Why do you think God let there be evil?

1. 82

   ii3rittlesposted 13 years ago

   Why do you think God let there be evil?
   
   No one knows the answer as to why God let evil come to be, but I want to see what people think about it and why they think He let evil live.

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2. 77

   Harlan Coltposted 13 years ago

   Because without evil there is no choice. God wants to be chosen because he is worthy of being chosen - that makes your relationship with him real. He could have created us as robots who had no other mental concept but to love and worship him, but he knew it would be phony.
   
   Would you want a mate to stay with you for some superficial reason other than they love you more than life itself? I wouldn't.
   
   I am not suggesting our relationship with God is romantic, rather that love is love. When you love someone - you would die for them.
   
   So he let people choose, and for people to choose there had to be a choice - that is how true love works. God - bought his church with his own blood...he died for us.
   
   Like the old saying, if you love someone let them go... etc.,
   
   - Harlan

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3. 60

   Mary Contraryposted 13 years ago

   God made man with a free will.  We would be nothing better than robots otherwise.  Satan was an archangel who rebelled against God, wanting to be equal to Him. A Catholic belief is that angels were created before humankind and that their angelic will unlike yours, is incapable of changing once a decision has been made.  Angels have one irrevocable act of will and they know this.  So when the angel Lucifer and his colleagues conspired to go against God, they sinned and could never seek forgiveness or redemption due to their essence and nature.  Humans on the other hand are capable of changing their minds-of repenting and seeking forgiveness. So the Catholic perspective is that Satan hates human beings, because humans have a second chance that he'll never have.  The fact that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became man by taking a human nature further infuriated him, because God never became an angel but did become man in the person of Jesus Christ.  Hope this gives somewhat of an answer.

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4. 59

   fflores041985posted 13 years ago

   I have asked myself, How did Adam and Eve sin if God made them perfect? Then were they really perfect? It's because he also gave them free will and the devil tricked them into sinning. He was and is so much smarter than any human, but no more than God. There is evil because the devil is here residing on earth and the proof is all around us. God lets there be evil, because he lets the devil live. But I have faith that one day he will put an end to the devil's reign on Earth and evil will cease to exist. All we can do is believe and pray so that we may live a life acceptable to God and so he may shine the light and point us in the right direction.
   Now, the devil was once perfect too. He was an angel living in the heavens residing with God and the other angels. But like us, he was given free will. He became jealous and one feeling led to another until he ultimately became evil. It's all in the Bible, in the first chapters I believe. Read it and know how evil came to be and maybe this will give you the answers to the question you seek.

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5. 60

   master9888posted 13 years ago

   My Dear, If there is no EVIL, You will then will never know and understand the words 'GOOD' 'justice' 'fair' 'mercy'.
   God created evil because He want you to understand the opposite of it, He want you to know that he is merciful and loves mankind.
   Everything are created in pairs, Good  vs Evil
   Day vs Night
   Man vs women

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6. 53

   nandabnkposted 13 years ago

   Because if there isn't any evil present, then you would never come to know about GOD.

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7. 64

   IGiveInformationposted 13 years ago

   Because there would be nothing for good to fight and win!

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8. 67

   Thesourceposted 13 years ago

   God allowed evil to exists because there is a holy purpose for it.
   
   To really know and experience what hot is, you will also have to experience cold. To really experience wealth, you must also experience poverty. To fully understand and experience your highest moment who will also have to experience you lowest point.
   
   Similarly for God to experience his Supreme Goodness he needed to experience evil. God experiences evil through us as he feels everything we feel. The only difference is that God is too powerful to get hurt, but we can get hurt. Since no evil can challenge or overcome God, he found a way around it.
   He created the physical and spiritual universe including man and the possibility of evil. God 's divine will made man imperfect to allow us to participate in evil. Together man and God is on a holy mission to explore and experience the Supreme Goodness of God.
   
   For God, knowing his Goodness was not enough, he wishes to experience his Goodness of the Supreme Godhead. To facilitate this holy experience he has allowed evil to exists.
   
   God makes no accidents, the existence for evil is intentional.

