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This doesn't do anything to reconcile the problem of evil. What do you think is the reason God didn't prevent the tornado from ripping through Joplin, Missouri a few years ago, leaving hundreds homeless and many without parents or children?we are His hands and feet
there are so many stories of firefighters and neighbors and nurses saving people while putting their own lives at risk
-a 93 yr old woman didn't even know about the fire until she turned on her TV but she had no way to get out
a man came and threw her on his back "like a sack of potatoes" she said and rescued her
-a nurse helped get patients out but then as she tried to leave, her vehicle got pushed off road, she called husband who said get out of car and run, she made it to a fire truck and got out alive
there are many stories on the news like above
in any disaster, you hear of people helping others and risking their lives with no thought of themselves
What exactly did God do to prevent the fires in Paradise, California?God has done something about evil, but you are not prepared to accept it.
God is more than just a 'cosmic sugar daddy' there to give us what we think we want.
How about your responcibiities towards God?
So what may be a loving action for you would not be a loving action for God and vice versa. If God stood there and did nothing while your child were raped and tortured, would you still feel God was doing the right thing?Because they were life changing and seemed to have sentience behind them...because after having the encounters, I started reading and was generally in agreement with some arguments for the existence of God...because life with God (as I understand Him) is better than life without Him...because I find some internal consistency between my experience and the arguments (but what do I know? I’m not particularly smart, and realize how little I know more and more as time goes on).
I would remove the children from the tracks, as that is what my moral conscience would tell me to do. But I would say that we are looking at it from a human perspective, unable to see the entire picture from all sides as an omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent God would. I cannot presume to judge God. I have made the presupposition that God is good, all knowing and all powerful, so accept that even things that seem evil and wrong to me will work out in some way that I can’t now understand, for the good. I choose to believe this because I am convinced that my perceived encounters with God are real and I have been generally in agreement with arguments for His existence, but even if they are not...if the world of existence and reality is as dark, harsh, evil and godless as it sometimes appears...then I prefer to live in a fantasy world where love, good and right will win in the end, because otherwise I am certain I will slide back down into despair and nihilism, weighed down by heavy black shadows, and I have no wish to go there.
Again, I do not expect that my beliefs will be sufficient for you (and sometimes they are not enough for me when it comes to evil), and I am not trying to convince you to believe as I do, but that is how I reconcile the problem of evil - I don’t, but I recognize that I am not smart enough, wise enough, permanent enough, or good enough to see all ends.
Only when we are doing good deeds then?we are His hands and feet
Yes, people are remarkable in a crisis.. Good job really with no help from above.there are so many stories of firefighters and neighbors and nurses saving people while putting their own lives at risk
Yes a man did this, with zero help from God.-a 93 yr old woman didn't even know about the fire until she turned on her TV but she had no way to get out
a man came and threw her on his back "like a sack of potatoes" she said and rescued her
Well done to her, do you have a point?-a nurse helped get patients out but then as she tried to leave, her vehicle got pushed off road, she called husband who said get out of car and run, she made it to a fire truck and got out alive
Yes.... And?there are many stories on the news like above
While God snores.in any disaster, you hear of people helping others and risking their lives with no thought of themselves
I don't think you're reconciled it. If you could answer this question, it would give me a better sense of how you reconcile it: what do you suppose is the reason God doesn't prevent rapists from brutally raping children?It's very easy for me to reconcile it. If a person murders another person, I suppose that is evil. But if a person murders two people, does that make it twice as evil?
But suppose that rather than murdering a person, he only harms him. Is that half as evil? If he harms two people, that being twice as evil, is it as evil as killing a single person?
But then on the one end of the scale he insults a person, that is evil. On the other end of the scale he muders him. That certainly is much more evil than insulting him.
So we have to conclude that evil is on a scale of sorts. Without a lesser evil to compare it to we can't judge the greater evil. And we haven't even looked at "good" yet, which would be on the scale but way over the other side.
