If God gave us free will, then it means He also gave us the capacity for evil.Can anyone out there tell me why

Question

Disclosure: I am an unbeliever who has asked this question of people and clergymen many times, but never got what I thought was a satisfactory answer. The answers all revolved around some inanne statement such as "God wanted us to be free." or "God wanted us to know the difference between good and evil" (which of course is incorrect, just read Genesis). If you could, please include scriptural refences with your answers. Thanks!

God also has free will, but He does not have a capacity for evil.

Answer 1

If we did not have the capacity to do evil, then we really would not have free will, would we. In order to appreicate the "good" there has to be the "bad." There would be no pleasure if we did not know what pain was. There would be no sweet if we did not have bitter to compare.
There is opposition in all things so as to allow us to comprehend good and evil.

Answer 2

Who really knows? If anyone believes in God, then he already has thrown out most reason and logic. Why God? And if so, why would He make us? The only thing I can say is ...because, that's why. Pretty lame, but the rest is just 'taught', and we accept-perhaps after much experience and reflection, but it's still a conclusion we come to have faith in, not an undeniable fact, like saying the house is white, or 2 and 2 is 4. So why evil...? Since I already don't ' Know' anyway, I'll hypothesize. Each of us has the capacity so that we really get to 'know' it(evil)-that way we can't really judge anyone else without including ourselves in the equation. Now the tragic fellow who loses his family- that level of evil certainly didn't come from within-but, since there is no apparent rationale for it anyway, I must believe that as horrible as that nightmare is for the man, it will be all the greater when he finds out that at that tender moment of death, his family -everyone- was held in the palm of His hand- comforted and kept- until they all meet again. It would only seem that it could truly be that awesome, because it was once that miserable. I guess then, that evil serves a purpose afterall.

Answer 3

Hi, I'm Jan - my studies are in the manuscripts, and is it that you want to know with free will, why did God also give us the capacity for evil? - here is your answer from the original Texts:
There is a reason why we are here, a reason why most were given free will, which includes the ability to choose to do evil.
There are three earth ages told of in the manuscripts. The one age that was, the one now, and the last which will come. In the last earth age, Satan wanted to hold the position of the Christ, and so he started a great war. This war was huge, and a third of our people followed Satan. Then there was a large group of us who remained neutral, not caring as long as it didn't affect them (whats new, huh?), and then there was a final group, of loyal, trustworthy folks who stayed on the side of God, never faltering,
stedfast, loyal. When Satan was defeated,
This loyal group were named as the Elect of God, and were judged right there and then; these are the only people on earth today who do not have free will. They don't need it, they were already judged and found innocent, as they already made their choice of who to follow, and demonstrated it during that war. God could have just destroyed the one-third who followed Satan, but what does it take to kill one of your own? That you love? So, instead, God decreed that He would destroy that earth age/Heaven age that was, and He brought in this one that we live in now.
Each soul is to come through one time, born of woman into the flesh, to make an ultimate choice of who they would follow:
Christ or Satan. Let the people decide. Thats fair, right? In order to do this, a couple of things had to be so:
1. each person would have to have the free will to make the decision.
2. there would have to be a comparitor - how could someone make a choice, if everything is good. There would be nothing to compare with, you see?

This is why although Satan was also judged, at the same time as Gods Elect,
and satan was found guilty and condemned to die, God has not destroyed him, because He is being used for the comparitor. When God has used Satan to test the children, he goes into the lake of fire, and is turned to ashes from within.

Answer 4

well, the capacity for evil may eventually = the capacity for good. In death, illness, murder, or crime........comes sticking together, helping the needy, offering love for others loss.....unfortunately some people only come together during moments of loss or trouble.....it doesn't take questioning God about free will or evil.....sometimes common sense tells us that we take much for granted until something bad happens and we begin to spread love again......look at 9/11.....I just think that sometimes people get lost along the way even when all seems good ( they forget how to love or treat each other or to forgive) but sometimes out of darkness and evil comes light ( but 'people' almost Need this Evil for the light to shine through) not everyone....but still.....

Answer 5

I think you're correct, we only have the capacity to do evil, save for God's grace. I don't think God would give it to us as a gift of any sort. I also don't believe "God wanted..." anything. He doesn't need anything that mankind has to offer. But that doesn't have to make you an unbeliever. Bad theology, yes, toss Christianity out the window because of it, no.

Answer 6

He gave us free will for the simple reason that we would best be able to UNDERSTAND the width, depth and breadth of His love. The Scripture says, "Love one another as Christ so loved the Church." Since we as Christians are the Church, we have to have the capacity to commit EVIL to know just how important His UNCONDITIONAL love is for us, so that we can love one another as well as we love Him. Think of it this way..... Suppose you had been given the ability to create life by the power of your hands, not just through copulative reproduction. And, let's say that you DIDN'T give your creation free will. That creation would be inclined to obey your every whim, but WITHOUT emotion! Suppose you created this entity of the opposite sex and said, "Come here and kiss me." Your creation would comply, but it would seem as if you were kissing a dead fish, for without free will, there would be only empty, emotionless interaction, with NO emotional ties whatsoever! It is the emotional parent/child like relationship that God has with us that caused Him to give us free will, so that when we DO sin, He can still "tap us on the shoulder" in our conscience and let us know He still LOVES us and wants to remain in kindred fellowship with us. We're NOT slaves as some might contend, because free will enables us to feel love and WANT to share it with others.

Answer 7

The point is we already had free will even in the Garden of Eden, before ever committing evil. We had this potentiality which became a fact after we ate from the tree, because God created us free (he did not want a puppet he wanted a man who could choose). In the end it is a question of free choice, that's it.

Answer 8

From the beginning of man, God demanded obedience, He did not force it. To have an obedience that was "unforced" naturally God had to allow us humans "free will". It is evident to me that God knew we would sin before the foundation of the world (Colossians 1:15-17), because He in His plan allowed for a Savior, therefore He allowed a method for sin/evil to enter the world, through our disobedience.

Answer 9

~~~scrunge,,,,You should know that, according to the christian motif, "Evil" is a Temptation, in general, to be overcome. ~ However,,,A major flaw in this motif is the contention, by some, that their god is incapable of evil, yet simple logic dictates that their god created ALL things, including temptation itself,,, and Satan,,, and hell,,, and the capacity for His very Children to have the Potential to accept evil. Hence, you see the contradiction,,,,

Answer 10

I believe that God is not a slave-driver with his whip trying to get us to behave the way he wants. If we are threatened into loving Him and living "right" than nothing has been accomplished. Of course humans have the capacity for evil. However God is asking that we deny those tendancies and live our lives doing good, worthy, loving and helpful things to ourselves and our fellow man. I'm sorry I doing have my scripture with me to give you specific references.