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Why would God create a flawed creation?

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Deidre32

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I find Deism to be resonating with me lately, and if a god should exist...he allowed humans to do as they wish. With consequences. I don't see it as flawed, I see that as perfection ...as in, reaping what we sow is a rather perfect thing.
 
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ananda

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All is already good in heaven. Evil isn't allowed.
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. Job 1:6

Nobody is dumb enough to choose evil in heaven lol.
So how do you explain Satan? He apparently chose to rebel against God, even though he was previously an angel in heaven.
 
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Archaeopteryx

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He is hinting at that, I can tell.

It doesn't bother me whether you post or not. I simply pointed out that there are likely to be people who disagree who will respond to your comments and make their disagreement known.

You can disagree, but raising the same point again and again for the sole purpose of mocking God, is not mere disagreement.

You might consider it mocking, but I don't see it as such. In my view, the properties typically attributed to God (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence) raise some interesting questions about God's level of complicity in creating a fallen world. Asking these questions of someone who believes that God is also all good, just and loving is not "mocking".

I have no problem dealing with people who have a point of disagreement. I do have issues when people are hell bent on getting personally offensive against a Deity whom they neither acknowledge nor understand. Furthermore, such offences are not even grounded on any true examination of how the Deity is represented in history. That is sacrilege, outrightly demeaning and shows a basic lack of respect for an area of reality where one lacks knowledge about.

Rather than saying that God might be offended, why not just concede that it's you who is offended? You're offended by this line of questioning.
 
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Archaeopteryx

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If you're willing to grant me the point that I can grasp concepts well, then perhaps you should listen to what I'm saying.

1) If you are an omniscient being, that means you know everything.

2) Since you know everything, you know what choices people will make.

3) If you engineer the circumstances knowing in advance what choices people will make in a given situation, then their choice is inevitable based on how you set things in motion.

Therefore:

4) God must have known in advance that Adam and Eve would have eaten the fruit based on the design he created and the situation they found themselves in. It was inevitable, Adam and Eve could not have chosen any other way.

This is essentially what I've been saying as well. God was not a naive bystander simply letting it all run its course. He set it on its course knowing exactly where it would lead.
 
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WoundedDeep

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Again, that's not what the bible says. Genesis 3:4-7 directly contradicts your argument here, the serpent says eating the fruit will not kill them, and "your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:7 confirms what the serpent said to be true.

Wrong. God was not talking about immediate physical death. Genesis 3:7 said they knew they were naked, that is not knowledge of good and evil. Is the English in that verse not clear?

Furthermore, in Genesis 3:22 it says: And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

That directly shows the act of eating the fruit is what gives Adam and Eve these abilities. Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil gives you knowledge of good and evil. Eating from the tree of life gives you eternal life.

Wrong again. Genesis 3:22 did not say Adam and Eve got knowledge of good and evil from the forbidden tree. It says Adam and Eve is become like God, to know good and evil (KJV). "To know" indicates a future tense, in other words, they are in the process of knowing. Therefore, they did NOT gain immediate and full knowledge from eating that forbidden fruit.

To make it clearer, look at the Hebrew word used for "know" in Genesis 3:5 and the Hebrew word used for know in Genesis 3:22

דְעֵ֖ (Genesis 3:5) - this is the "know" spoken by the serpent. It is often translated as know, knew, indicating a present or past tense.
לָדַ֖עַת (Genesis 3:22) - this is the "know" spoken by Yahweh. It is often translated as "to know", indicating a future tense.

Clearly, they are different in tense. The serpent spoke a lie.

P.S. As an interesting sidenote, Genesis 22 is one of the old holdover verses from the time the Jews were a polytheistic society. "The man has now become like one of us"... it's plural, denoting more than one god in a pantheon. This makes no sense if your god is the only god, but it did make sense in the time before Judaism evolved into a monotheistic religion.

God is singular in nature, but not in Persons. This has been the true and mysterious description of God since the time of Adam and Eve. It makes perfect sense if you consider how water exists in three states, but are of the same chemical makeup.

Here's an intro to the ancient Caananite religion, which eventually spawned Judaism (and included Yahweh as the god of Israel within the pantheon, however he was not the supreme god) Some books of the bible find their origins in this era of the religion, and there are some telltale signs within those books of their original basis. Canaanite religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That is a distortion of the biblical account and description of Yahweh.

If you're willing to grant me the point that I can grasp concepts well, then perhaps you should listen to what I'm saying.

Unfortunately, you have failed to demonstrate that ability throughout the discussion. Whether it is because of denial or stubbornness or sheer pride, I do not know. But I have worked with INTJs before, I know they have that ability. Why am I not seeing it demonstrated here? Hmm.

1) If you are an omniscient being, that means you know everything.

2) Since you know everything, you know what choices people will make.