Without good to compare it to, we would never know evil. If you heard of something happening, without anything to compare it to, it would be neutral. So the same God that allows all this evil to occur is the same God that gives us the good to compare it to. Without the good we would not recognize evil.
Now suppose I said to you that you have never seen nor heard of evil, only good.
There have been many Christians throughout the last 2000 years who have faced such horrors and still maintained their faith in a loving and almighty God. (And some have praised God and rejoiced and been thankful to God in their sufferings and death - better people than me...at best I can rejoice and be thankful despite my [relatively minor] sufferings - and maintained their faith.)So what may be a loving action for you would not be a loving action for God and vice versa. If God stood there and did nothing while your child were raped and tortured, would you still feel God was doing the right thing?
Thanks for the post. I am having a difficult time figuring out from your post how you reconcile the problem of evil. As I'm interested in learning how Christians reconcile the problem of evil, if you could answer this question, it would help me understand how you reconcile it: what do you suppose is the reason God doesn't prevent rapists from brutally raping children?I believe God cannot be known apart from sin. Sin reveals his mercy, otherwise unknown. It reveals his goodness in punishing sin. Because of sin we can see his sovereignty in choosing to save some sinners and not others. We have an idea of his greatness when he creates something as magnificent as the universe only to regard it as nothing and then destroy it. We see God's righteousness in condemning us for our sins. And we see his grace in taking his own wrath upon himself in the believer's place on the cross, as Jesus. I'm sure there is more but this is what I glean from scriptures so far.
Thanks for the post. I am having a difficult time figuring out from your post how you reconcile the problem of evil. As I'm interested in learning how Christians reconcile the problem of evil, if you could answer this question, it would help me understand how you reconcile it: what do you suppose is the reason God doesn't prevent rapists from brutally raping children?The lord of this earth is the adversary. Jesus's death on the cross was for our spiritual redemption as well as to take authority back from the adversary. Freedom from calamity will come. God cursed the earth at the fall, but I believe it was for mankinds sake. For when we walked in the light we forsook it and sought ourselves instead, but in the darkness our week hearts strive for the light. And it is only that striving which will save us from death, through Christ. This is a repeating cycle in the old testament. It is something we all know, and something that finds it's way in all the stories of mankind, 'that great things come at the other side of the wilderness'. Jesus prayed for His suffering to pass from him, but God granted his second prayer, that His will be done. All of us must face the consequence that there is calamity and evil in the world, and there is only one way out of it, the path you forsook. So long as you live, that path will continually remain open for you.
Thanks for your post. I am having a difficult time figuring out from your post how you reconcile the problem of evil. As I'm interested in learning how Christians reconcile the problem of evil, if you could answer this question, it would help me understand how you reconcile it: what do you suppose is the reason God doesn't prevent rapists from brutally raping children?There have been many Christians throughout the last 2000 years who have faced such horrors and still maintained their faith in a loving and almighty God. (And some have praised God and rejoiced and been thankful to God in their sufferings and death - better people than me...at best I can rejoice and be thankful despite my [relatively minor] sufferings - and maintained their faith.)
Your example hits a bit close to home, and I struggle with why some horrors happened to my child. It is hard to remain whole when such things happen (and I know many have suffered far worse than my child), and I have no answer, but I accept that God is good, loving and omnipotent. It is not my place as His creation, to question Him, but I know He has been there with comfort for me.
