Christian Apologetic, and Social Commentary in a world gone mad
Is God Evil?
What a question to ask. When you look out at everything happening in the world how can you not help but to wonder? We have seen a number of calamities over the last 10 years. Just to name a few, September 11, Katrina, Haiti, wars, a tsunami, and recently earthquakes and volcanic activity. In addition to these major events innumerable amounts of people have suffered pain because of cancer, murder, rape, kidnappings, divorce or whatever. If God is a God of love how can he allow these things to happen? An agnostic said to me once, “I refuse to believe in a God that allows these things to happen.” And I’ve seen an Atheist write, “If their God is so loving why does he allow violence?”
Atheists will use the following argument to show that our God is not in control, and/or our God is evil: “Your God says that he is in control of everything, this means that he allows bad things to happen. This can only mean one of two things…God is evil because he allows evil things to happen to others, if you say that he is not Evil, but is in fact love, then God cannot be in control of the world because of all of the evil that happens.”
If you have ever been in a heated discussion with an atheist, or even an agnostic, this topic surely came up. With an atheist, it came up as another reason for them not to believe in God at all. If it was an agnostic, it came up as a reason for them to not believe in the God of the Bible. Thus, either directly or indirectly, they claim that the Bible is errant, after all the Bible emphatically claims that God is good (cf. 1 John 1:5, Psalm 25:8, Genesis 50:20).
So the real question is…Is God Evil? The simple answer….NO!
And not just a simple no, or a feeble no. Not the kind of no you hear from your child as you ask them questions when they know they have been caught in the middle of a lie. The answer is a very strong NO!
To prove this “NO” I am going to focus on two key points used by atheists and agnostics to formulate their opinion…God is not in control, and God is Evil.
God is not in control: Atheists and Agnostics alike will try to tell you that bad things happen because God is not in control. So what do we know so far about God being in control? We know that God is omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (everywhere at once). We can confirm that God is everywhere, and that he knows everything. But what does the Bible say about God’s control. How does he demonstrate it in the Bible? If you look at the Bible you will notice that God demonstrates He is in control, not only by the large things, but also with the smallest things.
God’s word is really fascinating when is comes to His power. God could simply say that I am in control of everything and be done with it. But, what God does is demonstrate his power. Sometimes He does so in the most extreme circumstances (Sodom and Gamorra), others in the most simplistic circumstances. Here are a few verses… God’s own words… about his control.
Matthew 10:29 – God demonstrates that he is in control of the small things.
Mark 1:27 – God has the ability to intervene against evil spirits.
Amos 3:6 – God controls disaster.
Matthew 8:27 – God controls nature.
Proverbs 21:1 – God controls our leaders hearts.
Luke 22:31-32, Job 1:12 – God controls Satan
The Bible does not give us a simple statement, like… “God controls everything.” The Bible gives us a complete picture of what God controls… which is everything. Birds, demons, natural disaster, human hearts, nature, and even Satan himself.
All of this will lead some to the conclusion: Well, if God is in control of everything… God must be evil. This is where atheists will try to catch you.
God is evil: If God is in control over everything, we now have to show that the result of that is that God is good, rather than evil. To demonstrate this we need to look at one of the deepest characteristics of God: His love.
God’s love is all over the Bible. Included in this is the ultimate display of love, the sacrifice for others. If God is love…how can God be evil?
How much does God loves us?
1 John 4:8 – God IS love
Romans 5:8 – God has demonstrated that love through Christ
Romans 8:38-39 – There is nothing you can do that can separate you from God’s love.
And the ultimate display in love…
John 3:16 – God sacrificed his only child because of His love for you.
Many question the motivation of God. I know that I certainly have. It has to be a natural reaction in some cases. No matter what, there are two things that are constant, God is in control and God is love. Everything our Father does is because He loves us … because He loves you. The problem with the argument presented by many is that they try to force God into being one thing or the other. If God is in control He is evil, if God is not evil there is no way He could be in control. God is perfect in nature, and is perfectly capable of being in control of everything, and being love at the same time. The next question some will naturally ask…why? Why would God do these things? Well….It’s not so much “do” as it is “allow”. God doesn’t do anything evil, but He does allow evil to exist and persist, for now. Why? Because He loves us too much to make us simply be puppets. We don’t always know what the specific reasons for bad stuff happening is, but what we can always bank on is that ultimately everything that happens branches out from His love for us. How does that work? Well… maybe next time.
