After reading all the threads on God and evil, I felt I had to start another thread and write the below text. My focus is on coming up with something that could be understood and believed by an unbeliever. I found the other threads insightful but too theological for a lay-person. My hope is that perhaps I can elicit feedback on this text so that it can be improved for the purpose of evangelism. Thanks!
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There is no such thing as "evil" as an entity. Evil is the absence of good. There is no such thing as cold, as cold is the absence of heat; and there is no such thing as darkness as darkness is the absence of light.
So it's not that God allowed "evil", but merely that he gave us a choice not to do "good". Forcing us to do "good" would not be "good" because giving someone freedom is "good" and therefore "force" is "not good".
So why does God allow "the absence of good" to be a choice? Why does the choice have to be between vanilla icecream versus poo, rather than vanilla icecream vs chocolate icecream? Because all good things come from God, so choosing either vanilla icecream or chocolate icecream would still be choosing "good" and therefore choosing "God". By definition, "poo" is everything that is not "good" and not from God. The evil we see in the world looks and smells like poo, precisely because it is not good and not from God.
A simple analogy would be light vs dark. We were originally created to live in the light, but we chose instead to live in the dark - all of us to some degree, and some more than others. If God were to prevent people from living in the dark, that would literally mean to destroy us because when light (God) is shone upon dark areas (that now live within us), the dark areas disappear (or get destroyed). And this in fact will happen in the end: the light will expose everything in the dark on Judgment day, but not before everyone is given a chance to choose to go back into the light. Allowing a second chance is "good", and that's why darkness (evil) still exists today because God is allowing all of us a second chance. As abhorrent as it is thinking that rapists and murderers are given time to change their lives, that same opportunity to turn our own lives around is open to us.
Put it in human terms, in the most advanced modern countries, the death penalty no longer exists. Why? Because humans have progressed to a point where they believe that all men, deserve a second chance at life (even if it is in jail). If such a human standard exists, would not God's mercy be even greater? Nevertheless, there is a cut-off point: death - our second chance ends at death.
Finally everything has to be put into perspective. The suffering of University studies is nothing compared with a lifetime of benefits. And similarly the suffering of 70 years of life is nothing to an eternity of joy with God. Some will suffer on this earth more than others, but those same people will also be rewarded more than others: so in the end it's all equal.
Some people have a capacity to endure suffering: last year a missionary couple got raped in Africa, and after they healed in hospital, they went straight back to Africa. Why did they do this? Because they had an eternal perspective. I myself am not as strong, and I am adverse to suffering on this earth, but for those who are stronger, their reward is also greater.
What does the Bible say about "evil"? In the OT, the Bible mentions God as being the origin of evil or making mistakes that resulted in great evil. However the Bible cannot and should not be dissected with the same rigour and precision as super-legalistic and precise 21st century analysis methods. 21st century methods exist because computing power allows an almost infinite amount of dicussion and analysis and exposition about a topic ad infinitum. The Bible was confined to the methods of media at the time: very slow, hand-written text on papyrus. Therefore a lot of concepts, especially deep concepts, such as evil was summarized. Some verses in the Bible say that God created the evil, whereas other verses say that God is only Good. Therefore the correct interpretation must reconcile both verses, and I believe that is that God allows evil in that he allows a state that is anything other than "good", and he also uses this "evil state" and turns it into good. Since God is ultimately in control of the results, God could be in a sense be the author of said "evil", but in another sense he is merely using it as a tool for ultimate good. The Bible writer, in saying that God is the author of evil, is then merely saying that "don't think that misfortune cannot befall you, because God can allow it to happen to you in order to bring a greater good in your life" - such an interpretation is consistent with God allowing "evil" and at the same time being "perfectly good".
An analogy may be a lighting technician at a cinema. I can choose to turn off the lights at a cinema and allow darkness, but in doing so I also allow a movie to project on a screen for everyone to enjoy. Was I a cause of the darkness? In a sense yes, but in reality I was actually controlling the amount and direction of light, and I did so for a greater good.
--------------------
There is no such thing as "evil" as an entity. Evil is the absence of good. There is no such thing as cold, as cold is the absence of heat; and there is no such thing as darkness as darkness is the absence of light.
So it's not that God allowed "evil", but merely that he gave us a choice not to do "good". Forcing us to do "good" would not be "good" because giving someone freedom is "good" and therefore "force" is "not good".
So why does God allow "the absence of good" to be a choice? Why does the choice have to be between vanilla icecream versus poo, rather than vanilla icecream vs chocolate icecream? Because all good things come from God, so choosing either vanilla icecream or chocolate icecream would still be choosing "good" and therefore choosing "God". By definition, "poo" is everything that is not "good" and not from God. The evil we see in the world looks and smells like poo, precisely because it is not good and not from God.
A simple analogy would be light vs dark. We were originally created to live in the light, but we chose instead to live in the dark - all of us to some degree, and some more than others. If God were to prevent people from living in the dark, that would literally mean to destroy us because when light (God) is shone upon dark areas (that now live within us), the dark areas disappear (or get destroyed). And this in fact will happen in the end: the light will expose everything in the dark on Judgment day, but not before everyone is given a chance to choose to go back into the light. Allowing a second chance is "good", and that's why darkness (evil) still exists today because God is allowing all of us a second chance. As abhorrent as it is thinking that rapists and murderers are given time to change their lives, that same opportunity to turn our own lives around is open to us.
Put it in human terms, in the most advanced modern countries, the death penalty no longer exists. Why? Because humans have progressed to a point where they believe that all men, deserve a second chance at life (even if it is in jail). If such a human standard exists, would not God's mercy be even greater? Nevertheless, there is a cut-off point: death - our second chance ends at death.
Finally everything has to be put into perspective. The suffering of University studies is nothing compared with a lifetime of benefits. And similarly the suffering of 70 years of life is nothing to an eternity of joy with God. Some will suffer on this earth more than others, but those same people will also be rewarded more than others: so in the end it's all equal.
Some people have a capacity to endure suffering: last year a missionary couple got raped in Africa, and after they healed in hospital, they went straight back to Africa. Why did they do this? Because they had an eternal perspective. I myself am not as strong, and I am adverse to suffering on this earth, but for those who are stronger, their reward is also greater.
What does the Bible say about "evil"? In the OT, the Bible mentions God as being the origin of evil or making mistakes that resulted in great evil. However the Bible cannot and should not be dissected with the same rigour and precision as super-legalistic and precise 21st century analysis methods. 21st century methods exist because computing power allows an almost infinite amount of dicussion and analysis and exposition about a topic ad infinitum. The Bible was confined to the methods of media at the time: very slow, hand-written text on papyrus. Therefore a lot of concepts, especially deep concepts, such as evil was summarized. Some verses in the Bible say that God created the evil, whereas other verses say that God is only Good. Therefore the correct interpretation must reconcile both verses, and I believe that is that God allows evil in that he allows a state that is anything other than "good", and he also uses this "evil state" and turns it into good. Since God is ultimately in control of the results, God could be in a sense be the author of said "evil", but in another sense he is merely using it as a tool for ultimate good. The Bible writer, in saying that God is the author of evil, is then merely saying that "don't think that misfortune cannot befall you, because God can allow it to happen to you in order to bring a greater good in your life" - such an interpretation is consistent with God allowing "evil" and at the same time being "perfectly good".
An analogy may be a lighting technician at a cinema. I can choose to turn off the lights at a cinema and allow darkness, but in doing so I also allow a movie to project on a screen for everyone to enjoy. Was I a cause of the darkness? In a sense yes, but in reality I was actually controlling the amount and direction of light, and I did so for a greater good.
