Is God able but not willing to prevent evil or willing but not able to prevent evil?
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ANSWERS: 28
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I would think if your a Christian, you'd have to believe He's quite willing to go to great lengths to prevent evil.
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ReiSan Why does he not do that, then? -
wiseacre Evil is a tool for God to distinguish who is worthy.
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"I am the L-rd, and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil. I am the L-rd, that does all these things." (Is. 45:6-7). God created evil. He is also able to prevent evil.
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God allows evil because without it we would have no problems and would forget him because we would think that it we who made no evil. just like god made pain so that we would seek his healing god made darkness so we would seek his light. he is perfectly capable of preventing all evil, but he leaves some to test us and not let us forget him.
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ReiSan
What a poor apologist you are! -
Jimmy205
What an egotistical asshole that god is, according to your description. Why would anyone worship such a being. You are describing an abusive relationship.
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My limited understanding is this: God could totally annihilate any and all evil. He can prevent it at any time. Why does it exist? Remember when (in the book of Job)the angels were gathered before God and "satan was amongst them"? If God did away with all suffering and evil how could he prove to satan that man needed God? Man must choose between self will and God's will. Thats my understanding of why evil is permitted in the world and God allows it to happen.
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ReiSan
That makes no sense!
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I will help you with this one...God is just not real...plain and simple. :)
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We don't know what "EVIL" is. You'd have to know how events domino thru time to understand that an event can not be judged in isolation. An evil deed, may result in a beneficial ending. Say, if Hitler's mom had had an abortion..........
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Imagine you are God. There is nothing and all of a sudden, there you are, the only thing in the vast emptiness. You are there, faced with Nothing… What do you do? You can conjure a Dry Martini into existence and drink it… Cool, the first 1000 of them were fun but let’s face it, Dry Martinis get boring pretty fast. You think of something else… Why not create something more complex and play a little bit with it… So you create a clock. It’s complex and nice and all and you watch all the tiny mechanisms click together and it’s all good… mmm now that you think of it, you control every bit of the clockwork you just created and it gets boring too… So you become ambitious, you create a big fat universe that will expend and modify itself in ways that you can not predict, it’ll probably take you some trial and error but, in the end, you get there. So there it is, the universe, nice and shiny, full of stars and atomic reactions. You’re quite proud of yourself, in all your godly glory… Then, after a time, it gets boring too, watching nebulas, stars and galaxies form is all good but you are missing something. You are missing someone else. You already know that dry martinis and clocks are boring so you try to create something a little bit like you but of course, you can’t… You are infinitely powerful and infinity time two does not compute… So you try to come up with a mini-you, and… it works!!!! You can’t believe it, you created something that can think and create other things… Not at all at your level but nice nonetheless… unbelievable… Unbelievable… those words are messing around your infinite head in your infinitely boring universe… And then it hits you! If you create several of those and you tell them nothing about yourself (well maybe some hints here and there), watching them struggle with the big “Why” is going to give you entertainment for ages!!! And here goes the Epicurian paradox... Yes, if god exists, he is definitely a bored guy with infinitely too much time on his infinite hands… Marc
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Able AND willing. But He is like a general in the war. He sees a bigger picture than the footsoldier, and knows that correct timing for the attack is all important. Like the footsoldier, we have to trust our General's strategy.
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Evil does not exist outside of a particular perspective. There is no good vs. evil (which is why I don't believe in it). There are constructive and destructive forces at play. In order for construction, something must destruct. For instance, you cannot draw nutrients directly from the soil, and neither can you photosynthesize. In order for your body to replenish itself, you must consume another life form; therefore, something must die. Then, eventually you will die and single celled organisms, predators, parasites, fungi, etc will consume your body. This will eventually breakdown and fertilize the soil, from which new vegetative life will emerge. Old has to make way for new. Thus, construction and destruction are inseparable. Neither is inherently good nor intrinsically evil. They just are what they are. Deity is not able to prevent what is termed from one paradigm as “evil”, because if destruction stops, so does construction. Any act is going to be considered “evil” from some paradigm. If you don’t think so, try to see things from the perspective of your dead food. Just an answer from the paradigm of a Wiccan...
