Atheist vs. God and Evil
ARGUMENT: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL - AN ATHEIST ARGUMENT FOR NO GOD
1. If god exists, then he/she/it would be *OOO
*Omniscient [all knowing], Omnipotent [all powerful], Omnibenevolent [all good] = a perfect God
2. If an OOO being existed, then there would be no evil.
- All-knowing being would know where the will be evil.
- All-powerful being could prevent the evil from happening if it tried.
- All-good being would try to prevent evil.
**Therefore there would be no evil**
3. God exists
4. There is no evil
5. There is evil
1-3 should conclude that 4 is correct, that there is no evil. But we know 5 is correct as well, that there is evil.
So because there is evil there cannot be a god, because if there was a god there would be no evil.
RETALIATION: ATHEIST DO NOT HAVE FULL UNDERSTAND OF GOD
Genesis 1:27 - so God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God created mankind to be perfect, in his image and his likeness. Mankind was to dwell on earth in peace and harmony. No evil. This is how God created mankind.
Genesis 2:16-17 - and the Lord God commanded the man, "you are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die."
As we see here when God created mankind he did not indwell them with the knowledge of good and evil. Mankind was perfect, without sin, without death. He knew that to be perfect evil could not be known to us. So he said to Adam, you can eat of all the trees in the garden, but not the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
So as long as Adam, or anyone after him if not Adam did not eat of this tree of good and evil there would be no evil. God had planned for us not to know evil.
He did give mankind something though that he cannot control. Freewill. He gave mankind the choice to do as they please. He did not create us as slaves to him, forcing his will on us. He let us choose our own path.
So, with freewill as said before comes choices, and God knew this - this is why he told Adam not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He put a choice in front of mankind, he put the temptation to go against what he had said.
There is one simple truth and the bible does not refute this. There has always been evil because God created evil. Yes, God created evil. It did not just appear out of nowhere, when God created the universe he created it with evil. Why? Because God is all knowing, and you cannot be all knowing if you do not know evil.
Genesis 3:1-4 - now the serpent was more crafty than any of the world animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "did God really say, 'you must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
"You will not certainly die", the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Who is the serpent and why is he talking? The serpent represents evil. Whether it is Satan or not does not matter. A serpent approached Eve and tempted her with the knowledge of God. To know both good and evil. Until this point the knowledge of evil has been hidden from mankind. At stated before evil has always existed, just not the knowledge of evil to man.
Eve made a choice, one that affected all of mankind. She fell to temptation (temptation is not always evil, so she probably knew what temptation was.) When she chose to eat of the fruit, she chose to know good and evil. And with that bite of the fruit evil became known to mankind.
God gave us life and he gave us freewill. Because God gave us freewill he cannot prevent evil. And because man chose to go against God, to be like God, we know evil and all that comes with it.
In the end, and there will be an end, God will destroy evil. Because his creation has suffered from it for thousands of years. He will show his loving mercy on mankind to those who have fought of the evil that is present and come to know him and his son that died for our sins, so that we can be with him in heaven.
Revelations 21:6-7 - he [God] said to me; "it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty i will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and i will be their God and they will be my children."
