When you look all around you, and see the amount of pain and suffering, such as cancer in children, tortures, illness, murder, sadness, etc, can’t God be considered Evil? If he was omnipotent couldn’t he just get rid of evil and let everyone live happily?
The problem of evil is a difficult one to wrestle with. I don’t think there are easy answers, but suffering seems to be a consequence of the material world. Without death, none of us would be here to begin with. But I don’t know why there is a material world to begin with and not just a spiritual one.
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When you get it figured out, let me know. It is the classic argument. “If God is good, he must not be all powerful, and if he is all powerful, he must not be good.”
My take on it is that we are physical beings in this reality, and subject to the conditions of the universe. That means gravity pulls us to the ground when we fall, mutations happen and cancer occurs, we get old and wear out, just as the mountains do. To do any differently would mean we were not part of created reality.
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It’s as if He’s not there at all isn’t it? If He is, all will be well for all, as always. He owes us that.
Yeah… for some of the really terrible stuff, I can’t help but imagine what would happen if the long tradition of moral philosophy was flipped on its head by pointing out the factual contradiction of treating other people like they don’t exist, when you believe they do.
This question seems simple, but it is a very difficult area no matter what our beliefs and outlooks. We use terms such as all good, all powerful, without pondering what they entail. For example, if God cures all cancers, what does he do with those who create poisonous and carcinogenetic chemicals that cause cancers? Does he smite those people? What of those people who like to murder others? Does God selectively eliminate them before or after they commit their crimes?
From what I may understand of the Christian faith, the answer to the problem of evil is the transformation of humanity through repentance and faith, and the subsequent bringing of the Kingdom of a new heaven and new earth.
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Not sure we are communicating. I’m just saying that by being part of the physical universe, we are subject to its constraints. To not be subject to them would be phantasy. Now, the problem that presents to me is how do we understand the new creation when those limitations are not present.
I see what you are saying, but it doesn’t change the truth about philosophy.
You are asking this on a Christian forum. Don’t expect the majority of the answers to be non biased
It depends what you mean as happy. Are birds happy? I do not see them complaining about evil. It seems to me that if God had made us as another kind of ape, who was not self-aware, then we would be “happy” because we could not worry.
Be Happy. Don’t Worry. Follow the advice of Jesus and Paul. Think about things that are good, not evil.
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By this logic all parents are evil.
But I accept the reality taught by evolution that pain and suffering are a necessary part of life without which life cannot even exist.
Which raises the question: is it even possible for the creation of life to be a moral thing to do?
Well I think there is only one thing which would make it moral. And that is the determination to love the living beings which you create. If you are creating them only as a means to an end, then that would fail the most basic requirement Kant gave for morality that human beings never be treated as a means to an end.
Sure. All you have to do is create something without life – things which do exactly what you have designed them to do and nothing more. A dead world with nothing but things and machines has no evil or suffering in it.
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surely cancer in children is so much worse than cancer in adults thats why we call that out as particularly bad. And what about the abortion of babies? They haven’t even experienced the love of their mum holding them in her arms yet. And cancer in the elderly - they had a long life already - didn’t they?
If you look at the core of the christian message you might figure out that a loving God allowed his son to be crucified, one of the worst death to have. And yet he praised him and told us that all the suffering will be to his glory in the song he sang whilst on the cross. In God you can overcome all evil and death has lost its sting on you once you are born again in Jesus. Look at all the suffering that he endured. Does this make God evil or men? In Jesus God broke the symbol of evil that signified the executional power of the state by making the cross a sign of love and hope. When you look around all the pain and suffering and see how it can be alleviated by Gods word you should figure out why God is not considered evil.
Think about why you consider something evil, by who’s standards. Guess the problem comes from an apple rich diet.
I wasn’t aware there was a settled truth about philosophy. I’m not sure what the basis for such a truth would be but hopefully it isn’t some variant of Descartes’ incredulity.
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Descartes didn’t fully appreciate what reason can tell you, and what it cannot.
Some biases are correct.
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Α biased opinion is correct.Ok im out,I have seen enough
Some opinions are correct.
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It is until youve experienced yourslef that pain ,that then youll call God evil. Seeign the suffering around you wont give you the same feeling.If however you experience truly hard pain and suffering then youll see why some are judging God
A worldview gives a person an interpretive framework from which to understand reality. It necessarily implies biases, and if the worldview is true, then its associated biases are too.
[Blessed is the one who] speaks truth IN his heart.
Psalm 15:2
Im disgusted to see a proclaimed Christian believe the “only the strong in this world survive” from Darwin .