is God responsible for evil?if he is all good why is there evil?
2007-10-09 20:58:59 · 26 answers · asked by miko 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Does god do things because he's benevolent? If yes, then what he wills is because he's right. but...
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.
2007-10-10 02:47:36 · answer #1 · answered by Its not me Its u 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Evil is not of God and He did not create it. Creationists and most orthodox religions believe that evil or sin is a direct result of the Fall of Man (Adam and Eve eating the fruit). Because we had free will they were able to sin. God gave us choices and our "representative" (Adam) messed it up. This is all basic. God is not responsible for evil but he allows it. It is part of the whole free will deal. Look at the story of Job. It gives a lot of insight on the relationship between God man and evil.
addition: Without evil there would be no good. It is all relative. Evil is not the same as sin. People tend to get the two confused. Sin is a willing transgression of a known law. Sin is done by choice. Evil exists. Evil can be described as the complete absence of good. Just because a person sins that does not make the person "evil". The person simply went against what they knew was a truth or what is right. Evil is not sin. It has a lot to do with the reasons a person sins but it is not the same.
2007-10-09 21:05:51 · answer #2 · answered by LucyLou 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Good question!!
God is supposed to be omnipotent... nothing can happen unless He wills. Therefore, there are only two logical possibilities... either the evil we see is actually no evil, or you must be right in assuming that for some unknown reasons, God does permit the evil to exist side by side with the good. Since we do not have any clear idea of what God's purposes may be, we can not hold Him adversely accountable for the evil that we suffer from..... for all we know, the evil may be serving a 'good' purpose after all!!!
Well..... you know, faith can never be questioned by others.... it has its own strange answers that satisfy it irrespective of how logical or otherwise it may look to the non-believer!!!!!!
2007-10-09 22:42:59 · answer #3 · answered by small 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
God is a symbol of goodness and perfection , so there is no way He would permit evil to reign in this world. Human beings , are given the choice between right or good. Beside having the ten commandments, it is still human beings who is given the freedom to chose between right or good. We have the conscience to decide , to think which is right or wrong, but perhaps due to some needs, material needs , power people chose the wrong path. We always could tell the difference between good or bad, evil or goodness in thoughts and deeds , yet, it seems its just so hard to resist committing sinful acts. We have to find the right paths in life and that is a decision that we have to make. We can atleast help others by giving them ideas on the importance of goodness and how it will earn good things, good karma and perhaps to earn eternal life. Evil deeds always ends in bad karma, bad life and death in the spiritual aspect... We have a choice in life, and that is to be ready when time comes.... Ssome people fear the end because they are not ready , but some are willing to embrace their end and hopes that at the end of the line is the light that will guide them to that warm embrace , the warmth and love of the Almighty.
2007-10-09 22:59:05 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A wolf leaves its den and prays to God for a good hunt. The wolf quickly catches a rabbit and walks back to its den thanking God for His kindness. Clamped in the jaws of the wolf is a dying rabbit who cannot understand why God would allow such evil.
But if the hunt goes the other way, the rabbit thanks God for its speed, while the hungry wolf returns home thinking God is a sadist for making rabbits so fast.
Now if God is the source of the universe, and so the source of all life, than God is the absolute good.
The wolf is just confused, because it thinks God is a wolf.
The rabbit is confused because it thinks God is a rabbit.
And you are confused, because you think God is a human.
2007-10-10 15:47:25 · answer #5 · answered by Phoenix Quill 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
have you ever seen a one sided coin? God has nevertheless to determine that one out! Evil and sturdy, are subjective judgments of what's Being. God facilitates evil (as you call it) so as that sturdy could be defined. For while you're some thing and it is opposite would not exist, then you certainly can not define The SELF. in case you do not have a mirror then you certainly do not understand what you appear as if or do not appear as if. Evil, as you opt for it to be, exists, so as which you will define who and what you're. it extremely is the least complicated actuality of all. unique sin would not exist. it extremely is a figment of mind's eye, because of the fact if Sin existed, then what that asserts approximately God, is that God creates IMPERFECT beings. It makes a mockery of God to insinuate that God creates defective beings. God has by no skill made a single defective something. And if there replaced into this way of component as imperfection via WHOSE known? some non secular doctrine created via adult adult males? Earthquakes and floods are a organic phenomena. They got here approximately earlier human beings existed and that they'll pass on occurring after mankind has evaporated from the face of the earth. the priority is human beings PERSONALIZING the Impersonal nature of God via fabricating human judgment values upon organic occurances and assigning supersitious nonsense to them as to reason. i'm going to tell you this plenty. The Earth HAS a spirit itself...and abusing the Earth has outcomes. we are looking out approximately those outcomes suited now with international Warming and the extinction of species, the depletion of aspects and international crowding and overpopuation. those stresses will all detect a difficulty-loose stability, besides the indisputable fact that it's not as a results of a punishing god, it extremely is going to be as a results of our own stupidity and greed right here on earth. precisely what we journey in our fact is precisely what we've created with our own MINDS.
2016-10-06 10:19:17 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Right then, most people will say either "yes", "no" or "its' the devil/people".
Some people could claim its' pretty much like we're in a Petri dish and that we're being observed and allowed to act out our own fates and the like to see how we develop - a scientific experiment if you will. Honestly I feel if there is a God then "it" could not possibly be anything like we imagined.
Fair enough, they're all beliefs, they're all valid in their own rights.
However, even within the bible, Isiah 45:7
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. "
If you believe that God is omnipresent and omnipotent, then you have to accept that in many ways we cannot make an action that God could not have forseen or allowed ultimately, that there would be no real free will and that many of us were created to "go to Hell". You could argue he has a plan for us all, yes, but then you also have to accept that God created us with a time limit if that is the case, not just on the individual dying level.
Does that make him benevolent?
Up to you to make your own mind up from there ;)
Toodles
2007-10-09 21:30:31 · answer #7 · answered by themightysloth 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It depends on your point of view. But generally, yeah, God permits evil.
As an atheist with Taoist tendencies, I would say that there is evil because without evil there could be no good.
2007-10-09 21:02:18 · answer #8 · answered by Crypt 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
No,go does not permit evil and there is no evil only the absence of god.
2007-10-09 21:09:43 · answer #9 · answered by julius c 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
God is not responsible for evil, but humans are. Humans can do good or evil because they have free will. God created humans with free will because it was better than creating humans without free will.
2007-10-09 21:04:09 · answer #10 · answered by Joel 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