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Why there is Evil in Almighty God's world

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by Bismarck, Mar 20, 2006.

  1. Bismarck

    Bismarck New Member

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    The following makes sense to me, and I would like some feedback.

    1) Almighty God made a Covenant with Adam in the Garden of Eden. God COMMANDED Adam not to eat the mixed fruit of Good blended with Evil. By extension, God commanded Adam to remain PURE in his GOODLINESS. So long as Adam did, he lived in the Garden with the Tree of Life and knew not death.

    2) The SNAKE tricked Adam, through his wife Eve, into BREAKING the direct BIDDING (Commandment) they had been given by Almighty God. As soon Adam had done so, true to His Words, Almighty God came to Adam and booted his sorry untrue ass out of Eden, cursing him henceforth to toil in struggle and to have a limited lifespan after which he would return unto the dust from which God had made him.


    THEREFORE, I see that Almighty God is GOOD, and RIGHTWISE (Righteous), and FAIR (Just)...

    But, yet, God SUFFERS (Tolerates) Evil in this world WHEN it is the FREE CHOICE of mankind.

    Afterall, Almighty God GAVE us Free Will as the BOUNDLESS GIFT that makes mankind "in God's image" and differentiates mankind from purely instinctual creatures.

    Therefore, when Adam CHOSE to sin...
    Almighty God DID NOT beam down and rip the fruit from his gullet...
    Rather, GOD SUFFERED ADAM to sin...
    And then punished Adam for his choice, in keeping with INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.

    IOW, were God to violate our Free Wills, and make us over into mindless automatons that were BOUND to do God's Biddings, then we would have NO INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY. If you screw up, you have nobody to blame but yourself. God's LOVE is ALREADY shown, and CLEARLY TOO, by the NUMEROUS Prophets and Holy Men HE has sent us to warn us and cajole us and yell and shout and scream and otherwise try to PERSUADE us, of OUR own FREE WILLS, to do Right and not wrong.

    So, at the end of the day, ALL EVIL in this world...

    is caused by the WEAKNESS of MORTAL MEN who SCREW UP and GULLIBLY FALL for the SNAKE's pillow talk.


    Almighty God COULD, theoretically, do whatever HE wants and destroy all Evil willy-nilly...

    But then mankind is NO LONGER HELD RESPONSIBLE for its many sins...


    EVIL will be purged from this world the day Oliver Cromwell and the 'New Model Army' come back and crush "Team Snake's" measley ass into powder.

    NO FATE BUT WHAT WE MAKE.

    GOD HAS _ALREADY_ GIVEN US WAY MORE GUIDANCE THAN WE HAVE RIGHT TO EXPECT.

    IF YOU'RE SICK OF THE SNAKE'S BS, MAN UP & _DO_ SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

    GOD HELPS HIM WHO HELPS HIMSELF... IN RIGHTWISENESS (Righteousness).

    (That is, if you just try to "help yourself" by "living by the sword" as a militant bandit thug, don't look to Almighty God for artillery support. But if you are TRULY aligned with Rightwiseness, if you TRULY DO GOD'S WILL (Hebrews 10:9), THEN Almighty God will "smile upon" your deeds.)


    Is this heresy?
     
  2. Helen

    Helen <img src =/Helen2.gif>

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    I don't agree with the "God helps those who help themselves" part, because we CAN'T help ourselves. But I would agree with "God helps those who want help."
     
  3. npetreley

    npetreley New Member

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    I've always wondered why the Terminator movie scripts and the works of Benjamin Franklin aren't considered canonical.
     
  4. MRCoon

    MRCoon New Member

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    By the way, I believe Evil was already 'allowed' (if you will) before Adam sinned because Satan had already rebelled against God.

