Welcome to all New Members

[Brutus/HisCatalyst]

Welcome to the forums, Kellyc, najahed, and tychicus. I pray you all enjoy your stay.

 

[kellyc]

thanks!!

 

[*snoopy*]

hi and welcome to CF!!!

 

[Acudimani]

hello everyone newbie here.

i have something to share with you that hopefully you can help me answer. this was given to me by a non-believer friend of mine. i can't answer it, so maybe some of you can:

The Riddle of Epicurus
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

First off, let us remember that without the existence of evil it would be impossible to recognize any good. Secondly, God is most definitely willing and able to prevent evil, but He does not because we humans do not ALLOW Him to.

You see, we ourselves created evil: Eve created disobedience and faithlessness, Adam created blame, Cain created hate, wrath, and murder, and so on. (I used the word "created" on purpose, since what was done did not exist before hand and no one else had showed them how to do it -- therefore it was a creation.)

Now God did create us, human beings, but He also blessed us with the gift of CHOICE. He did not want a bunch of mindless drones worshipping Him; He wanted us to WANT to worship Him. And so, if He gave us the choice to serve Him, He had to give us the choice NOT to serve Him. When humans chose NOT to serve Him, THEY created evil.

God is a being that is all good, therefore if we choose not to serve or worship Him, then we choose to not serve or worship good. If we do not serve or worship good, logic would tell us we are choosing to serve and worship evil. (Let's go back to the whole "if p then q" and "if not p then not q" thing we learned in 10th grade.)

Since we humans created evil, God was gracious enough -- remember He did not have to, He chose to -- supply us with a way to be good again: spiritual relationship with Him through the blood of His Son Jesus. But just because some of us choose to have a relationship with God, it does not magically erase all the others in the world who do NOT. Those who serve and worship evil create more evil, because nothing good can come out of them. Therefore we, the entire human race, are constantly surrounded by evil. Of course God would love to save us from evil and not let anything bad happen to us, but the wonderful gift He gave us -- FREE WILL -- prevents Him from stepping in until we ASK Him to. (Think of God as a tagteam partner, He stays out of the ring until we tag Him in.)

Understanding all this, we now realize that God's choice to stay out of things until we ask Him is not malevolence, but benevolence, because He is showing the love and respect He has for us by giving us a CHOICE between the two and a CHOICE whether to ask Him to intervene or not.

Hopefully that shed some light for you! Oh, and tell your friend nice try, but my God wins everytime.

 

[miss_pink_princess08]

Hey everyone well im new at this, but i think this is a really great idea bcuz i think alot of ppl forget who they actually are religious wise... so thanx hehe... Mwah XoXo

 

[tyler_grant]

welcome to CF

 

[psalms 91]

welcome to all

 

[JFreak89]

Well, This forum is a great idea,

personaly, i very much disagree with all the inter-denominational seperation.

It looks as if i could finally get comfortable with a forum like this, Great Idea Admins.
All Noobs welcome - Great

 

[~ Gig ~]

Hi everyone, We're all so excited to see you here. God Bless and Welcome!!!!!

 

[heron]

FYI new users, I couldn't find any post buttons until I cleaned out cookie manager and accepted CF cookie.

 

[bikkle]

Hello everyone! I joined Christian Forums on Sunday and I'm happy to be here

 

[chrislife]

Hi Beloved Princess and all other newbies. I'm new, too. Just joined this morning, after I looked at the gardening forum. I'm new to gardening, too, and can use all the help I can get. This looks like a friendly crowd.

 

[NegusNegustiality]

blessed love tuh all,
Ini am a Rastaman who loves tuh spread deh word of H.I.M. His Imperial Majesty, Emperor of Ethiopia,Haile Selassie I(Power & Might of the Holy Trinity) who is crowned(Nov.2-All Souls Day, 1930) King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, The Light of the World, Elect of God, Defender of the Faith(1963) & King of Israel. Ini know dat a lot of your pastors and clergy would rather not speak about the King of Kings, Haile Selassie I but Ini come tuh tell all about dis King of Glory.
inperfectlove Hail H.I.M.

 

[jurand]

Hello. It's nice to discover such a place.

 

[Brutus/HisCatalyst]

Welcome to the four of you who posted above me.

 

[xXxKristaxXx]

Welcome to all the new memebers, If any of you ever need help or just need somebody to talk to than feel free to PM me

 

[GloryBeToTheFather]

Hi All,

I am a Bible following and Bible beleiving servant of almighty God. I know that the Bible is not only the word of God but it is God. I am a True Christian who knows that the Bible/God's holy word is the final authority on everything.

Praise!

Stu

 

[Starr SDA Living Word]

Welcome to CF, All and God Bless!
~PROVERBS 19:11 NIV~
A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Psalm 55:22 The Message
Pile your troubles on GOD's shoulders - he'll carry your load, he'll help you out. He'll never let good people topple into ruin.
Romans 10:17 Niv
So faith comes from hearing the message. And the message that is heard is the word of Christ

Romans 6:16:18 Niv
Don't you know that when you give yourselves to obey someone you become that person's slave? You can be slaves of sin. Then you will die. Or you can be slaves who obey God. Then you will live a godly life. You used to be slaves of sin. But thank God that with your whole heart you obeyed the teachings you were given! You have been set free from sin. You have become slaves to right living

 

[than]

Im so Bless to part of this Forum

 

[Bukaj]

Hello. I'm not sure how scared I should be. I am a Universist and I'm just here for friendly debate. You guys seem like a good group of people and I think it'll be interesting and fun.