I may be losing my faith...

[eagle1462010]

Why did God make evil?

Are you the serpent trying to get Adam and eve to eat the apple.

 

[Freewill]

You have no faith already if you believe God had a thing to do with this pure evil. You are looking the wrong way.

You have no right to tell me I have no faith. Shame on you.

I didn't say you did not, but you reveal yourself if you believe God had anything to do with this evil. By their fruits you shall know them, I see your fruit.

Freewill man, it is all about freewill, you either have it or you don't.

God allows evil to happen, that's what I was saying.

We live in a world where evil is constantly happening.

Wars, murders, drug violence, rapes, and 3000 abortions a day in the United States alone.

Perhaps God gives the choice of Free Will.......Some use that Freedom to perform evil and some don't.

I'm going to pray about this.

EXACTLY what God promised you.

 

[Blackrook]

I'm glad I came here and brought this problem to you. I feel my questions have been answered. Thank you.

 

[Weatherman2020]

...seeing those dead women, heaped where they fell as bullets tore through their tender flesh, I am beginning the question my faith in God.

WHAT is the MASTER PLAN that requires this to happen???

Not to mention hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, forest fires, tornadoes and all the other disasters God sends us to remind us that HE IS BIGGER THAN WE ARE.

If I lose my faith I lose my hope in heaven, and if I lose that, I don't know how I go on...

Liar, you were always a dumbass atheist.

What's more ridiculous, that God made everything in six days...

 

[MarkDuffy]

Why did God make evil?

Isn't that like saying, how did the light make darkness?

Uh no

 

[MarkDuffy]

Why did God make evil?

Are you the serpent trying to get Adam and eve to eat the apple.

That is very unChristian. Why would you say that?

 

[onefour1]

Why did God make evil?

By simply creating good, it's opposite exists in principle. It only takes a being with free will and the desire to do evil to make evil a reality. But without free will, man cannot achieve true happiness.

2 Nephi 2:10-13
10 And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him according to the truth and holiness which is in him. Wherefore, the ends of the law which the Holy One hath given, unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment that is affixed is in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the atonement—
11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.
12 Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.
13 And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.

 

[eagle1462010]

Why did God make evil?

Are you the serpent trying to get Adam and eve to eat the apple.

That is very unChristian. Why would you say that?

Your purpose was to hurt and ridicule the OP...........stated an opinion.

 

[AVISSSER]

I see how atheists behave on this forum and in my life and I don't want to become like them. They seem to me to be bitter, unhappy people who want to infect others with their hopelessness and despair. I will resist that fate with everything I can muster.

I am an atheist and I'm very happy. I have hope and love. When you hold a cup up, after a while, that cup is all you think about. It becomes very heavy and your muscles burn. The world is no different. Let it go...set it down. Don't worry about the things you can't control. Don't worry about who or what is controlling them. Be happy and thankful for this life. Be present. Life is good man.

 

[Blackrook]

I see how atheists behave on this forum and in my life and I don't want to become like them. They seem to me to be bitter, unhappy people who want to infect others with their hopelessness and despair. I will resist that fate with everything I can muster.

I am an atheist and I'm very happy. I have hope and love. When you hold a cup up, after a while, that cup is all you think about. It becomes very heavy and your muscles burn. The world is no different. Let it go...set it down. Don't worry about the things you can't control. Don't worry about who or what is controlling them. Be happy and thankful for this life. Be present. Life is good man.

Well, there may be decent atheists but you have to be aware that the most outspoken atheists are complete jerks.

 

[Bonzi]

The way I have heard this explained is the the introduction of sin in the world is the reason. It's not Gods punishment or indifference

He can here in the flesh to offer himself as a sacrifice for us, don't forget that

 

[MarkDuffy]

Why did God make evil?

By simply creating good, it's opposite exists in principle. It only takes a being with free will and the desire to do evil to make evil a reality. But without free will, man cannot achieve true happiness.

2 Nephi 2:10-13
10 And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him according to the truth and holiness which is in him. Wherefore, the ends of the law which the Holy One hath given, unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment that is affixed is in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the atonement—
11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.
12 Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.
13 And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.

