connick

If God hates evil then why did he create it? If evil is part of God's creation why does he hate it?

WVIncagold

Because without it he would be a silly guy dressed in a funny outfit with no supervillian to justify his existance.

juergen

Because he's a tough motherfucker.

bacht

In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of God. The problem is most often discussed in the context of the personal god of the Abrahamic religions, but is also relevant to polytheistic traditions involving many gods.

The problem of evil is one of the most powerful objections to traditional theism. Most theists respond that a perfect being may still allow some evil, asserting that it will enable certain greater goods, such as free will, which can not be achieved without allowing some evils. A defense against the problem of evil attempts to establish that the divine attributes are logically consistent with the existence of evil, but does not commit to any positive explanations as to why these evils occur. A theodicy, on the other hand, is an attempt to provide such justifications for the existence of evil.
[wikipedia]

I think people have been arguing about this one for a long long time Connick

Toto

This is a subject better suited for a different forum - say General Religious Discussions, or the Existence of God.

The Bible is clear, but inconsistent. The god of the Hebrew Scriptures created good and evil, because he created everything. By the time we get to the new testament, there are indications that there is a devil who creates evil, and he and Jesus will have to fight it out in the final battle, which Jesus will win. Some of the gnostics who were suppressed by the Christian church believed that there was an evil, lesser god who was either malicious or incompetant who created the world, and Jesus was sent here as an emissary from the one true good god.

My only question is why people need to discuss this attempt at philosophy in the 21st century.

Let me know where you want this thread to go.

Timetospend

In the NT, the devil is subservient to God (as in such places as Rev. 12:10 and Luke 22:31).

connick

I know they have, but people arguing on God's behalf seem to only have the "mysterious workings" defense.

I want to discuss it because it has yet to be resolved. It seems simple to me that an all-good and all-powerful God can't coexist with evil. I'd like to think this argument is dead and done with, but people still seem to think that there isn't a problem with evil. If the only apologist responses boil down "to God works in mysterious ways" then can we label the PoE as a standing refutation of omnimax gods?

I posted in BC&H because I know that the Bible treats God as an omnimax entity, though EoG seems appropriate considering that such entities are purported by other religions.

Joan of Bark

The 'free-will' argument is constantly used by Christians as a justification for the existence of evil: that is, free-will produces evil as an unfortunate by-product.

But this argument doesn't wash. Free-will did not create diseases and natural disasters ... God (at least the Judeo-Christian-Islamic version) did. For this reason, Gnostic theology makes more sense.

And yes, Toto, you should send this thread somewhere else.

Toto

The Problem of Evil belongs in the Existence of God forum

hold on to your socks until it comes to rest.

Tom Sawyer

If evil leads to a greater good, then the evil is a necessary step along the path and we just can't see the bigger picture.

That, of course, would be an illogical statement if the person who made the path was omnipotent, omniscient and wasn't an incompetent idiot who couldn't use his unlimited power and knowledge to find a way down the path without having to put all the evil in there.

So, just remember that anytime a Christian tells you that God is omnipotent and omniscient, they're also telling you that they think their god is an incompetent idiot.