3) If you engineer the circumstances knowing in advance what choices people will make in a given situation, then their choice is inevitable based on how you set things in motion.

Therefore:

4) God must have known in advance that Adam and Eve would have eaten the fruit based on the design he created and the situation they found themselves in. It was inevitable, Adam and Eve could not have chosen any other way.

Yeah, you have presented that framework countless times, to which I already refuted countless times with the fact that Adam and Eve was specifically instructed not to cause the Fall to happen by God Himself. Are you not willing to acknowledge this glaring fact, which is right in your face?

To say Adam and Eve had no choice but to cause the Fall when God specifically instructed them to do otherwise is pure absurdity.
 
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Archaeopteryx

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Yeah, you have presented that framework countless times, to which I already refuted countless times with the fact that Adam and Eve was specifically instructed not to cause the Fall to happen by God Himself. Are you not willing to acknowledge this glaring fact, which is right in your face?

How does that refute Dave's point? It doesn't even address it.
 
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TLK Valentine

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Nobody is dumb enough to choose evil in heaven lol.

These are the same people who believe that the world was once perfect, but was ruined and infected with death, misery, and pain because two naked people in a magic garden once took bad advice from a talking reptile. . .

You might be giving them a wee bit too much credit. . .
 
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dazed

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That is easy. Choice.

God does not force Himself on you or me or anybody for that matter.
You and me and everybody, are given the choice to rejoice in good or evil.

OT indicated that He did. The Flood, made the Sun stood still so Joshua can finish the killing, Conquest of the Promised Land..........
 
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WoundedDeep

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OT indicated that He did. The Flood, made the Sun stood still so Joshua can finish the killing, Conquest of the Promised Land..........

That is judgment on evil, and punishment for unrepentant wickedness. As a Judge, God does need to administer justice on people who have decided to do nothing but destroy others. It is unjust to let the wicked harm others forever without intervention.
 
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Archaeopteryx

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That is judgment on evil, and punishment for unrepentant wickedness.

What wickedness did the infants and children commit to deserve to be drowned or slaughtered?

As a Judge, God does need to administer justice on people who have decided to do nothing but destroy others. It is unjust to let the wicked harm others forever without intervention.

Okay, then why doesn't he intervene more regularly? And why does his intervention always have to be so destructive?
 
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TLK Valentine

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That is judgment on evil, and punishment for unrepentant wickedness. As a Judge, God does need to administer justice on people who have decided to do nothing but destroy others. It is unjust to let the wicked harm others forever without intervention.

I don't recall any of those people asking for God's help. . . So they were forced.
 
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bhsmte

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What "argument". I don't want to argue. Just speak truth.

Slight problem. It would appear, you have different criteria to determine if something is indeed; "true".

Also, many of your posts, simply don't make a lot of sense.
 
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bhsmte

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I find Deism to be resonating with me lately, and if a god should exist...he allowed humans to do as they wish. With consequences. I don't see it as flawed, I see that as perfection ...as in, reaping what we sow is a rather perfect thing.

Sounds good idealistically, but I don't see it being just in real life.

I often see no consequences for people who deserve them and negative things happening to good people.

I don't think the 9 million children who die each year suffering before the age of five, is something all those children deserved.
 
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WoundedDeep

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Sounds good idealistically, but I don't see it being just in real life.

I often see no consequences for people who deserve them and negative things happening to good people.

I don't think the 9 million children who die each year suffering before the age of five, is something all those children deserved.

That is because God wants wicked people to become good as much as He wants good people to continue being good. Some people are like that, they need to make mistakes to learn, just like how some children will still play with fire until they burn themselves or others. It is inevitable that when they make mistakes, they cause harm to others, even death. But God has allowed mistakes to that extent because He has power to restore life to those who were killed. If He did not have that power He would not allow such things to happen because ultimately He wants people to live.
 
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bhsmte

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That is because God wants wicked people to become good as much as He wants good people to continue being good. Some people are like that, they need to make mistakes to learn, just like how some children will still play with fire until they burn themselves or others. It is inevitable that when they make mistakes, they cause harm to others, even death. But God has allowed mistakes to that extent because He has power to restore life to those who were killed. If He did not have that power He would not allow such things to happen because ultimately He wants people to live.

Sorry, that explanation just doesn't resonate with me. You can believe it though.
 
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WoundedDeep

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I don't recall any of those people asking for God's help. . . So they were forced.

:confused: What do you mean ask for help? I am talking about wicked people who rebel against God and harm society through their wickedness, with no intention of ever repenting.
 
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WoundedDeep

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Sorry, that explanation just doesn't resonate with me. You can believe it though.

Think of the stand of a parent. Sometimes you have to allow your child to make mistakes to learn, because they will not understand why something is bad until they see its harm for themselves. But you will only allow mistakes that ultimately you have the power to control and prevent permanent damage to your child.
 
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