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9. 36

   edhanposted 13 years ago

   I do not think that God let there be evil. But instead God wants us to experience ourselves to be a better person. Let us know there is always 2 sides of a coin - one is evil and the other is good. Between evil and good, we all have a choice to make. It is just like walking on the road and you reach a fork, you can choose walk the right or left side. Each path will take you a different situation. Imagine if there is a sign at the fork road - Left to Evil Island and Right to Heaven. So, it will be your choice to make.

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10. 60

    Michaelmasposted 13 years ago

    These answers are all really good. I have a different way of seeing things but it's very similar in some ways. Free will gives us the ability to choose God over anything else. Evil is what happens in the absence of God. You can't really measure Dark because it's the absence of light so I see it as the same with evil. Through our own free will to be closer or further from God we allow more or less of his presence.
    Bad things happen due to free will and you can't blame God for the choices of others. Things that God may have control over may also be used to test you or give you something better down the line. A death or accident could be an event to a greater reward or a test of faith.
    Think about the alternative. If God did not allow evil then you'd have no free will of your own because all of your actions would be good in essence. Without the option of evil we cease to have free will.
    I never really see evil as an allowance of God but of man's choice to exclude Him

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11. 61

    nancymeposted 13 years ago

    I think maybe for a reality check and to test our belief in God.

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12. 66

    ptosisposted 13 years ago

    Why is there evil in the world? I’ve been listening to The Teaching Company’s audio lecture series on the Kabbala, Lecture 6 , ‘Messiahs’ and it isn’t a by-product of free will nor is it Eve’s fault.
    
    I reccomend listening to different viewpoints that you might not agree with just simply to learn
    
    I wrote about it @
    
    http://relijournal.com/christianity/why … z1MEs6cGq6

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13. 61

    NorthEast Timberposted 13 years ago

    Presuming to know the mind of God is putting yourself before him.  He doesn't like that.  Why is it people have the need to place blame?  We blame God, we blame our parents, the rich, society.  Bad things happen, change it yourself or get over it.

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14. 58

    GeneralSkepticposted 13 years ago

    You'll find the Bible gives many different answers to the question of why suffering exists, but there seems to be only one answer that makes sense: there is no God, at least not a deity who is all-loving and all-powerful.
    
    The concept of Good and Evil is too black and white to apply to the entire relative spectrum of human behavior, yet I would agree that some acts are certainly reprehensible. 
    
    This very question points out the absurdity of the notion that God could be loving yet still allow innocent human suffering.  Suffering has no purpose.  It is random and capricious and assigning a reason to suffering does an injustice to those in pain.
    
    Why do people throughout the world live in poverty and struggle for basic necessities?  Because as we sit in front of our 52" LED TV with a fresh bag of McDonald's drive-thru we couldn't care less.

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15. 67

    MazioCreateposted 13 years ago

    More to the point, why do people continue to choose to be evil?  Remember, we all have a conscience and are capable of making decisions based on what we perceive to be right and wrong. No need to foist it all back onto God (if there is one), when it is the individual taking action.

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16. 59

    NiaLeeposted 12 years ago

    Frankly I was really upset yesterday and I don't want to make up anything I don't know.
    we need to work on the things we can change in ourselves, lives and situation and stop blaming things on God.
    Now, he just want us to grow stronger, better...so, the work is part of the deal!
    This is the reason why some people don't want to believe in God because they want to use that extra time to think and fix the things they can instead of lamenting and wondering who else can fix things.
    My faith is big and free, so I have learned different ways to see and handle things.
    The Bible says that he wants us to know what is the world under the rule of Satan so we freely and knowingly choose him and his son Jesus Christ.
    The choice is quickly made!
    Love and peace to all.
    
    PTOSis careful it is not Eve's fault, Satan mislead her and we were cursed from the act of Adam, not Eve's because God had told him, he was supposed to teach Eve.
    After Adam ate, the problem started. Let's just realize that it is not a matter of male or female but essence. when you meet evil people you realize that it is not only women or men, but anybody willing to do wrong to get what they want. Anybody rejoicing in doing evil.

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17. 61

    Cordelia Julyposted 12 years ago

    An evil once was an angel, who went against the God. Since the God gave time to live to everyone, so did he did to that angel (evil). In results that's how people do bad things.

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