Question about God?

Question

If God is willing to stop evil, but not able, then he isn’t all powerful. If God is able to stop evil, but not willing, he is cruel. If he is both able and willing, there wouldn’t be evil in the world. And if he is not able or willing, he wouldn’t be a God.

So why is this thing that lets there be evil, or is cruel to us, or who isn’t all powerful, called a God?

I'm not sure I follow any of your Free Will claims because if God were all powerful (and thus all knowing) he would already know what our Free Will would lead us to do. There is no reason to believe that a God would know what a hurricane would do, what plants and animals would go extinct when, and what the universe will evolve into without knowing what we will choose as our Free Will choice. So that excuse seems both improbable and insulting to anything that would be all powerful... ..unless God is not really all powerful.

One more thought. How is it that we could think that we cannot understand the mind of God, yet think we understand how he wants us to behave and what to believe in? Isn’t it more probable that we don’t understand any of it and are completely guessing? If that is so, who is to say that there really is a God? We might as well each make up our own rules and follow them because we each have the same insight and chance of being right.

I am incredibly amazed that most of the people on here have obviously never thought about the true nature of their God. I always believed that it was a decision that an individual had to come by after studying, contemplating, and deciding after deep internal struggle. From what you wrote, the vast majority of you have no real reason at all to believe in God because you know nothing about it. You might as well believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Universe was sneezed out of the nose of a being called the Great Green Arkleseizure. I can’t tell you how disappointed these answers were, but I guess that was to be expected with blind faith. People please, whether you want to believe or not, at least think about it a little deeper. If your God is really to be worshiped and praised, shouldn’t you at least understand why?

Answer 1

Another way of saying it:
If he's benevolent, how could he allow 6 million of his chosen people to be incinerated by Hitler, or why did he allow Truman to vaporize 200,000 Japanese men, women and children or Stalin to kill 30m Christians? If he was also omnipotent AND benevolent, then these events could not have happened.

If you counter that man's "free will" caused those events to happen, so don't blame God, then can it be said God is not omnipotent AND benevolent, because he allowed man's free will to reign?

And further, the mere existence of evil in the world makes the existence of a benign god impossible: if god were omnipotent, he could eliminate evil and if he were benign, he would want to do so...another way of saying this:

If god is able to prevent evil but is not willing to prevent evil, then he is not benevolent.

If god is willing to prevent evil but is not able to prevent evil, then he is not omnipotent.

Evil is either in occordance with god's intention or contrary to it. Thus, either god cannot prevent evil or he does not want to prevent evil.

THEREFORE, it follows that god is either not omnipotent or he is not benevolent. He cannot be both omnipotent and benevolent.

Answer 2

If God is able to stop evil, but not willing, that wouldn't necessarily make Him especially cruel. There are plenty of parents who are able to prevent bad things from happening to their kids, but who don't. Because they want their kids to learn for themselves.

Also, if we do have Free Will that isn't controlled or anticipated by God, then He still might know everything other than what we'll do. Even if He doesn't know what will happen in the future, He might still know everything that happened in the past, and everything that is happening in the present. And even if that isn't technically all knowing, it's still pretty impressive.

And I think the reason some people think we understand how God wants us to behave and what God wants us to believe in is that some people think He told us. In The Bible or other holy books.

Answer 3

It's the whole Free Will thing. But, of course, I can only answer from the faith I was raised in.

Buddhists don't believe in a God - maybe you'd be better off going that way.

I have an uncle who is a Catholic Monk. He's been tested a couple of times for his IQ and gets over 145. And he buys into the whole Catholic thing. If you get on apologetic websites, you'll get awesome answers from people like him. If that's what you are after. But my uncle has a standard answer of: it's a mystery; life is like the back of a cross-stitch work - all messy, and when we go to heaven, we'll see the beautiful other side, and it will all make sense. ;)

He says that people choose to be evil and God let's them. I'm with you, though, I don't get it. I don't get all the evil that's allowed in the world. But, religious people say it's spiritual warfare. Looks like evil's got a good hand, but everyone says that good wins in the end. Who knows? But life is easier for me when I think that evil will be punished and good will be rewarded. Hate to think of those evil doers getting away with it! Makes one wonder if we'd be better off as humanists - fighting for what's right in THIS life! Probably better punishments for pedos.

