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So, basically the problem is with the existence of evil at the same time as "Omni Dude" characteristics of "God?" Maybe the problem is in characterizing "God" that way. Why does "my God" have to be able to "beat" "your God?"
Evil exists because God gave man free will. God will enact ultimate justice in the end and evil will be vanquished.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rose2Luv
Question my friend. Do you grasp the fact that man was "made subject to vanity, NOT WILLINGLY, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope..?"
When did God do that Rose? before man was disobedient or after?
Why do you assume vanity refers to evil? I see no translations that say such. I see the word futlity.
You must have missed the KJV Jimmie
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,"
On this one, jimmij is on the right track. "Vanity" here would be "in vain" or "uselessly" "Frustration" is a good translation and refers to the condition of the world in natural consequence of its normally selfish actions. the General populace lacks in large measure the "enlightened self interest" that makes for a more beneficial society. "Evil" in the other reference is about "calamity" or consequences of deleterious conditions.
There is probably no subject in all the range of religious thought so hard to deal with as that of the purpose of evil. Writers on biblical lore have tried to account of the origin of evil; but it seems to me that the real difficulty is the bare fact of its existence, whatever may have been its origin. The great question for theologians to wrestle with is this: How can you account for the existence of evil alongside a supreme, all-wise, holy and benevolent God? Think for a moment on the condition of things in this world. Evil exists on the earth to embitter and darken, to blight and curse everything else that exists on the earth. On it goes, like a huge Juggernaut car, rolling through the world, crushing its helpless victims on every hand, and (the saddest feature of all) crushing without distinction the innocent and guilty together in one common quagmire of sin, suffering and death; and God allows it to go on when he might at any instant stop it, and on it has gone for six thousand years. Take an example in the concrete, the horrible September massacre of the French Revolution when during a period of one hundred hours, from Sunday afternoon, Sept. 2, 1792, until Thursday, the helpless inmates of the seven crowded prisons of Paris were, after a mock trial before a self-constituted tribunal, hurled to a howling mob of human wolves and fiends and butchered in cold blood. Men and women, young, middle-aged, and gray-haired, shared the same fate, and for no other crime than that, as Carlisle expresses it, they were "suspected of being suspected." And all this was enacted under the canopy of heaven where sits the God of infinite power and love! How can we believe it? Add to this the years of horror of that same revolution. Add the slaughter of the Waldenses and the Albegenses. Add the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Add the unspeakable cruelties of the Spanish Inquisition. Add the decades, centuries and millenniums of butchery and blood that have cursed the world from fratricidal Cain down to the present time, and then try to reconcile all this with the existence in the same universe of a God of infinite power and love! Can you do it? Rather does not the contemplation of this vast sea of human suffering cause one to shrink back with horror from the ghastly vision and almost (and sometimes quite) doubt that there is a God? Alas, how many there are that are troubled by this problem! Can you help them? The Word can help them!--
"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,"
I see that, but why do you define that as evil?
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