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Child leukemia is the result of Adam's fallen nature which is the result of the justice of God on his disobedience.I don't think child leukemia is an instance of the justice of God, if that's what you're getting at, no.
I would call it what Paul calls it and reveals it to be.There is something in my view terribly amiss and extremely remote from the genuine theology of the New Testament in your simplistic predestinarianism. (I assume this is what you would call it).
All this is not perfect as it was perfect in the Garden, is the result of the Fall and its consequences ordained by God.Child leukemia exists on the level of secondary causality and in no manner is decreed by God as some kind of cosmic punishment.
That comfort is neither purchased by us nor does it exist apart from the faith in God, which faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit (Php 1:29, 2 Pe 1:1, Ac 13:48, 18:27, Ro 12:3), not given to all.There is, of course, some comfort to be derived from the thought that every single thing whatsoever that occurs at the level of secondary causality — in nature or history — is governed not only by a transcendent providence but by a universal teleology that makes every instance of pain and loss an indispensable moment in a grand scheme whose ultimate synthesis will justify all things.
But one should consider the price at which that comfort is purchased: it requires us to believe in and love a God whose good ends will be realized not only in spite of — but entirely by way of — every cruelty, every fortuitous misery, every catastrophe, every betrayal, every sin the world has ever known; it requires us to believe in the eternal spiritual necessity of a child dying an agonizing death from diphtheria, of a young mother ravaged by cancer, of tens of thousands of Asians swallowed in an instant by the sea, of millions murdered in death camps and gulags and forced famines (and so on).
… So what? …
Perspective is everything. if God is good, then everything from God inherits that goodness, regardless if we call it darkness or something else. Anything that is truly good is of God and anything truly evil is not of God as it goes against him. The Genesis creation account shows us a darkness that is transformed from disorder to order. in contrast, Revelation shows us a darkness destroyed, not transformed. One becomes a part of God's order through it's transformation, the other must be destroyed to maintain the order. thus 2 kinds of darkness, one of God, the other not.What do you make of the hard passages quoted above which indicate that God is responsible for evil, or at least, calamity?
That works! Not a single tear will be wastedThere is, of course, some comfort to be derived from the thought that every single thing whatsoever that occurs at the level of secondary causality — in nature or history — is governed not only by a transcendent providence but by a universal teleology that makes every instance of pain and loss an indispensable moment in a grand scheme whose ultimate synthesis will justify all things.
Uh, that really doesn't work. It's just an array of excuses for the reality of evil.Anything that is truly good is of God and anything truly evil is not of God as it goes against him
If all is to his pleasure and purpose then nothing is outside his pleasure and purpose and evil/sin are just illusions. Free will sufficiently adds wide competition to values and actions that can be qualitatively measured and dichotomized into good and evil. This also seems to be the fundamental biblical approach. So it comes down to how you accept free will, without it then there is no evil and it's all for His pleasure regardless of how horrific we judge things to be. But if you accept evil as fundamentally against God then you must accept a measure of free will and a concept of evil that operates outside of God's pleasure.Uh, that really doesn't work. It's just an array of excuses for the reality of evil.
God did in fact not only create evil, but set us all in same.
The only logical presumption from there is that God is Greater than all things, even the sum of them. And therefore all things serve not only His Purposes, but His Pleasure.
There is no "if" unless we want to eliminate this scripture:If all is to his pleasure
Severely short logic. Try this one on for size: IF God is Greater than all things then He will make good out of evil, which God does. And again, it's scripture:then nothing is outside his pleasure and purpose and evil/sin are just illusions.
Again, the moment you concede that God is Alive and Active in this present world AND that the tempter is in operation within people, any notions that "wills" of mankind operate free of either and is therefore just a sole will is Godlessly absurd. Just another big lie from the Godless camps trying to promote works salvation and false self justifications apart from God's working.Free will sufficiently adds wide competition to values and actions that can be qualitatively measured and dichotomized into good and evil.
No, it's just another bad reflection among a myriad of bad reflectionsThis also seems to be the fundamental biblical approach.
That's just very faulty logic, nothing more.So it comes down to how you accept free will, without it then there is no evil
Nothing in creation is "fundamentally against" God. He created all of it. So the only real logical conclusion is that God is better than any given thing in creation or even the sum of all things within creation.it's all for His pleasure regardless of how horrific we judge things to be. But if you accept evil as fundamentally against God then you must accept a measure of free will and a concept of evil that operates outside of God's pleasure.
There is no "freewill" that is free of God or tempter. Do you see then only one will? Nope!
