Well, Blue, I see you've read my entry of the quote by Epicurus. To enlighten the others, Epicurus was a Greek philosopher who lived around 350 BCE. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and bad, that death is the end of existence and not to be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
Interesting stuff, don't you think? What that says to me is that mankind has been asking AND ARGUING about the same things for thousands of years.
What are the answers? There are no right or wrong answers. Epicurus introduces "doubt" into the thinking. Without doubt, there would be no reason to search for answers and therefore, the truth. Without doubt, people move along through the generations like a flock of sheep, never questioning the fact that they are being lead to the slaughter. If not slaughter, then the end of life as we are experiencing it.
"Is God willing to prevent evil but not able?
Then his 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
In that time, as is now, some people do not wish to challenge their minds with such profound questions. Those are the ones who feel more comfortable with their intricate beliefs about supernatural entities.
I have neighbors who are from mainland China and the idea that an unseen spirit intervenes in our lives is preposterous to them. And yet, their culture was fluorishing far before the western bible was written down.
In the Middle East, Mohammed came along to establish Islam. But even before that in the Middle East, science never stopped. There was no "Dark Ages," and no one feared looking at the stars and then wondering if he/she was going to be burned at the stake for heresy. Logic was the name of the game in the Middle East, China, Japan, and other eastern countries.
But when Jesus came along and people started interpreting the things he said differently, as evidenced by Paul's letters to other churches, reason flew out the window. I don't think Jesus meant that to happen. He was angry with Roman occupation as well as how the Temple was being run. To add to the problems, the "learned fathers" at the Council at Nicea decided which books were IN and which books were OUT of the bible. A BUNCH OF MEN DECIDED HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO BE. Two thousand years later, most of the original meaning had been translated to the point where it is now lost.
So where are we? Read Epicurus again.
2007-04-28 17:02:03
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answer #1
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answered by ThisIsIt! 7
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At first it might seem that if God created all things then evil must have been created by God. However, there is an assumption here that needs to be cleared up. Evil is not a "thing" - like a rock or electricity. You can't have a jar of evil! Rather, evil is something that occurs, like running. Evil has no existence of its own - it is really a lack in a good thing. For example, holes are real but they only exist in something else. We call the absence of dirt a hole - but it cannot be separated from the dirt. So when God created, it is true that all that existed was good. One of the good things that God made was creatures who had the freedom to choose good. In order to have a real choice, God had to allow there to be something besides good to choose. So God allowed these free angels and humans to choose good or non-good (evil). When a bad relationship exists between two good things we call that evil, but it does not become a "thing" that required God to create it. God did not create evil, but He allows evil. If God had not allowed for the possibility of evil, both mankind and angels would be serving God out of obligation, not choice. He did not want “robots” that simply did what He wanted them to do because of their "programming." God allowed for the possibility of evil so that we could genuinely have a free will and choose whether we wanted to serve Him or not.
2007-04-28 15:07:27
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answer #2
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answered by anne p 3
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God can intercede and does as He sees fit. I have gone through many struggles in my life and I know God has carried me when I was tired and refreshed me when I wanted to quit.
God has a master plan to show to all that man separated form God will destroy themselves. To be a christian and have all the sun shine and no rain fall on them would have a lot of prosperity followers for that reason only. God wants strong and faith full that are ready to serve when the going gets tough not only for the worldly prosperity a belief could bring.
As a parent you let your child ride a bike and you know sometimes he is going to fall and get hurt. You as a parent pick them up and brush them off and put them back on the bike and shove them off again or encourage them that they will soon get the hang of it.
2007-04-28 15:11:49
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answer #3
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answered by Dennis James 5
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God has not dealt with the evil YET, but He will. God is omnipotent and He is willing to destroy evil, in His timing. Evil is result of the wrong choice with the free will.
He is God Almighty, yes, He is.
2007-04-28 15:11:10
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answer #4
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answered by SeeTheLight 7
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God wants us to see the evil and prevent it ourselves. Just like a parent that can see what the child is doing is not going to work but you have to let that child figure it out for themselves, even though it would be faster and easier for both parent and child if the parent just did it. No one ever learns by having something done for them. God wants us to learn to avoid evil.
I believe that answers your question directly, but if not, I'm sorry I must not be getting the point.
In other words, God is willing to prevent evil, and able to prevent evil, but wants us to learn to recognize evil and avoid it ourselves.