So in order to create Democrats (good), God also had to create republicans?

 

[Theospeak1]

I often say that the existence of real, pure evil (and it does exist) is the greatest apologetic for the existence of God. There is objective morality in the universe, apart from mankind. In fact it is tragically ironic that many who turn to Atheism do so as a reaction to seeing some evil or injustice that they can't square with the existence of God, such as the unimaginably horrific shooting in Las Vegas. "How could God allow this?" But in doing so they are making a moral judgement based upon God's morality in the first place. It amounts to saying, "because I know objective morality exists, therefore no objective morality exists". And sadly, many do not seem to consider this. There is good and evil. There is a good God who made us in His image and who won't violate that gift by subverting our free wills, even though we may commit evil for a time on this earth. There is hope, even when things seem darkest.

 

[Blackrook]

I often say that the existence of real, pure evil (and it does exist) is the greatest apologetic for the existence of God. There is objective morality in the universe, apart from mankind. In fact it is tragically ironic that many who turn to Atheism do so as a reaction to seeing some evil or injustice that they can't square with the existence of God, such as the unimaginably horrific shooting in Las Vegas. "How could God allow this?" But in doing so they are making a moral judgement based upon God's morality in the first place. It amounts to saying, "because I know objective morality exists, therefore no objective morality exists". And sadly, many do not seem to consider this. There is good and evil. There is a good God who made us in His image and who won't violate that gift by subverting our free wills, even though we may commit evil for a time on this earth. There is hope, even when things seem darkest.

I get all that, but it seems so arbitrary, who lives, who dies, when bullets are flying from the gun of a mad man choosing random victims.

 

[MarkDuffy]

Why did God make evil?

Are you the serpent trying to get Adam and eve to eat the apple.

That is very unChristian. Why would you say that?

Your purpose was to hurt and ridicule the OP...........stated an opinion.

I came in the way, the truth and the life

 

[MarkDuffy]

I'm glad I came here and brought this problem to you. I feel my questions have been answered. Thank you.

I love stories with happy endings

 

[AVISSSER]

I see how atheists behave on this forum and in my life and I don't want to become like them. They seem to me to be bitter, unhappy people who want to infect others with their hopelessness and despair. I will resist that fate with everything I can muster.

I am an atheist and I'm very happy. I have hope and love. When you hold a cup up, after a while, that cup is all you think about. It becomes very heavy and your muscles burn. The world is no different. Let it go...set it down. Don't worry about the things you can't control. Don't worry about who or what is controlling them. Be happy and thankful for this life. Be present. Life is good man.

Well, there may be decent atheists but you have to be aware that the most outspoken atheists are complete jerks.

True...many atheists wear it like a badge of honor. They are open and vocal pricks about it quite often. I personally dont agree with that approach at all. What you have is a religious faith and true religious faith is the genuine belief in the unbelievable. If religious faith were easy and 'provable' then it wouldn't be worth the time because everybody would be there. I dont say that condescendingly either. It is something to cherish. I cant do it, I have tried and it doesn't speak to me. Just relax though...everything works itself out.

 

[BreezeWood]

.
understanding the persons motivation for his attack would be helpful in reconciling their purpose though their taking peoples lives they had no way of knowing in itself certainly would condemn them to perish forever.

 

[MarkDuffy]

So in closing, recapping this thread

In order to believe in God, good people must die

 

[Theospeak1]

I always go back to the wisdom of Scripture when I grapple with stuff like this. I can also be coldly rational. When I grapple with my faith it's my understanding of the intellectual weaknesses of Atheism (not enough time for evolution, the fact that we only observe one finely tuned universe, the existence of evil, etc.) which bends me back towards faith in God rather than faith in randomness and nothing.

"Again I saw under the sun that—
the race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong,
nor food to the wise,
nor riches to the intelligent,
nor favor to those with knowledge;
but time and chance happen to them all."
- Ecclesiastes 9:11

"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone."
- James 1:13

"Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?....Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?'"
- Luke 13:1-4 (Implication: Bad things just happen while we're here in this life, not to everyone, not all the time, but still time and chance happens to us all)

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting."
- Psalm 136:1