Thanks for the post. I am having a difficult time figuring out from your post how you reconcile the problem of evil. As I'm interested in learning how Christians reconcile the problem of evil, if you could answer this question, it would help me understand how you reconcile it: what do you suppose is the reason God doesn't prevent rapists from brutally raping children?we are His hands and feet
there are so many stories of firefighters and neighbors and nurses saving people while putting their own lives at risk
-a 93 yr old woman didn't even know about the fire until she turned on her TV but she had no way to get out
a man came and threw her on his back "like a sack of potatoes" she said and rescued her
-a nurse helped get patients out but then as she tried to leave, her vehicle got pushed off road, she called husband who said get out of car and run, she made it to a fire truck and got out alive
there are many stories on the news like above
in any disaster, you hear of people helping others and risking their lives with no thought of themselves
Sorry for my lack of clarity. I have said that I essentially don’t reconcile it. I make the presumption that God is good, loving, omniscient and omnipotent, so trust that He knows what He is doing better than any notions I might have.Thanks for your post. I am having a difficult time figuring out from your post how you reconcile the problem of evil. As I'm interested in learning how Christians reconcile the problem of evil, if you could answer this question, it would help me understand how you reconcile it: what do you suppose is the reason God doesn't prevent rapists from brutally raping children?
If God let each of us sink into the depths of our depravity, there is nothing even a Mother Theresa type would not be capable of.Thanks for the post. I am having a difficult time figuring out from your post how you reconcile the problem of evil. As I'm interested in learning how Christians reconcile the problem of evil, if you could answer this question, it would help me understand how you reconcile it: what do you suppose is the reason God doesn't prevent rapists from brutally raping children?
Because I'd really like to know how you reconcile the problem of evil, let's venture a little more into this.Sorry for my lack of clarity. I have said that I essentially don’t reconcile it. I make the presumption that God is good, loving, omniscient and omnipotent, so trust that He knows what He is doing better than any notions I might have.
EDIT: As for your question, I don’t know why God does not prevent such things from happening, but I trust that He is wiser and better than me and that my understanding is incomplete while His is complete.
Given the logic shown earlier, this would mean you implicitly believe one or both of the following:If God let each of us sink into the depths of our depravity, there is nothing even a Mother Theresa type would not be capable of.
Because I'd really like to know how you reconcile the problem of evil, let's venture a little more into this.
1) What is your best guess as to the reason God doesn't prevent things like rapists brutally raping children?
2) Let's say a rapist is about to brutally rape a child. God prevents the rapist from raping the child. What negative repercussions do you think would occur as a result?
My “best” guess, keeping in mind that I have certainly tried to find answers to this problem, without success, over many years...Because I'd really like to know how you reconcile the problem of evil, let's venture a little more into this.
1) What is your best guess as to the reason God doesn't prevent things like rapists brutally raping children?
2) Let's say a rapist is about to brutally rape a child. God prevents the rapist from raping the child. What negative repercussions do you think would occur as a result?
I think if you place the depravity of our race first in the list, God owes us all of the suffering we can ever experience in order for him to be good.Given the logic shown earlier, this would mean you implicitly believe one or both of the following:
1) God doesn't know about the brutal rapes of children
2) God doesn't love the child and his family enough to want to prevent the rape
But if those beliefs are held implicitly, then it's not exactly a reconciliation.
Speak for yourself.. If you view humanity in this way and think that children deserve suffering, then you have a warped sense of reality.I think if you place the depravity of our race first in the list, God owes us all of the suffering we can ever experience in order for him to be good.
Don't be ridiculous.Based on that, he withholds the suffering due to all, for the higher good of preserving his people. All would be cannibals otherwise if not for the church.
So why create conditions for 'sin'?God hates sin and sinners. So things could be much worse if not for his using the wicked to provide for the church.
But he loves you.What happens when he removes the church on the last day? The universe explodes in flames and all remaining living are destroyed by fire, as they once were in the flood.
What is your definition of love?
Answer this: Let's say you love children and you're at the park next to the train tracks. Some children are playing on the tracks and you see a train coming. You have sufficient time to remove the children from the tracks without putting yourself or anyone else in any kind of danger, and you know if you don't remove the children, they will be hit and killed by the train. Why would you not remove the children from the tracks? If you did remove the children from the tracks, what do you think observers would think of you? If you didn't remove the children from the tracks, what do you think observers who knew you were capable of doing so at no risk to anyone would think of you?
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