2007-04-28 15:06:04
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answer #5
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answered by Angie 3
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God doesnt prevent evil because he's testing us humans if we are good believers of God. If we stay true to God and our religion, we wont have to suffer from evil. This life is all a test and whoever passes goes to heaven and the rest go to hell. God created us and everything around us and we need to thank Him for everything.
2007-04-28 15:05:32
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answer #6
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answered by Abdul-Rehman H 1
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Divine Intervention
IN THE eighth century B.C.E., 39-year-old King Hezekiah of Judah learned that he had a terminal illness. Devastated by the news, Hezekiah beseeched God in prayer to cure him. God responded through his prophet: "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Here I am adding onto your days fifteen years."—Isaiah 38:1-5.
Why did God intervene on that particular occasion? Centuries earlier, God had promised righteous King David: "Your house and your kingdom will certainly be steadfast to time indefinite before you; your very throne will become one firmly established to time indefinite." God also revealed that the Messiah would be born in David's line. (2 Samuel 7:16; Psalm 89:20, 26-29; Isaiah 11:1) When Hezekiah fell ill, he did not as yet have a son. Thus, the royal Davidic line was in danger of being broken. Divine intervention in Hezekiah's case served the specific purpose of preserving the lineage leading to the Messiah.
To fulfill his promises, Jehovah was motivated to intervene in behalf of his people on numerous occasions throughout the pre-Christian era. Moses declared in connection with the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt: "It was because of Jehovah's loving you, and because of his keeping the sworn statement that he had sworn to your forefathers, that Jehovah brought you out with a strong hand."—Deuteronomy 7:8.
In the first century, divine intervention likewise served to further God's purposes. For example, on the road to Damascus, a Jew named Saul received a miraculous vision in order to stop him from persecuting Christ's disciples. The conversion of this man, who became the apostle Paul, played a vital role in the spreading of the good news among the nations.—Acts 9:1-16; Romans 11:13.
Intervention the Norm?
Was divine intervention the rule or the exception? The Scriptures clearly show that it was by no means the norm. Although God delivered the three young Hebrews from execution in a fiery furnace and the prophet Daniel from the lions' pit, he did not act to save other prophets from death. (2 Chronicles 24:20, 21; Daniel 3:21-27; 6:16-22; Hebrews 11:37) Peter was miraculously delivered from the prison where Herod Agrippa I had confined him. Yet, this same king had the apostle James put to death, and God did not intervene to prevent this crime. (Acts 12:1-11) While God granted the apostles the power to cure the sick and even raise the dead, he did not consent to remove the "thorn in the flesh" that plagued the apostle Paul, which may have been a physical malady.—2 Corinthians 12:7-9; Acts 9:32-41; 1 Corinthians 12:28.
God did not intervene to prevent a wave of persecution perpetrated against Christ's disciples by the Roman Emperor Nero. Christians were tortured, burned alive, and thrown to wild animals. However, this opposition did not surprise the early Christians, and it certainly did not weaken their faith in God's existence. After all, Jesus had warned his disciples that they would be brought before the courts and that they should be ready to suffer and even die for their faith.—Matthew 10:17-22.
Just as he did in the past, today God is certainly able to deliver his servants from dangerous situations, and those who feel that they have benefited from his protection are not to be criticized. However, it is difficult to say conclusively whether God did or did not intervene in such cases. Several faithful servants of Jehovah were injured by an explosion in Toulouse, and thousands of faithful Christians died in Nazi and Communist camps or under other tragic circumstances without God's stepping in to prevent it. Why does God not systematically intervene in behalf of all those who have his approval?—Daniel 3:17, 18.
2007-04-28 15:48:20
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answer #7
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answered by I speak Truth 6
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Legitimate questions, but are you really looking for the truth to your questions or are you looking for holes in the christian doctrine? If it is the first you must understand the nature of God and you cannot do this outside of knowing his word(the Bible). If it is the second, than no answer will satisfy you anyway.
2007-04-28 15:07:22
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answer #8
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answered by Anonymous
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In my opinion, God is God. Our little pea brains can't know everything. But he gave us "free will". So we have good and bad people. All people are sometimes good and sometimes bad. YOU get to deside which person you want to be, just like the bad people who CHOOSE to be bad.
If God interfears the choice is no longer there.
2007-04-28 15:40:59
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answer #9
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answered by dwannalaree 2
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God can do anything, but He made a deal that He would let us do what we want. When we intelligent human beings mess things up beyond repair, He'll come down and straighten things out.
2007-04-28 15:03:06
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answer #10
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answered by Billllius 2
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