God can and did/does create evil AND makes good of it. Now how GREAT is that?
Nothing in creation is "fundamentally against" God. He created all of it. So the only real logical conclusion is that God is better than any given thing in creation or even the sum of all things within creation.
How in the world did you hear the above.You're implicitly are saying free will exists independently of God by naming the tempter as an adversarial will.
Believers often mistake that God, via creating something IS that which He creates. He's not. Those who claim such are technically merely "pantheists."Evil is that which is against God. If nothing is against God, then nothing is evil. There needs to be at least a single will in competition with God's for evil to sufficiently exist. So long as that will persists, then there is evil.
It's the presence of a competing will that is the thing to grasp. If there is only God's will there is nothing to contrast it, and nothing that is against God thus, nothing is evil. Not that God is his creation, creation is of a separate substance, but either creation has a form of free will and/or we are influenced by an outside free will. If there is a competing will, even in a single adversary, this is sufficient enough for evil to exist, as the adversary may influence in competition with God's will. I believe in evil separate from God and I think the bible shows this as well, even if there are examples of darkness direct from God, there is still a separate force in competition with God, thus "free will", even if only manifested in a single adversary. so there is darkness from God and darkness from an adversary, but I don't see those amounting to the same thing.I'll repeat: God's Will is Alive and Active in His creation, meaning no other wills or any things within His Creation are devoid of God's Working Will. IF you do not accept this your positions are technically Godless, seeking to eliminate God's Will from the equations. It's quite an absurd posture to take to begin with, don't you think?
Yes, as Jesus said: Mark 4:15 Internal theft, a sin, by an adversaryIt's the presence of a competing will that is the thing to grasp
In the final analysis God is the only Will, everlastingIf there is only God's will there is nothing to contrast it,
Again, looking at this, there is Eternal Perfection and then there is "every thing else" i.e. creation, categorically "less than" Eternal Perfection. There's your contrast. Creator/creation. The latter can not have freewill in such an equation. The creation, even the sum of it, can only and ever have a "less than" position.and nothing that is against God
Influences are well beyond denial and indicates no such thing as freewillbut either creation has a form of free will and/or we are influenced by an outside free will
Every "less than" will is simply that. Only to matters of degree. Everything is in partial darkness, some in near total darkness. Yet light shines from the dark, as God Himself has commanded.this is sufficient enough for evil to exist, as the adversary may influence in competition with God's will
God is never equated to any particular "thing" in creation. People who make such claims are technically polytheists. Yet God's Spirit dwells in His creation, unseen, unknown in full.I believe in evil separate from God
No matter how you want to slice this subject "all things" and "all wills" are never an issue with God and can not be considered competitive. There is no competition. Everything that exists exists because of God.there is still a separate force in competition with God, thus "free will"
True. They are not the same.there is still a separate force in competition with God, thus "free will", even if only manifested in a single adversary. so there is darkness from God and darkness from an adversary, but I don't see those amounting to the same thing.
There is no competition.
Man has a subjected will, subservient to
both the adversary and to God.
True. They are not the same.
Maybe it's just sementics but you seem to present a contradiction. There is no competing wills yet we are subservient both to the will of God and the adversary.Bottom line on the whole freewill thing is that it's simply false.
God "intentionally" created an adversary in the form of the antiChrist spirit, the spirit of disobedience, the DEVIL, Satan.Maybe it's just sementics but you seem to present a contradiction. There is no competing wills yet we are subservient both to the will of God and the adversary.
God "intentionally" created an adversary in the form of the antiChrist spirit, the spirit of disobedience, the DEVIL, Satan.
Surely the devil was not created as an adversary. After all, at the end of His creating, God pronounce everything that He'd created at "very good." At some time after his creation, Satan fell/disobeyed God.God "intentionally" created an adversary in the form of the antiChrist spirit, the spirit of disobedience, the DEVIL, Satan.
And he bound that evil within mankind. We all got our own little chunk of that beast inside. Not a happy meal.
Now watch what happens:
Romans 11:32
For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
The only difference between believers and unbelievers is we are supposed to SEE our condition and speak HONESTLY about it. Not be slaves to it, but dominators over it. Nevertheless God has mercy upon us to even allow us to continue in this state because you see, it's not JUST the person. It's the person and the TEMPTER.
The promise of God in Christ is to DESTROY the devil, all his works, all his ways. And that time, the devil's time will come to a blazing end. That ending is going to be done IN MANKIND, when God finally decides to drive out that usurper, permanently.
Read all about it in Matt. 25
"and he shall separate them one from another"
That's the separation of "mankind" from "devilkind."
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