I've always wondered why God was so "Jews, Jews, Jews" in the Old Testament, and then, "Ok, everyone" in the New.

Answer 4

Imagine you are a character in a play by Shakespeare.

Is Shakespeare all powerful. Sure.
Could he remove all evil from his plays? Sure.
Will he? No. That would be boring.
Is Shakespeare cruel? I don't think so, but Hamlet may differ.

An Illuminating poem.

And the Old Man with the pen,
Who has kindly writ us in,
Drew Christ and Satan from the selfsame quill.
He reminds me of that fellow,
Gave Iago to Othello.
I love Him not too wisely but too well.

And so I stand in awe,
At the perfection of the flaw,
And cherish light and dark without a strain.
It doesn't take a sage
To know that all the world's a stage.
I think, therefore I am…
...to entertain.
-Quill-

Answer 5

God is both able and willing. It is in his own time and beyond our comprehension. Why question the God that created the earth. He gave us free will to choose good or evil. In the end you will know why.

Answer 6

Lifes all about solving these problems as they come along. Without them, theres no reason to live really. So "God" probably just lets them happen for some complicated reason we cant comprehend. Or, these are just random occurances that happen without any outside God like influnces, and it's just a part of life.

Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Answer 7

well. first of all, no one really knows what type of evil God is willing to stop. because, you have to think that earth isn't the only place he created. now, God is all power full, because, according to the bible, the devil really does exist, and maybe those are the forces of evil God is st oping, and last time i checked,the devil hasn't attacked often in this earth, my answer is, God is willing to stop evil, because he has st oped the devil, proving that he is also all power full. now, God isn't cruel to us, we are cruel to each other, and, the reason that there are natural disasters, is because that is nature, and a way of dying, and every body has to die, no matter how, or when

Answer 8

God and Evil are the same thing. Can good exist without bad or black without white or a battery can function with only the positive pole? I don't think so.

The real solution to the question is: Are this entities real? My answer is NO but you can believe in what you want.

Answer 9

It's all about free will, if God did stop evil he couldn't say we have free will and you can't say you have free will if God stops you from being able to perform evil acts..

Answer 10

In the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve free will, and it was Eve's temptation by the snake that first caused humans to stray from God. This was the first sin.

God did not intend for Eve to disobey, but because he chose to give us free will we must take our own actions into account. We cannot blame God for the evils in the world, like murders and disasters, because it is each person's choice whether or not to commit each evil.

As for God being cruel, how can you say such a thing!? According to the Bible God sent his ONLY son to die for US so that we wouldn't be doomed for eternity. How could such an action be cruel!?

God wants for us to be happy, but in order for us to be happy he would have to take away our free will. Also, if we were never sad, how could we experience happiness and joy??? I believe that if we did not experience tragedies we would eventually forget our Gods because we would have no need of them.Why would we, we would be perfect on our own.

In response to your free will additional comments, consider parents. They know their children will make bad decisions, but often let them make the choices (like going to a party) so that they can learn from their mistakes. Is not the Christian God (MY God) called their FATHER? If we never make mistakes then we can never learn from them. Because a child gets in trouble for not cleaning their room they learn to obey. By learning this necessary skill they can operate in school and in the workplace. Much is it the same for followers of God. They learn from the mistakes they make so that they can relate to others and show them the way. If God did not let us make mistakes then we would not be able to connect with others in a personal way.

Also, in response to you're second addition, it IS true we can't comprehend God's plan and thoughts. God spoke to the men who wrote the bible (yes, I DO acknowledge men wrote the Bible) and THAT is the only way we know specifics about our God. It is much like owning an animal. Animals can learn not to do something, but if you tell them why they shouldn't they will not understand. God tells us everyday his intentions, I believe, but as humans we are not able to understand his ways, workings, and ultimate desires.

Also, if it was not God Himself that spoke to the men how would the men predict happenings with such accuracy? Christianity is the ONLY religion in which it's predictions (all except one, so far) have come true.