God absent...

[Tellyontellyon]

Evil, I've heard, is the absence of good. Darkness is simply the absence of Light...
But is there really anyplace where God is absent? An individual may block out God, they may block out goodness..
But they haven't blocked it out for God, only themselves.

Is God still there in the darkness? Is God in hell?

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Evil, I've heard, is the absence of good. Darkness is simply the absence of Light...
But is there really anyplace where God is absent? An individual may block out God, they may block out goodness..
But they haven't blocked it out for God, only themselves.

Is God still there in the darkness? Is God in hell?

Absence is not what I would use personally. I would use opposite. Light and darkness are metaphors for the state of one's spiritual condition. Good and evil is one's condition while in the flesh. The flesh is both good and evil. God does not inhabit those in darkness nor is He the author of evil. The Holy Spirit brings light into the beliver, this is regeneration. This is how He makes His home in us and conforms us into righteousness.
My take anyway.....
Blessings

 

[HTacianas]

Evil, I've heard, is the absence of good. Darkness is simply the absence of Light...
But is there really anyplace where God is absent? An individual may block out God, they may block out goodness..
But they haven't blocked it out for God, only themselves.

Is God still there in the darkness? Is God in hell?

It depends on your view of hell. One description is that nearness to God is heaven while distance from God is hell. God is present in both but the farther away you are from him the worse it is.

 

[Tolworth John]

Is God in hell?

I would argue that no, God has chosen not to be in hell.
Hell is the abscence of all that is good.
It is where God say to those who have rejected him, 'your will be done.' They have lived without reference to God so they spend eturnity literally without God.

 

[BobRyan]

Evil, I've heard, is the absence of good. Darkness is simply the absence of Light...
But is there really anyplace where God is absent? An individual may block out God, they may block out goodness..
But they haven't blocked it out for God, only themselves.

Is God still there in the darkness? Is God in hell?

1. God is everywhere according to the Bible.
2. He is all-knowing, all powerful, and present everywhere -

That means nothing surprises him and he knows the exact details of what will happen on Tuesday a million years from today.

The gap in knowledge and power between any sentient being (such as man) and God is always infinite. And that means the devil himself is confronted by God who is infinitely wiser than the devil.

So when bad things happen it is not because God is unable to do anything to stop them... it is because he chooses not to stop them.

God can never do "evil" as he simply chooses to limit himself to never do evil. He also can not lie - which is another limitation he sovereignly places on Himself. (Some people have a hard time with that)

In the Bible God has told mankind how this all will end - and nothing can stop God from winning the battle between good and evil.

Of course God "could" simply have blinked and all evil would vanish -- never having a chance to start. But God loves free will sentient intelligent life and loves to 'teach' - loves to have things grow and mature. Everything is a teachable moment from God's POV.

 

[angelsaroundme]

"Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,'
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you." - Psalms 139:7-12

 

[Tellyontellyon]

If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,'
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you."

John 1:5
'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.'

 

[aiki]

Evil, I've heard, is the absence of good. Darkness is simply the absence of Light...
But is there really anyplace where God is absent? An individual may block out God, they may block out goodness..
But they haven't blocked it out for God, only themselves.

Is God still there in the darkness? Is God in hell?

Hell, as I understand it, is complete separation from God in the sense that His general, mitigating influence over evil, His love and mercy, and His fellowship are fully and permanently withdrawn. Each person in eternal hell is left to themselves, alone in the darkness, tormented by their own vanity, their own debased reason, their own dark and selfish will. There is no divine Light to help the person in hell break through to higher, truer understanding; there is no curbing influence of the Holy Spirit upon the vile impulses and attitudes of the unrepentant rebel in hell; there is no comfort to be had in the deep, gut-level sense of God's presence the wicked in hell willfully suppressed in unrighteousness during their temporal existence. There is in hell only the torment of oneself, the unrelieved misery and tedium of an eternity with the weakness, ignorance and foulness of oneself.

God, then, is not in hell, I think, in the way He presently inhabits the world. Though hell exists by His will and power and His omniscience requires His awareness of the smallest detail of those in hell and of hell itself, these facts offer no hope, no prospect of future relief, no opportunity for appeal for divine mercy to those who've chosen themselves over their Maker.

 

[James_Lai]

Evil, I've heard, is the absence of good. Darkness is simply the absence of Light...
But is there really anyplace where God is absent? An individual may block out God, they may block out goodness..
But they haven't blocked it out for God, only themselves.

Is God still there in the darkness? Is God in hell?

God created Hell and He is the energy source of everything.

 

[RileyG]

Depends what you mean by hell. In Catholic theology, hell is separation from God. In Eastern Orthodox theology, hell is being in the presence of God for all eternity and hating it. God created everything, and is present everywhere.