acts freely chosen). Thus when God created free will he did not create suffering, but he did create something that had the possibility of resulting in suffering.
On such an account the theist can point to free will as the sufficient cause of suffering without committing themselves to the position that suffering is a necessary consequence of free will.
It boiled down to 'choosing' rather than following the will of God. First sin was to choose to do other than what God told us. Once done, the second was to self determine and choose whether we would use good or evil to suit our purposes.did the gaining of the knowledge of good and evil cause us to choose evil, or did it simply cause us to become aware of the evil that already existed? Did it simply cause us to recognize the evil already inherent in our actions?
If so then God created us with the specific intention of our acquiring free will, and the loss of innocence, and the recognition of the evil suffering that inevitably came with it.
If that is wrong, then God was capable of creating a world with free will that no one chooses evil. And if that's the case then the free will defense to the Problem of Suffering fails.Wrong
Christian definition of God, of course, includes His "goodness".The existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibus mind is presupposed.
The "goodness" of that mind is not presupposed.
Designing presupposes that one does not know everything from the beginning.God doesn't design things He creates? That seems weird.