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No Apologizing 
God doesn’t do anything evil, but He does allow evil to exist and persist, for now. Why? Because He loves us too much to make us simply be puppets.
In the problem of evil, the term “evil” refers to things that cause suffering—not just moral evils (suffering resulting from human choice). So even if the free will defense actually were a good argument for why God allows, for example, children to be abducted, raped and murdered (absurd as that claim is) it does nothing to address natural evils (disease, birth defects, natural disasters, famine, etc).
But let’s look at the moral evils that the free will defense is supposed to address. In particular, let’s look at the particularly atrocious moral evil I referred to above. Is it really necessary for God to allow children to be raped to preserve people’s free will and their ability to choose sin? Pretty obviously not, free will and freedom of action are not the same thing. A police officer who disarms and arrests a man who is about to abduct a child has not interfered with the man’s free will —just his freedom to carry out his wills. It would be no different if God did the same. Ignoring for the moment the question of why some human beings would be saddled with the impulse to molest children in the first place, suppose God DID prevent every act of child molestation. Made the molester black out before he could act on the decision or whatever other means he chose for preventing it. Would the pedophile’s freedom to choose sin be violated? Not at all. He could be free to indulge his sick fantasies all he likes. Talk on the internet with other pedophiles. Read books and cartoons that portrayed his fantasies. His freedom to choose sin or to choose to resist it is still intact.
The difference: no child, anywhere, ever, would be raped or molested.
Tell me that would not be a better world.
David, thanks for stopping by.
Your comment addresses a particularly difficult topic. There is no way that I can deny that. In reading your comment I am struck by the question you ask that defines the remainder of your comment. The question of “Is it really necessary for God to allow children to be raped to preserve people’s free will and their ability to choose sin?” is based on a false premise. God does not allow these things to happen in order to preserve the free will of man. There are a number of reasons that God allows these things to happen. Many of them I will cover in an additional post. Just to offer a quick response… God allows these things (even the most heinous acts of child molestation) to happen because:
It allows a witness
It develops our capacity to comfort others
It is a training tool
It displays the awesome power of God’s grace
It displays the evil within the world and thus
Displays the awesome power of God’s judgment
The short of it is I could try to explain fully why God allows these things to happen. The truth is that I can’t. I can only point you to the Bible as to some of the reasons God has provided that he allows those things to happen. God’s plan, and God’s reasoning is beyond mine and everyone’s comprehension. I will try to cover a lot of this on a future post.
In reading your comment I am struck by the question you ask that defines the remainder of your comment. The question of “Is it really necessary for God to allow children to be raped to preserve people’s free will and their ability to choose sin?” is based on a false premise. God does not allow these things to happen in order to preserve the free will of man.
The free will defense is one of the most popular theodicies and it’s difficult not to interpret your statement that:
“God doesn’t do anything evil, but He does allow evil to exist and persist, for now. Why? Because He loves us too much to make us simply be puppets. ”
As something other than an endorse of the free will defense (it’s the stock phrase used when that theodicy is being put forward). If that isn’t what you meant by the comment then what DID you mean?
To be clear, though, I’m not saying that you were putting it forward as the ONLY valid reason God might have. As the ones you’ve listed:
“It allows a witness”
God needs to allow children to be raped so that witnessing can occur? Why? In what sense does it allow a witness (please define that more clearly) that couldn’t occur otherwise?
“It develops our capacity to comfort others”
Children need to be allowed to be raped so that we can learn to be sympathetic. I not going to sugarcoat this one—that idea is just flat out insane.
The short of it is I could try to explain fully why God allows these things to happen. The truth is that I can’t. I can only point you to the Bible as to some of the reasons God has provided that he allows those things to happen. God’s plan, and God’s reasoning is beyond mine and everyone’s comprehension.
Indeed, you’d have been better off to play the “divine mystery” card from the start rather than to put forward the “explanations” you did give—it would at least have not sounded monstrous.
