The problem of evil

[L4T3R4LUS]

Why does God allow evil to exist upon the earth?

It is not that God chooses evil over good. Note--in the parable of the sheep and goat, Jesus wished to divide the good from the corrupt, the wheat from the tare.

A what if, with God hanging over our shoulders, as in the presence of God, the wicked would always choose the path of good, out of fear. Take God away, and each and every soul is cast into a fire where it is tested, in order to separate the good fruit from the bad. To give the wicked the rope to hang themselves with, so that in the day of judgement, the wicked would have no defense, saying that we chose good over evil; although we are evil.

Without signs and wonders, men, naturally, do not believe in God; for they cannot conceive of what they cannot grasp with their senses. Hence, Jesus said, this generation of vipers, this wicked and adulterous generation shall receive no sign. Because if you do not believe in the path of good, from the start (without the presence of God) then how are you to believe in it with the presence of God, if your natural tendency is to sway toward an evil inclination.

To separate the sheep from the goats, is what Jesus and God intended. To gather the wheat (the good) into the barn and the tares (the wicked) into the furnace to be burned.

I hope I enlightened the problem of evil for you. I hope that this expounded parable for you, since it is not given to you to understand parable--that a higher wisdom is at work--one that tests souls in a fire.

 

[quatona]

Why does God allow evil to exist upon the earth?

It is not that God chooses evil over good.

And that´s why the PoE question is not "Why does god choose evil over good?", but "Why does god allow evil to exist on earth?"

Note--in the parable of the sheep and goat, Jesus wished to divide the good from the corrupt, the wheat from the tare.

So god created/allowed evil for there to be a problem that Jesus could wish to solve?

A what if, with God hanging over our shoulders, as in the presence of God, the wicked would always choose the path of good, out of fear.

Take God away, and each and every soul is cast into a fire where it is tested, in order to separate the good fruit from the bad. To give the wicked the rope to hang themselves with, so that in the day of judgement, the wicked would have no defense, saying that we chose good over evil; although we are evil.

Err, am I understanding correctly: God created/allowed people to be wicked so that he would have someone to give them the rope to hang themselves with?

Without signs and wonders, men, naturally, do not believe in God; for they cannot conceive of what they cannot grasp with their senses. Hence, Jesus said, this generation of vipers, this wicked and adulterous generation shall receive no sign.

I fail to see how those two sentences deserve the connection "hence".

Because if you do not believe in the path of good, from the start (without the presence of God) then how are you to believe in it with the presence of God, if your natural tendency is to sway toward an evil inclination.

What I have understood so far: Humans need evidence in order to believe something, and since they don´t believe in things without evidence, it´s useless to give them evidence. I fail to see how this reasoning makes any sense whatsoever.

To separate the sheep from the goats, is what Jesus and God intended. To gather the wheat (the good) into the barn and the tares (the wicked) into the furnace to be burned.

And in reference to the PoE question your answer is: God created/allowed good and evil in order to have an opportunity to separate good from evil?

I hope I enlightened the problem of evil for you.

Actually, no. I must say that this was one of the most confusing explanations of the PoE that I have seen so far.

 

[ExistencePrecedesEssence]

Why does God allow evil to exist upon the earth?

It is not that God chooses evil over good. Note--in the parable of the sheep and goat, Jesus wished to divide the good from the corrupt, the wheat from the tare.

A what if, with God hanging over our shoulders, as in the presence of God, the wicked would always choose the path of good, out of fear. Take God away, and each and every soul is cast into a fire where it is tested, in order to separate the good fruit from the bad. To give the wicked the rope to hang themselves with, so that in the day of judgement, the wicked would have no defense, saying that we chose good over evil; although we are evil.

Without signs and wonders, men, naturally, do not believe in God; for they cannot conceive of what they cannot grasp with their senses. Hence, Jesus said, this generation of vipers, this wicked and adulterous generation shall receive no sign. Because if you do not believe in the path of good, from the start (without the presence of God) then how are you to believe in it with the presence of God, if your natural tendency is to sway toward an evil inclination.

To separate the sheep from the goats, is what Jesus and God intended. To gather the wheat (the good) into the barn and the tares (the wicked) into the furnace to be burned.

I hope I enlightened the problem of evil for you. I hope that this expounded parable for you, since it is not given to you to understand parable--that a higher wisdom is at work--one that tests souls in a fire.

God did not create good and evil. We created good and evil.

 

[The Nihilist]

Without signs and wonders, men, naturally, do not believe in God; for they cannot conceive of what they cannot grasp with their senses. Hence, Jesus said, this generation of vipers, this wicked and adulterous generation shall receive no sign. Because if you do not believe in the path of good, from the start (without the presence of God) then how are you to believe in it with the presence of God, if your natural tendency is to sway toward an evil inclination.

I hope I enlightened the problem of evil for you. I hope that this expounded parable for you, since it is not given to you to understand parable--that a higher wisdom is at work--one that tests souls in a fire.

The reason that this is silly is that almost everyone belives without signs and wonders, and everyone who believes who is not insane also believes without signs and wonders. No, what we require for belief is merely to be told that there was a sign here, or a wonder there, and poof! you have religion.
You have utterly failed to give evidence of a higher wisdom.

 

[Defcon]

We created good and evil.

How did we know 'what' to make good and evil, and why did we do this?

 

[ExistencePrecedesEssence]

Whatever enhances happiness and distraughts suffering.

 

[Tormac]

. . .

