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How Can an All powerful "good" God allow Evil and suffering?
Have you ever had someone ask you a question like this?
Have you every asked this question yourself?
If you have your not alone.
This argument is a favorite of many nonbelievers
Epicurus was ancient greek philosopher that lived between 341-270 BC
He made a connection between the evil He saw and tied it to his disbelief in God
So how would you respond ?
Out of curiosity how many people here today, would feel comfortable answering a question like this to someone who is truly seeking
Allow for response
Well today my goal is to help you to be able to answer such a question
So let’s being
How Can an All powerful "good" God allow Evil and suffering?
Answer:
Free Will
Thanks for coming out today, I hope you enjoyed the message
Hope to see you all next week
God Bless
Pretend to leave
Would you like a more detailed answer?
you see Epicurus, and those many who follow his thinking, error in a major way in their line of logic.
The thinking goes Like this
God is all-powerful so could destroy evil and prevent suffering
God is good so would want to destroy evil and suffering
Evil and suffering exist so the good and all-powerful God does not exist.
Upon first reflection this may seem to be reasonable
but in reality the reasoning is so simple it misses out on some very key pieces of evidense
Ill Marker won’t fit through the tube, .......unless you turn it
To answer this adequately we are required to God back to the beginning
We must understand the complete nature of God
Not just focus on 1 attribute
1. God Is Infinite – He is Self-Existing, Without Origin
2. God Is Immutable – He Never Changes
3. God Is Self-Sufficient – He Has No Needs
4. God is Omnipotent – He Is All Powerful
5. God Is Omniscient – He Is All-Knowing
6. God Is Omnipresent – He Is Always Everywhere
7. God Is Wise – He Is Full of Perfect, Unchanging Wisdom
8. God Is Faithful – He Is Infinitely, Unchangingly True
9. God Is Good – He Is Infinitely, Unchangingly Kind and Full of Good Will
10.
God Is Just – He Is Infinitely, Unchangeably Right and Perfect in All He Does
11.
God Is Merciful – He is Infinitely, Unchangeably Compassionate and Kind
12. God Is Gracious – God Is Infinitely Inclined to Spare the Guilty
13.
God Is Loving – God Infinitely, Unchangingly Loves Us
14. God Is Holy – He is Infinitely, Unchangingly Perfect
15.
God Is Glorious – He is Infinitely Beautiful and Great
To simply say God is Good and since evil exists God doesn’t over simplifies things to the point of being erroneous
Allow me to pull this together.
God is Good, and God is Just.
Since He is all good and completely just the 2 attributes work in perfect harmony
Let’s go back to the garden of Eden
After God created the earth and subsequently people
we are told in Genesis
Everything was Good!
When God placed Adam and Eve in the perfect environment, we see the only time God’s “will” was carried out perfectly on earth.
But we know what happened...
the devil came into the garden and convinced Eve to do the 1 thing God had told them not to do
Eve knew this she even repeated it
So a good question is Why did God even place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden?
To give them a choice.
Everything else in the Garden was good for them to do, They could do anything and not sin, except eat from that tree
God place the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil in the garden so that Adam and eve could exercise their “Free Will”
Free will is meaningless if you don’t have the choice.
If every choice you have to make is Good, and you can only make good choice do you really have free will.
Look at it this way.
If the person you are married too, or will be married to Had to love you
I mean they had no choice but to love you.
They could never make the choice to Love you or not because that was the only option
How would you feel about be loved like that.
Pretty empty right.
In reality its not even Love, because its forced.
For Love to operate, it has to be carried out on the basis of Choice!
God’s love for His creation, obligated Him to give us free Will, in order for free will to exist.
Opportunity for people to reject God also had to exist.
That opportunity to reject God’s “will” took place in the form of a tree of the knowledge of Good and evil.
Did God want them to eat from that tree?
No He expressly told them not too.
But being who He is, God had to give us the opportunity to reject Him
And Adam and eve did!
They chose to do the one thing he commanded them not too.
That perfect state of the Garden of Eden, When God said everything was good, changed drastically into what we have today
1. Loss of Righteousness
They became aware of their nakedness and knew that their former perfection was just a memory.
Because of this disobedience, mankind now stands as guilty sinners in Adam
2. Separation from God
Previously when they heard God’s voice, they had been unafraid, but now they feared the presence of God with whom they once had fellowship in the garden
As descendants of Adam, we all now enter the world separated from God, and are by nature children of wrath
3. Cursed Environment
Genesis 3:17–18 reveals that man’s sin caused the curse against the ground, resulting in the troublesome thorns and thistles and a change in the way the natural world works
4. Physical Death
The fulfilment of God’s promise that Adam would die reveals the punishment Adam received for disobeying God’s command (Genesis 3:19; cf.
2:17).
Adam was told that he would return to the dust from which he was taken
5. Clothing
Genesis 3:21, when God makes garments of skin after Adam and Eve sinned.
After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their “eyes were opened” and they became aware of their nakedness, trying to cover it up by sowing fig leaves together.
Nevertheless, this was ineffective, and ultimately God Himself clothed Adam and Eve
Evil and suffering entered as a result of sin entering the world.
before sin....no evil or suffering
after sin....Evil and suffering
Sickness, disease, natural disasters, all the evil things you can list in the world, came about a result of Adam and eve sinning.
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