The problem with the divine mystery fallback position that you finally resorted to is that anyone can use it to defend anything. If it’s valid to play that card then we can’t, for example, object that God wouldn’t command human sacrifices on the grounds that it’s unjust and wrong and therefore not something God would command. After all, the Aztec high priest could just say “God’s plan, and God’s reasoning is beyond mine and everyone’s comprehension”.
But, in fact, is it really plausible to claim that we are so utterly clueless as to be incapable of reasonably judging something things as not credible? Do we really have to be omniscient to know, to a high degree of confidence, that it’s not necessary to allow children to be raped to fulfill any sort of plan a loving God would have for humanity?
The only thing the divine mystery claim has in it’s favor is that it can’t be disproven. And that’s true of a great many absurdities.
I will try to address your concerns in an additional post.
You have to consider the free will that God gave us when looking at some of the things that are happening in the world. It simply cannot be dismissed.
If you look at the book of Job you will see God himself use the “divine mystery” argument. It is not something that Christians pull out of thin air, but rather the truth that God has set before us.
You have to consider the free will that God gave us when looking at some of the things that are happening in the world. It simply cannot be dismissed.
Could you be more specific?
If you look at the book of Job you will see God himself use the “divine mystery” argument. It is not something that Christians pull out of thin air, but rather the truth that God has set before us.
That it is in the writings your religion calls scripture is no argument against anything I said.
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The god’s secret:::I am the REAL Second Coming.
“Come with me if you want to live.”
The fake “Matrix” Second Coming will occurr as it reads in the bullshit New Testiment.
THE WOMEN IN YOUR FAMILY ARE YOUR “HOLY PEOPLE”!!! THEY ARE YOUR INTERFACE WITH THE GODS!!!
Their role throughout history is to communicate the god’s wisdom so the entire family can progress when reincarnated. Effectively acomplishing this task may buy them a quality opportunity to ascend in their next life.
Your job as a future mother is to learn the god’s ways and to help your child understand despite the negative reinforcement and conditioning of today’s society. Without consciousous parents the child will have no hope, and may even exaserbate their disfavor by becoming corrupted in today’s environment.
Your ultimate goal is to fix your relationship wiith the gods and move on. You don’t want to be comfortable here, and the changes in Western society in the last 100 years has achieved just that.
1000 years with Jesus is the consolation prize. Don’t be deceived into thinking that is the goal.
Much like the other prophets Mohhamed (polygamy/superiority over women/misogyny) and Jesus (forgiveness/savior), the gods use me for temptation as well. In today’s modern society they feel people are most weak for popular culture/sensationalism, and the clues date back to WorldWarII and Unit731:TSUSHOGO, the Chinese Holocaust. They used this Situation to bury Japanese atrocities.
It has been discussed that, similar to the Matrix concept, the gods will offer a REAL “Second Coming of Christ”, while the “fake” Second Coming will come at the end and follow New Testiment scripture and their xtian positioning. I may be that real Second Coming.
What I teach is the god’s true way. It is what is expected of people, and only those who follow this truth will be eligible to ascend into heaven as children in a future life. They offered this event because the masses have just enough time to work on and fix their relationship with the gods and ascend, to move and grow past Planet Earth, before the obligatory xtian “consolation prize” of “1000 years with Jesus on Earth” begins.
The Prince of Darkness, battling the gods over the souls of the Damned.
It is the gods who have created this environment and led people into Damnation with temptation. The god’s positioning proves they work to prevent people’s understanding.
How often is xtian dogma wrong? Expect it is about the Lucifer issue as well.
The fallen god, fighting for justice for the disfavored, banished to Earth as the fallen angel?
I believe much as the Noah’s Flood event, the end of the world will be initiated by revelry among the people. It will be positioned to be sanctioned by the gods and led for “1000 years with Jesus on Earth”.
In light of modern developments this can entail many pleasures:::Medicine “cures” aging, the “manufacture” of incredible beauty via cloning as sex slaves, free (synthetic) cocaine, etc.
Somewhere during the 1000 years the party will start to “die off”, literally. Only those who maintain chaste, pure lifestyles, resisting these temptations, will survive the 1000 years. Condemned to experience another epoch of planet’s history for their ignorant pursuit of xtianity, they will be the candidates used to (re)colonize (the next) Planet Earth, condemned to relive the misery experienced by the peasantry during history due to their failure to ascend into heaven before the Apocalypse.