    Now I heard this said once and it goes something like this: (understand that while it may be a nice hypothesis it is unprovenable)

    So when Lucifer rebelled he took a 3rd of the angels and a 3rd of God's kingdom but God being the gracious God he is took that void and made the world that we know to show Lucifer that while he may have thought he had a kingdom carved out of God's 'everything' it still was controlled by God. So God made the world and put man on this world to give something to a common creation made in His likeness and blessed with His companionship something that Lucifer would never enjoy again. And God gave this common creature a choice to side with Him or side with Lucifer. Lucifer has been trying to get over on God ever since and get man to follow him. But the Lord will ultimately win and will fill in this void left by Lucifer when He punishes him forever and makes a new heaven and a new earth.

    So is this a fairy tale or wishful thinking I don't know but it is interesting and it will be on my list of things to ask once I get to Heaven ;)
     
  5. donnA

    donnA Active Member

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    God helps those who can't help themselves and know it. If we could help ourselves we wouldn't need God.
    Unregenerate man, unsaved man that is, has no choice, they are slaves to sin, dead in the sin and trespasses. Dead people don't have a choice. Saved man has the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and has a choice, but often chooses sin anyway.
    Adam wasn't tricked, he purposely disobeyed.
    This absolutely is not a christian statement.
    The bible says God has a plan for our lives, "no fate but what we make" contradicts scripture.
    God continues to give daily guidance to those who depend on Him.

    Evil exists as a contrast to God's goodness, without it we would have no idea just how good and merciful He was,and how much grace HE has toward us.
     
  6. MRCoon

    MRCoon New Member

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    I think I agree with your concept here but I disagree to the point that God is still full of goodness without there needing to be any evil present. God is not a 'Yin' that needs a 'Yang' this is a human concept trying to explain God. Again I think I agree that evil does show us how gracious, longsuffering, and merciful God is...he is still all of these things without evil needing to be present. [​IMG]

    God did not develop any new characteristics right after man sinned or Lucifer rebelled. He has always had them but our sin shows us how much more we need these characteristics of God or we would all be in trouble and beyond saving. :(
     
  7. Helen

    Helen <img src =/Helen2.gif>

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    God certainly has a plan, a perfect plan. But we for sure don't see a perfect world, do we? We have a choice in our lives as to whether to go with God's plan or our own. Most people choose their own rather than submit to God.

    "No fate but what we make" is not quite right. It could be amended to 'no fate but what we choose' and that would be correct.

    And it is definitely true that God has already given us way more guidance than we have a right to expect. What right do we have to expect any after the way each and every one of us has insulted Him in our lives?

    But, Donna, if spiritually dead people don't have a choice, then hundreds of commands and encouragements in the Bible to seek God, to choose this day, to not harden your hearts, etc., are nonsense. Spiritual death is simply being separated from God, not spiritually unconscious. If it were spiritually unconscious, hell and eternal punishment would have no meaning.

    Yes, saved people sometimes choose sin anyway. But the difference is that we don't want to and are so sorry for it afterwards and DO apologize to God.

    Edit: good point, Mr. Coon. I just read your post as mine went up.
     
  8. donnA

    donnA Active Member

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    I think I agree with your concept here but I disagree to the point that God is still full of goodness without there needing to be any evil present. God is not a 'Yin' that needs a 'Yang' this is a human concept trying to explain God. Again I think I agree that evil does show us how gracious, longsuffering, and merciful God is...he is still all of these things without evil needing to be present. [​IMG]

    God did not develop any new characteristics right after man sinned or Lucifer rebelled. He has always had them but our sin shows us how much more we need these characteristics of God or we would all be in trouble and beyond saving. :(
    </font>[/QUOTE]I didn't say that evil need to exist for God to be good, but we would not know the difference that God was good if we did not see the contrast.
     
  9. donnA

    donnA Active Member

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    The bible is the one who says unsaved are spiritually dead. Not me.
     
  10. webdog

    webdog Active Member
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    ...yes but it is you who is defining it, not the Bible. Physical death is our soul being separated from our body. Spiritual death is our sould being separated from our Creator.
     
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