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Daily Needs
I friend of mine brought up a very good point that had me thinking:
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?"
--Epicurus
Epicurus makes a very legit statement there and I've felt like this myself sometimes because of the awful things that happen in this world.
I've given it a lot of thought and prayer and my answer to Epicurus would be:
God is able to prevent evil but doesn't because of our free will. Everything evil that is happening among us is driven by human choices small and large. In short, it's our fault. Evil cannot work unless we facilitate it by breaking God's Law. We cause harm to ourselves, others, or become the victim of someone else's sin in the process.
Remember we went through the 10 Commandments [link] and found ourselves guilty? His standard is perfection so breaking one is like breaking all of them as we need to be spotless to exist in his presence. If he were to eliminate evil, he would have to kill us all right now (which he doesn't want to do as he'd rather have us repent).
It only takes a moment to knock something over and a long time to put the pieces back together. It's a delicate operation unless we want him to neatly wipe us out with another Great Flood.
Ever read that parable about the wheat and tares/weeds?[link] It further expounds on this delicate concern. If God were to pull up and burn all the weeds now, some wheat would get tangled up and burned in the process. There are people who are weeds right now but it is destined that God will save them and turn them into wheat.
It's also a matter of legality. Spiritual systems in the Bible are remarkably legal. If you read Genesis, you'll see God gave man dominion over the planet. By deceiving the first parents, Satan practically stole the deed to the planet which is why he is now called the"god of this world" or the "prince of the air". But he got it legally because he got Adam and Even to agree to his lies. It's like signing a contract from a fast-talking con man and not reading the fine print.
To this day, Satan cannot steal, kill and destroy in the physical realm unless he gets us to agree to it. In that same vein, God urges us to pray so that his will can be made manifest on the earth. That is our realm of legal dominion and the things we say yes and no to are very powerful. What we lost in Eden is our connection with God so now we are by default born in iniquity instead of righteousness.
God is the Originator of law, so he won't overturn that contract as humanity consented to it. But he was able to make a loophole by living a sinless human life, taking our punishment and then resurrecting as Jesus, fulfilling the law and making a way out of this binding system. Now the only way to get out of that contract is to die to sin and resurrect in Christ.
So 3 factors Epicurus would have to consider is God's perfect standard (10 Commandments), free will, and the legality of man's dominion.
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If I were to sum up everything, I'd say God willed not evil itself, but the real possibility of evil. Good conversations going on here.
I mentioned elsewhere that evil can only exist in the negative. It cannot create anything on its own but can only hijack what was already made. Evil also can only manifest in the breaking of God's precepts.
It's basically like a virus.
If you see God in the light of the New Testament, then he is benevolent.
In either case, if you believe that he gave us free will, then don't you think that if we weren't tempted to commit evil then our virtues would mean nothing?
That if there were no consequences to our decisions, then our decisions would mean nothing.
And that if God didn't let us pay for our actions, then our actions would mean nothing.
He is able prevent evil, and he is willing to prevent evil. But we have to make our own decisions. We have to take action for our selves. And we are most like him.
He doesn't need to prevent evil; because what he has in him, we have in ourselves and with each other.
And you can quote me on that...
To the latter . . .
EXACTLY. Couldn't have said it better myself.
That is why he put that tree there in the first place so that they had a chance to be tempted, tested, and to overcome it. They failed but through his Son, God enables victory over temptations through grace. The good things in life are seen for what they're worth when contrasted with counterfeits/evil.
We need his holy spirit, that reconnection provided by Jesus, the "second Adam" who came to undo the works of the devil.
God gave us the free will to choose to be not who we are, but what we are supposed to be, what he wants us to be, but we have to fight ourselves to get there.
There is no way any of us can become blameless like Christ, for we are not Christ.
All we can do is strive to be better and hope God forgives us, when we repent for our sins,.
God has the power to intervene but does not, in this world we push him out of everything, our lives, the church, the country the world, we are all damned to die in fire, but I believe we with our free will can fight to prevent that, we control our own fate, a fate guided by God, but we also have the power to change fate, free will.
If the world gives up, and we all stop fighting, and we all give in.
Then we are indeed doomed and will die in fire, we will lose the morals and guidance God has given us that guidance to help fight against our dark and twisted nature.
Once that happens we are doomed.
I may not be God, nor can I think and predict how God thinks and feels.
But I am willing to believe in the possibility the more we fight against ourselves, the more we fight against a damned future, the free will we have can ultimately change or delay this future but it is up to us to do so.