what free will is and is not

[bricklayer]

Well, then we go back to my question: Why did God conceive the idea of rape, murder, pedophilia, etc?

Among other things, God uses sin and salvation from sin to reveal His:
patience, judgment, grace and mercy.
Don't lose sight of God's primary purpose for His creation.

 

[juvenissun]

You don't have to convince me. I am arguing about bricklayer's point: Humans cannot conceive of a new idea. We merely perceive them from God. Therefore, whatever evil ideas people have thought (and people DO have evil ideas every now and then) God must have conceived first.

What I said is: evil is not an idea. It is an action (spiritually or physically).

When you "think" evil, you are not thinking about the evil itself. You are thinking about something like murder, stealing, etc. God does not tell you to do (or to think about) those things. You want to do them because you have the free will.

Think about the story of Abel and Cain. When Cain feels that he wants to kill, is he thinking about evil? No. he is thinking about justice. God did not tell Cain that he should not kill (Abel was "killing" his sheep all the time). Before God blames Cain, there was no evil involved in the whole incidence. Of course God knows what is killing. But before God says: thou should not kill, killing is not evil.

What I am saying is: your question is not a valid one. You can not say that God has the "evil" thought of killing at the first place.

 

[roach]

What I said is: evil is not an idea. It is an action (spiritually or physically).

Of course God knows what is killing. But before God says: thou should not kill, killing is not evil.

What I am saying is: your question is not a valid one. You can not say that God has the "evil" thought of killing at the first place.

Right and wrong are what god says they are? So nothing is good or evil unless god says it is, right? This sounds like divine command theory, right?

 

[juvenissun]

Right and wrong are what god says they are? So nothing is good or evil unless god says it is, right? This sounds like divine command theory, right?

Exactly. If God does not say anything, then I surely can make arguments that turn evil into justice. In fact, it is already done in atheism. Don't you agree that there is nothing called evil in atheism? Anything and everything can be justified.

 

[bricklayer]

What I said is: evil is not an idea. It is an action (spiritually or physically).

When you "think" evil, you are not thinking about the evil itself. You are thinking about something like murder, stealing, etc. God does not tell you to do (or to think about) those things. You want to do them because you have the free will.

Think about the story of Abel and Cain. When Cain feels that he wants to kill, is he thinking about evil? No. he is thinking about justice. God did not tell Cain that he should not kill (Abel was "killing" his sheep all the time). Before God blames Cain, there was no evil involved in the whole incidence. Of course God knows what is killing. But before God says: thou should not kill, killing is not evil

What I am saying is: your question is not a valid one. You can not say that God has the "evil" thought of killing at the first place.

You are quite mistaken. The bible makes it clear that the Word of God, in the law, reveals sin.
It does not make an otherwise good act evil.
Evil is a privation of good; it is not in and of itself a thing.

God does not, cannot, change.
God does not come to know anything, even evil things.
God knows all necessarily; His knowledge is not contingent upon a thing's existence.
Nothing about God is contingent upon anything.
God is all He is necessarily, knows, feels, and wills necessarily.

God does not come to know evil; we do.