Or, do you play a significant role in allowing evil in the world? What can we do about this? As Christians I hope we come together to encourage each other and spread the truth about our situation in this world. Praise God. Let me know your thoughts.
Why does God allow evil? Is that even true?
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Although God does not create evil to foist it upon us, He uses and allows evil to come our way as He did Job.
This chastening comes to teach and/or correct us.
His greatest allowance of evil centered around the death of His Son where the greatest good came out of it .
Immortalized in these words...
Acts 4:24-28 (NASB) And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, 'WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? 'THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.' "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
and pre figured in these words of Joseph...
Genesis 50:20 (NASB) "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
Welcome to CFS. (I'll try to watch the video tomorrow)
This chastening comes to teach and/or correct us.
His greatest allowance of evil centered around the death of His Son where the greatest good came out of it .
Immortalized in these words...
Acts 4:24-28 (NASB) And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, 'WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? 'THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.' "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
and pre figured in these words of Joseph...
Genesis 50:20 (NASB) "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
Welcome to CFS. (I'll try to watch the video tomorrow)
Hey crossnote;
Amen to the chastening that God uses evil to teach and/or correct us. We tend to look at good and evil only as two separate entities, or black and white, so to speak.
God bless you and your family.
I think evil was created when the glory of God departed (day three). In the twinkling of the eye the work of corruption began the Sun and moon the temporal appeared. In that way God creates an evil when he removes his glorious presence. Just as his presence bring light or glory
When any man acts as a fool we understand the glory or power of God that does wok in man . . it departs .In those cases God can send an evil nation against those acting foolishly in a hope they would see the light
Isaiah 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
When any man acts as a fool we understand the glory or power of God that does wok in man . . it departs .In those cases God can send an evil nation against those acting foolishly in a hope they would see the light
Isaiah 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
When looking for the origin of Evil and why it is allowed, we quickly get into a sort of tail swallowing argument. (If God made X and God is good than X must be good; if X being thus good and then begets Y than Y must be good, otherwise why would God have made X different).
This is a fallacious logic chain.
We should remember that Evil is not the opposite of Good, nor is Satan the opposite of the Almighty. Most of the things we speak of as being evil are the results of a misused good.
It was true in the first rebellion where Angels working God's will presumed to take God's authority. It is true of sin in Man.
Evil is bent and a misplaced good that denies God's original purpose of the good.
This is a fallacious logic chain.
We should remember that Evil is not the opposite of Good, nor is Satan the opposite of the Almighty. Most of the things we speak of as being evil are the results of a misused good.
It was true in the first rebellion where Angels working God's will presumed to take God's authority. It is true of sin in Man.
Evil is bent and a misplaced good that denies God's original purpose of the good.
Ultimate basis of sin is pride, as one wants to play God instead of honoring God as God!
I think God allows it because through that lens it's easier to see Him in truth.
Think about it, we recognise things best, and appreciate the good more, when we see what something is not, or, through its opposite.
If we've seen evil, it's easier to recognize good. If we've seen hate, we can more easily appreciate and foster love. If we've seen pride, we can more easily or readily recognise humility and appreciate that quality all the more.
We say phrases like "God is good", but if all we've ever seen is good then how do we come to truly appreciate the goodness of God in all it's fullness?
It's kind of like these kids today rioting and wanting a better government because they think this one sucks. But it only sucks because they've never experienced a truly evil government system in their entire lives. So they end up working towards a really bad end in all their blindness... all because they've never had to live under the boot heel of the very thing they are trying to promote because it's promises are so deceivingly wondrous.
Kind of like Satan in the garden of Eden saying surely you won't die...
Blindness to evil makes you under appreciate good.
I don't believe that was a problem for the angels who didn't fall and hopefully won't be a problem for us in eternity.
But yes otherwise, 'familiarity breeds contempt' as the saying goes.
look at the end of revelation, even after a perfect rule by a perfect King, they will choose to revolt, so the fault lies within us for all sorts of evil and sin!@
Great discussion. God uses everything for good.
That is an excellent point. On another thread, I was corrected for a mistake in the video. I said God is not responsible for evil but not only does he allow it. He created it for good. Basically, understanding God is beyond our comprehension. Therefore it is best to submit to the Holy Spirit in humility. Thanks for the insightful post.
Well. think that it was Luther that stated satan was the hound of hell on the leash of God!
That's highly suspect my friend. Do you have a backup for that?
I know the Bible mentions God creating calamity, but am not aware He creates evil.
James 1:17 (KJV) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Welcome my friend.
When we first think about it, because God created ALL things, some might think that if God created all things, then evil must have been created by God. However, evil is not a “thing” like a rock or electricity.
You cannot have a jar of evil. Evil has no existence of its own; it is really the absence of good. For example, holes are real but they only exist in something else. We call the absence of dirt a hole, but it cannot be separated from the dirt. So when God created, it is true that all He created was good.
One of the good things God made was creatures who had the freedom to choose good. In order to have a real choice, God had to allow there to be something besides good to choose. So, God allowed these free angels and humans to choose good or reject good (evil). When a bad relationship exists between two good things we call that evil, but it does not become a “thing” that required God to create it.
Maybe another way to say this is....... “Does cold exist?” To almost all people the answer would likely be “yes.”
However, this is incorrect. Cold does not exist. Cold is the absence of heat. Similarly, darkness does not exist; it is the absence of light. Evil is the absence of good, or better, evil is the absence of God. God did not have to create evil, but rather only allow for the absence of good.
What God did with humans, far and above animals, is that He gave us the FREEDOM OF CHOICE! If God had not allowed for the possibility of evil, both mankind and angels would be serving God out of obligation, not choice. He did not want “robots” that simply did what He wanted them to do because of their “programming.” God allowed for the possibility of evil so that we could genuinely have a free will and choose whether or not we wanted to serve Him.
Wow........I always thought it was Basil Rathbone in the "Hound of Baskerville".
Yes sir.........."Freedom of Choice" will apply to those in that day just as it does to us today.
It will not be a problem for us in eternity because Satan will be in the Lake of Fire and when there is NO temptation there will be NO sin.
Major, using this definition, how would you explain the existence of tree of good and evil?
It was a test! Adam and Eve were "not" tempted by the tree. Keep in mind it wasn’t the fruit of the tree that was at fault; the tree did not entice or tempt them, it was man’s willful disobedience and Man had failed the test God gave them.
Satan was the one behind the tree who did the tempting. Satan is the one who questioned the Word of God but it was Eve who "changed" the Word of God.
God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden to test Adam and Eve, to see if they would obey Him. He created human beings with volition, the ability to choose to obey or disobey, freedom of choice. God wasn’t interested in creating human robots; He wanted people to love and obey Him without being forced.
Obedience without love is slavery.