Without signs and wonders, men, naturally, do not believe in God; for they cannot conceive of what they cannot grasp with their senses. Hence, Jesus said, this generation of vipers, this wicked and adulterous generation shall receive no sign. Because if you do not believe in the path of good, from the start (without the presence of God) then how are you to believe in it with the presence of God, if your natural tendency is to sway toward an evil inclination. . .

This particular paragraph confuse me. From what I understand of orthodox Christianity, no human have ever lived a life free of sin. We all are wicked, stemming from the original fall of Adam. This notion of original sin, at least has been a corner stone in a lot of sermons both Catholic and Protestant that I have heard in my lifetime. You seem to imply that God does not give direct evidence of his existence, so as to not scare people out of committing sin, and therefore he can sort out the good from the bad. But if everyone fails to leave a life without sin, and so everyone is doomed to hell, what is the point of that?

"Because if you do not believe in the path of good, from the start (without the presence of God) then how are you to believe in it with the presence of God, if your natural tendency is to sway toward an evil inclination."

This sentence seems to conflict with the rest of the paragraph though, and really confuses me. The prime reason why I am an atheist is that I see no evidence that any supernatural things exist. If the supernatural regularly manifested itself, I would have to change my mind, based on the evidence. I suspect that most people would. The direct confirmation of heaven, hell, and the existence of God would do much to sway people towards lives in accordance with biblical principals. The only way that God making his presence known would not help sway some into living better lives is if people are inherently created with an overwhelming tendency towards evil, in which case the whole passion of Christ is meaningless, as God would have knowingly have made people without a chance to escape damnation.

I was hoping the OP could respond to my confusion, and maybe point out where I am misunderstanding the op.

 

[FrenzyforChrist]

Why does God allow evil to exist upon the earth?

It is not that God chooses evil over good. Note--in the parable of the sheep and goat, Jesus wished to divide the good from the corrupt, the wheat from the tare.

A what if, with God hanging over our shoulders, as in the presence of God, the wicked would always choose the path of good, out of fear. Take God away, and each and every soul is cast into a fire where it is tested, in order to separate the good fruit from the bad. To give the wicked the rope to hang themselves with, so that in the day of judgement, the wicked would have no defense, saying that we chose good over evil; although we are evil.

Without signs and wonders, men, naturally, do not believe in God; for they cannot conceive of what they cannot grasp with their senses. Hence, Jesus said, this generation of vipers, this wicked and adulterous generation shall receive no sign. Because if you do not believe in the path of good, from the start (without the presence of God) then how are you to believe in it with the presence of God, if your natural tendency is to sway toward an evil inclination.

To separate the sheep from the goats, is what Jesus and God intended. To gather the wheat (the good) into the barn and the tares (the wicked) into the furnace to be burned.

I hope I enlightened the problem of evil for you. I hope that this expounded parable for you, since it is not given to you to understand parable--that a higher wisdom is at work--one that tests souls in a fire.

I'm going to touch on a point that Tormac did. And that is your not leving any room for Orginal Sin, the Orginal Sin starting when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge in way it as one perseon said in and erlier post man did create good and evil. But not in the way he thinks (or im going to say) But moore like came to the knowledge to distigus between good and evil once they ate from the tree. But it wasnt there Idea it was satan who through a sanke convinced Eve who then convinced Amdam to eat from the tree. So God did not create evil. Evil streams form the doings of satan who wishes to see us seperated through God. This is how I see it at least. I see what you mean about we wouldnt belive in God with out signs. But before someone can come to accept christ they have to be able to feel his presence in there lives. They have to see first hand the power that prayer may have.

 

[elman]

How did we know 'what' to make good and evil, and why did we do this?

God created us with the ability to love. When we do we create good and when we do not we create evil.

 

[elman]

So god created/allowed evil for there to be a problem that Jesus could wish to solve?

No man created evil which separted him from His loving Creator and this is the problem that Jesus solved.

Err, am I understanding correctly: God created/allowed people to be wicked so that he would have someone to give them the rope to hang themselves with?

No you are misunderstanding. God allows people to be unloving so that He will have some of them who chose to be loving.

 

[quatona]

No man created evil which separted him from His loving Creator and this is the problem that Jesus solved.

No you are misunderstanding. God allows people to be unloving so that He will have some of them who chose to be loving.

Are you L4T3R4LUS´ mouthpiece or something?

 

[elman]

Are you L4T3R4LUS´ mouthpiece or something?

Not much of a response is it?

 

[quatona]

Not much of a response is it?

No, more like a question.

 

[The Nihilist]

God created us with the ability to love. When we do we create good and when we do not we create evil.

What do the words good and evil mean?

 

[quatona]

What do the words good and evil mean?

Good means being loving and evil means being unloving.

 

[The Nihilist]

Good means being loving and evil means being unloving.

Ha! Then I was being good to the neighbor's wife, and he was being evil when he found out

 

[FrenzyforChrist]

Ha! Then I was being good to the neighbor's wife, and he was being evil when he found out

I dont think that is what the perseon was talking about. And its anothe can of worms so I'm not even going to say anything.

 

[elman]

What do the words good and evil mean?

Good is being loving to your neighbor. Evil is hurting him.

 

[elman]

Ha! Then I was being good to the neighbor's wife, and he was being evil when he found out

Sex is not good or evil or loving or unloving in itself. In your scenerio it is being unloving.

 

[The Nihilist]

Elman, why do you hate jokes