Why is there evil in the world?

First of all let me commend you on the mature and temperate nature of this post. It is not snippy or insulting or demeaning or inflammatory. I appreciate this because these kinds of exchanges tend to produce more light than heat. This is what we should be aiming for in these debates, IMO.

Secondly, I do not disagree with Augustine on his definition. But since evil did not always "exist" (in other words since there were not always "pockets of missing goodness"), evil whatever it is or is not had a beginning. It started. Something brought it to pass.

Evil, like darkness is the result of the absence of something. Something changed, something vacated its post (goodness) to allow evil to be. Darkness is not eternal for example. Light had to give way, change or move in some way for darkness to be.

God must be the first cause. God must know everything that is going to happen as a result of whatever he sets in motion. In order to set it in motion, knowing all that is going to happen as a result, he plans everything that is to happen by setting that something into motion. Everything that happens is not only foreknown of God but "foreplanned" as well.

The only other option is that, when God sets that something in motion things happen which he did not plan to happen. That is illogical and, if I may, a bit blasphemous as well.

Before God built the universe the exact way that he built it he knew exactly what would happen and every single thing that would happen- beforehand. THEN he built it knowing all things that would take place as a result of his design that he would put in place. Therefore, he planned EVERYTHING TO HAPPEN JUST AS IT HAPPENS.

He knew if he built the universe the way he did, and if he built Earth and the Garden of Eden the way he did; he knew that if he made Lucifer the way he did and the serpent the way he did- he knew EXACTLY what would come to pass and that it would come to pass exactly as it did. He knew man would fall- but he built it all the way he did ANYWAY.

That he built it the way he did knowing what would happen if he made creation and creatures the way he did is clear proof that he planned for everything to happen exactly the way it has.

God planned it- there is no way around it. And when I think of what he has and is and will accomplish through this universe the exact way that it is- I AM OVERWHELMED WITH AWE AT HIS GLORIOUS AND BRILLIANT PLAN!

The only other option is blasphemous- that millions of things happened that he did not plan when he built everything exactly as he built it.

Then we read in the Scripture: God worketh ALL THINGS AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL!!!!

And then we read- FOR OF HIM AND THROUGH HIM AND TO HIM ARE ALL THINGS!!

And then we fall to our knees and declare How great is our God!!!

 

Free will, I think, is really a misnomer when you think it through to its logical conclusion.

Every person does what he most wants to do at any given moment.

He is bound to always do what he most wants to do.

Many got up and went to work this morning even though they did not want to; but more than they did not want to go to work, they wanted a job and paycheck.

The will is not free. It is bound by desire.

No one can be forced to do what they do not want to do. I can put a gun to your head and say eat this spinach. You may not want to eat spinach but you will eat it because you want MORE to live.

Every man must do what he MOST wants to do at any given moment.

Another post might ought to be dedicated to why you want to do what you want to do.

 

Men want what they want because they are what they are. They are what they are because of forces outside of themselves or beyond their control.

They had no control over how their taste buds would be arranged or they had no control over Uncle Jimmy feeding them too many onion drenched Krystal Burgers when they were four. So when they come to a road with a Krystal Burger joint on the left and an Arby's on the right- they will choose Arby's. Why? Because forces outside of them have shaped their desires so that they want Arby's over Krystal.

Were they really free in this decision? Was it really up to them? Or did forces outside of them; forces over which they had no real control determine what restaurant they would eat at this day?

 

Those forces outside of themselves are controlled by the one who started everything in motion (the Prime Mover) who planned everything to happen just exactly as it happened.

When God built the universe he set things in motion that would eventually bring to pass a disdain in my heart for Krystal burgers.

The chain of events that brought to pass my hatred for crystal burgers can be traced back to God and his design.

He knew if he built the universe and Adam and the Garden and the Serpent and Lucifer a certain way exactly what the outcome would be and exactly what every single out come would be large and small.

If God did not want a particular outcome then he could have tweeked the construction of the universe and Adam and Lucifer and the Serpent and the Garden just so that that particular outcome that God did not want to come to pass would not come to pass.

But he built the universe exactly like he did which means-...


He planned for me to not like Krystal burgers.

Which means on the 1st of January 2009 when I came to Rice St. and there was both a Krystal Burger and an Arby's on that road- God ordained in eternity past that I would, that day, eat at Arby's.

 

God cannot perform evil- but he did ordain that it be. That is orthodoxy.

God ordered the creation and the events of creation in such a way that evil would come to pass. It was his will that evil be. That is plain and irrefutable.

God does not like evil, mind you, but he uses evil for an infinitely glorious purpose- to magnify Christ in the highest degree possible.

Evil is a necessary evil that God ordained for the noblest and grandest of all purposes.

 

Saying that God uses evil is correct but insufficient. God planned it. God ordained it. God willed that it should be.

God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

There is nothing that has ever happened that God did not plan.

Many things happen that god does not like in and of themselves, but he ordained that they happen for a high and holy purpose- His highest glory and our highest eternal happiness.

 

I'm sorry, I don't follow. Are you saying that God created evil or that he did not?

 

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You can't be serious webdog- you just can't be- you just can't. You cannot seriously believe that what Arminian and Calvinistic scholars alike have called the greatest theological and philosophical mind in American history is not orthodox. You just can't be serious.

You have yet to address the argument. God designed everything knowing what would be every single outcome and still built it just the way he did. He planned it all. You can't get around it. Not only is that the ONLY logical position but it is what the Bible teaches as I have already clearly shown and will be glad to show more of.

Nobody called evil "noble and grand" did they? Did they? You cannot even hang in an argument with me without mischaracterizing what I say, can you? And not because I am smart or even smarter than you- but because I am right and you are wrong. That's what settles debates- whose right and wrong and who can prove it.

I said god planned evil (which is plain as the nose on your face) though he hates evil- he planned it for the noblest and grandest of purposes- what is that purpose? The highest eternal glory of Christ- THAT WEBDOG IS WHAT I SAID WAS NOBLE AND GRAND- HIS GLORY. Do you disagree?????