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As the True riddle of Epicurus goes. "If God is willing to prevent evil, but is not able to Then He is not omnipotent. If He is able, but not willing Then He is malevolent. If He is both able and willing Then whence cometh evil? If He is neither able nor willing Then why call Him God?" The real problem in my opinion is what kind of "father" sits idly by and lets his children bleed? The context of a God is also most obscured by religious texts... So sadly taking Pascal's wager (The most logical option) or attempting to raise it over Occam's razor (the simplest answer) will never work. Just to elaborate and explain. With Pascals wager, because not believing in God, and having God exist, results in gaining eternal suffering, yet beliving in god, and having god exist results in everything. As opposed to not believing in God and having him not exist, resulting in nothing, and beliving in god and having him not exist, resulting in nothing. Clearly believing in God (whether he does or does not exist) is the best option, logically. However with so many religions all claiming that their God is the one true God and to believe in any other means damnation... You can't win... And with Occam's razor, you find yourself in forced Atheism... Q. "Can i see God?" A. "Perhaps... but not until you die." Q. "Can I see evidence of a God?" A. "No, only the written works of men, claiming existence of a God." The most simple answers tend to be a negative. The problem with Atheism though is that Science, on a penultimate level cannot explain everything... And we have to accept at some point there is a defining force within the universe. I do not speak of a God when I say this though. It's perhaps more interesting as to Why people choose to believe so strongly in a God that offers eternal life. Personally, I would never want to live forever.
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He is able to but some times allows it to happen. Just like a parent should not (bubble their child) Protect them from everything and they learn nothing.
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He is not able to let evil be willing to prevent him from willing to prevent evil
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Just what do you mean by evil? War? Murder? Rape? There are people who would say those are evil but champion a woman's 'right to choose', the forced redistribution of wealth or forcing other people to do service against their will. God has given us the means to conquer evil but we mostly don't because man enjoys sex without commitment, coveting what others have or the thrill of being able to force others to their will. A better question might be why does God allow man free choice to follow our desires when man is so wicked.
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Chromeman
BondiHarry I agree with you, mankind in general are as you said "so wicked". Would you believe that God had similar sentiments as you expressed? In Genesis 6:5 "And Jehovah saw that men’s wickedness was great on earth, and the whole drift of the thoughts of their minds was purely bad all day long". [Byington Version]. God even said in verse 6 that he "regretted that he had made men and even that "His heart was saddened". [NWT] Then in verse 7 God passed judgment and decided to "destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth" [KJV] We know, according to the Bible, that God had Noah build an Arc then destroyed those wicked people. We know know that didn't fix the problem, right?. The good news is that just like the days of Noah, Jesus prophesied that the wicked would be "swept away" [NTW] BondiHarry there are so many scriptures that give us hope that the wicked will be "swept away" like in Psalm 37:10 Just a little while longer, and the wicked will be no more; You will look at where they were, And they will not be there. [NTW] I like the way the NTW puts it but, the KJV says "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." and even the ASV says For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and he shall not be. So now if the wicked will be "swept away" what will happen to the rest of mankind? well lets stay in Psalms 37 and look at verse 29 The righteous will possess the earth, And they will live forever on it. Yes this verse says they will live forever and live on the earth. BondiHarry there are so many more scriptures that support this. but, let me share just one more at Rev 21:3&4 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. [KJV] did you notice that Gods tabernacle will be with men. Men are not in Heaven, only spirits and angels are. Men are on the earth Right? and did you happen to notice that "there shall be no more death? If there is no death, what happens? That's right LIFE without end and if you add to that what Psalms promise's, No Wicked People. Here is a link for the brochure Good news from God, I hope you find it encouraging https://www.jw.org/finder?srcid=jwlshare&wtlocale=E&prefer=lang&pub=fg
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I'm Atheist, so I don't care, but if I were a god, I would encourage it.