Never forget:::It is not a house of Jesus.
If this concept of Lucifer is true another role of this individual may be to initiate disfavor and temptation among this new poulation, the proverbial “apple” of this Garden of Eden. A crucial figure in the history of any planet, he begins the process of deterioration and decay that leads civilizations to where Planet Earth remains today.
Which one is it?:
One transitions into the other, allowing the gods to wash their hands of obligation to their Chosen One. My personal “consolation prize”.
And since the gods never committed despite tens of billions in mass media, product development and natural disasters/tragedy they will employ the freedom they positioned into the Situation and CHEAT me out of everything.
Unfortunate for me, the gods can claim they never intended this, despite being control freaks who guide everything specifically and have the power to force it with AI, and now they are free to fuck my brains out, just as they did throughout my childhood.
The gods were pimping me when I was a 3 year-old boy, only to exploit me and cash in decades later.
Pre-pubescent prostitution is rampant in black communities. Now we see where it comes from.
Consistant with “reverse positioning” understand the REAL Second Coming would equate with The Matrix’s Anti-Christ, the fake battle of good and evil which will come at the end.
Understanding how they use the political encviornment to redefine people’s value system, realize anyone who speaks of the old world and its ways will envoke hatred. So when/if the Anti-Christ comes along speaking of reverting back to what liberalism would consider regressive and unfair, it may be the only hope to salvage the god’s favor and keep moving forward rather than begin the 1000 year clock. The fake Second Coming will feed into this political enviornment.
Also consistant with “reverse positioning” recognize the gods will offer a REAL Anti-Christ, also known as The Beast. I have addressed these issues in years past::::
The gods will offer clues throughout every dynaic of life. Geographical features onthe world map is yet another.
The Beast is not a person, as the xtian Bible would suggest. It is a place:::The San Francisco Bay Area. And it refers to the socio-political poison the region exuded in the latter 20th century which promoted indecent behavior among the people whose favor was rapidly deteriorating. This decay spread to other states and countries, fulfilling the region’s role as The Beast of the Apocalypse.
Another feature which the Gods offer as a clue is very foreboading. Mt. Zion is a mountain to the north of the eye of The Beast Diablo and one which has a working quarry at its base. Consistant with the decay we experience in society, Mt. Zion is being eaten away, slowly stripped of its resources, until one day paradise will be gone forever.
10:47a
So many theme oriented movies lately. Pills that make you smarter, now a movie focussed on time, immortality. The gods are taking steps in preparation for the Apocaplypse, 1000 years with Jesus on Earth.
The gods are preying on the people, ramping up temptation and compelling them to engage in behavior which will ultimately cost them.
What I teach is the truth:::The gods extensively use clone hosts and manage Earth through them, people who ultimately are reincarnated into lesser life forms because of their fatal decision.
You’re all falling prey to the god’s royal scam.
Any enviornment/perception can be created with their power. Never fail to recognize the power they have at their disposal. There is NOTHING it can not do.
They still sell “going up” to the reals and their clone hosts, for living on Earth doesn’t sound so appealing to them, nor preditors like my family. But the gods are creating an enviornment which will fulfill their promise made in the Bible to stupid white people and the fools who fell for xtianity.
Navy SEALS helpcopter crash of 8.6.11 was revenge for Osama bin Laden.
So confident in their relationship with the gods. Live in comfort in “the greatest country in the world”, bright future, kids do great.
The gods have sent a very contradicting clue to the families of the 20 Navy SEALS killed in Afghanistan.
The gods did this to you. This is punishment for the evil of your country, killing of a superior in the god’s eyes.
Do you even pray? Have the gods already told you to stop going to church? Because Muslims pray 7 times a day, and you fucking white trash ridicule their favor.
You fell for it. And now you will pay dearly. The United States is the empire of evil.
The clue has been sent. Let’s see what you do with it.
Even with all the corruption of the Republicans this wasn’t going to happen on W’s watch because the conservatives are the good ones. It is the liberal social decay which was the trademark of The Beast, and what has primarily destroyed our favor with the gods.
One day default will bring insolvency, while the wealthy you bailed out with multi-trillion dollar stimulous package leaves you behind in the ruins. When this day comes don’t forget to pray, for the economic devestation and carnage which will surround you will be a deliberate motivator.