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Think about this: what is evil? Or, rather, where does evil originate? With need, uncertainty, and ignorance - hallmarks of mankind's imperfection. Many religions seem to describe a singularity or "oneness" that rapidly diversified, giving rise to all of existence; this manifests as the Bible's "Word," the Qur'an's "time before time," Nirvana, and a dozen other concepts. To say that the Oneness existed "before" the known universe is only an approximation; time itself came into being along with matter, energy, et al. With that in mind, consider what "preventing evil" would mean. First of all, it would necessarily imply that humanity's flaws were repaired. Since they in turn stem from limits imposed by nature, those laws would have to go as well. In essence: humanity - evil = perfection = God perfection = universe - universe = 0 God + God + 0 = God That's back to the singularity, which means no passage of time, which means nothing. And, as you can see, we're not nothing. So, my answer is that God may not be unwilling or unable to prevent evil; rather, the universe only exists if He does not do so. That's how I reason it.
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Jehovah God is giving people enough time to justify his asking and earning worship [ obedience ] He has a set time for eliminating evil and he is sending Jesus to do it. (Revelation 6:2) And I saw, and look! a white horse, and the one seated on it had a bow; and a crown was given him, and he went out conquering and to complete his conquest. Jehovah has given his son Jesus " a crown " meaning that Jesus has the job of King over this new system...the Kingdom. That Jesus told us [ preached ] about. (Luke 4:43) But he said to them:
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God could not prevent all evil because that would mean we would have no free will - which God wants us to have so that we can willingly praise God.
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It isn't that the Lord God cannot do these things. If He had you would not be here today. The Lord God made covenants with Adam for caring for the world. Adam violated these covenants when he ate of the forbidden fruits. At that point Adam turned those covenants over to Satin who then controlled and controls the world. The Lord God had every right to destroy the world and was going to except for those covenants and He never violates a covenant. If He had destroyed the world we would not be here now. His LOVE for us stopped Him. Jesus Christ is the second Adam and those whom believe in Him are free of the sins of Adam. There will be a time when the Lord God will step in and stop all the evil in the world. If one has not come to the Lord they will stand before Him and be condemned. If one has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ they will be saved. Don't say so with your lips and not truly do so as that is even worse than not believing as it is lying.
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01-03-2017 As you can see by the responses, it is not reliable to let other people tell you things that the bible was given to tell you. Many people will make up stuff because they don't know what it says, and many will make up stuff because they wish it would not say what it says. You just have to read it for yourself. Read a chapter of Proverbs every day. Proverbs has 31 chapters so you can keep your place by just looking at a calendar. There is no religion or nothing in Proverbs and you don't have to believe anything. Just read to find wisdom. When you are comfortable with that, then read the bible from Romans to 2 Thessalonians over and over until you start to remember what it says. That is the part that applies to Christians. To answer your question, God's willingness is always exactly equal to His ability. And evil is an opinion, not a fact. And God does not prevent things, He gives choices. So you have the choice to do things that other people might consider evil, and they have the choice to forgive you or not. God is not a crabby old man living in the sky. God is not the God of niceness. God is the God of rightness. For example, Satan stole dominion over the world, and God can't just blow him away and steal it back. God has to put up with his crap until he can be put in his place the right way.
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ReiSan
So God is a powerless ninny!
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Strange, huh?
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He is sadistic, powerless or merely fantasy. The third choice explains the world much better than the first two do. It is comical to see the contortions believers undergo, tying to make feeble excuse for their poorly-written fiction called the BuyBull or Bible.
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i think people have free wills so god has to go by that
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St Augustine CRUSHED this objection -- was it Epicurus?-- by saying that God only allows an evil from which He will draw a greater good.
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The power of God is much greater than this and is the power to overcome evil. Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
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No. That is to say: he is both willing and able.
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God gave everyone a freewill. Take away our freedom and you will be whining, asking why aren't we able to those bad things that make evil people happy? John 1:5 "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."
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Either way, he wouldn't be a god we could admire. That's one reason among many why I don't believe in gods.
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If god is able but not willing to prevent evil, then he is a monster, allowing his creations to suffer. If he is willing but not able to prevent evil, then he is certainly not all powerful, Either way, such a god is not worthy of worship, or even acknowledgement.
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