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God created evil, as He admitted in Isaiah 45:7, and here was a world that had become evil to the uttermost.
God cannot create evil because evil itself does not exist.
Evil is simply the absence of good.
The best analogy is cold. There is no such thing as cold. The absence of heat makes us cold. So cold is absence of heat which is easy to measure and quantify.
Likewise, evil is simply absence of good.
You are reading the erroneous interpretations of barbaric men.
From a theological point of view God cannot be evil because God is infinite goodness.
I am certain the RCC thinks they have the truth just as you think you have the truth. The Muslims and Jews also think they have the truth. The 40,000 Protestant sects also think they have the truth.
Where does it end?
Why not have an open mind about this?
The Ark is allegoric, that is my truth. You think the allegory is real, that is your truth.
There are thousands of religions, beliefs, and organizations. I don't claim to have the whole truth. But Jesus IS truth! It says, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Pilate asked Jesus just before He was crucified, "What is truth?". Little did Pilate know that He was speaking to truth in human form.
This is our claim...That we know the One that holds the truth. Many religions, sects, etc., have a portion of this truth, such as the RCC, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopals, Evangelicals, and on and on. But all of these have taken the truth and rationalized it, used every method known to mankind to logically and systematically figure it out, and in most cases they have based their beliefs on only a portion of this truth. In all of these cases, they have unknowingly followed the thoughts of men, instead of the thoughts of God. It is the difference between the mind of men and God Himself. As I have said, if you want the truth, you have to go to the source. And our available source is Jesus, Who displays Who the Father is. If you are not drinking from the pureness of God's well, which is Jesus and His Word, then you are drinking contamination of one form or another. Most of us go once a week or so to one of these organizations to gather with other believers and hear of things of God. But the true believer realizes that this is not the source of truth, but it is a meager "type" of the real thing, and the need for caution is there to take home what is said and compare it to the words spoken in the Bible and to the thoughts coming from the Holy Spirit to see if it is true.
God cannot create evil because evil itself does not exist.
Evil is simply the absence of good.
The best analogy is cold. There is no such thing as cold. The absence of heat makes us cold. So cold is absence of heat which is easy to measure and quantify.
Likewise, evil is simply absence of good.
You are reading the erroneous interpretations of barbaric men.
From a theological point of view God cannot be evil because God is infinite goodness.
You speak nonsense. A statement such as "evil is like the absence of heat", is a ridiculous analogy, and comes from the mind of men. The absence of heat is a physical property and is in no way related to evil or goodness. When you use a statement from a "theological" point of view, you are using the thoughts of men, not of God. God gives us the truth in His Word, and He said that He created evil. Are you calling God a liar? Are you calling God a liar when you say that Noah never sailed the Antedeluvian ocean? Whether you realize it or not, that is exactly what you are proclaiming.
God gives us the truth in His Word, and He said that He created evil. Are you calling God a liar? Are you calling God a liar when you say that Noah never sailed the Antedeluvian ocean? Whether you realize it or not, that is exactly what you are proclaiming.
If God created evil then I will renounce God.
It is impossible for God to create evil because God is love.
How in the world are you able to define God as being able to create evil? That makes zero theological sense..
The only evil comes from within us when we walk away from God or infinite goodness.
It is impossible for God to create evil because God is love.
How in the world are you able to define God as being able to create evil? That makes zero theological sense..
The only evil comes from within us when we walk away from God or infinite goodness.
This is Theodicy 101!
Back to the drawing board!
With all respect, God was the one Who admitted to being the creator of evil. It wasn't my idea. If I were to go on my own thoughts, I would think that it is a ridiculous statement also. But, it fits in well with God's purpose and plan.
God is presently creating His work. He isn't done with it, nor did He start it and let the "ball roll", so to speak. He is creating us all in His image, just as He said in Genesis. "Let us make man in our image". We tend to think that God created things, and He's getting the best return possible with the way things have progressed. We tend to look at things in the present and fail to look at God as the great all-knowing Person, Who can and will complete what He said He will do.
Like another poster said in a jest of John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He's sending most of us to hell". That is an amazing, eye opening statement! Do we REALLY believe that we have a God that can make anything out of nothing, yet cannot formulate a plan that will end up the correct way? If people actually go to hell, and there are no corrections possible after natural death, then God is a colossal failure, and Satan has power over Him. But no, this comes from a belief that without believing in Jesus before natural death, we are condemned to hell. But actually, it is the evil in our souls that is condemned to be burned up. Jesus PLAINLY stated that! After death, with God before our faces, there will not be a single person that won't believe in Jesus and the Father's work, and all men will praise Him. How could they not? They will see it Him their very presence! Those that say, "I'll never believe", are speaking through the bad within their souls, and upon natural death, the grip that the power of these thoughts has over them will be gone, because the Spirit will be separated from the soul until after the Resurrection, and it will be the soul that is dealt with at the judgment.
God created evil as a tool to help man reach the ultimate goal. We are to be His children. Not just in a genealogical sense, or a spiritual sense, but in true reality. Jesus was sent here to show us the WAY. His way is the way to reach the Father, and it is the way to perfection so that we can all can receive glorified bodies for eternity. The senseless evil that we see in the world throughout history is a tool of His purpose. Jesus showed us that things come to life through death. Even in Jesus' sinless perfection, He lowered Himself to become death, and through it He was resurrected. The whole human race has to go through death to reach this final end. Even those who have been chosen to be alive for the First Resurrection have to die to themselves completely to reach this end. There is no other way. We are conformed to Jesus through suffering, and as I well know, suffering can be taken rightly or wrongly. Taken the right way, it can be a path to glorious understanding. Taken wrongly, it can become the catalyst to all sorts of confusion and mental misunderstandings.
I don't know why it has to be this way, but it must be, because God ordained it as the way, and He, being love, would not have chosen this method unless it was for our best interest. Love is not all peace and blessings, and good feelings. When my children get out of line, sometimes there comes consequences. Those consequences must come with understanding on my part, and without anger. They must come knowing that the end result is for the child's good. I can be severely injured, with unbelievable pain, but if I take it rightly, I can further my ability to be humble, kind, generous, sympathetic to others, and a plethora of other good attributes. God knows, that even though a killing may look like an atrocity, when that person reaches the other side, all the pain and suffering is over, and the memory of it will be overtaken by the joy of being released from this earthly state. God is no fool. He knows what He's doing. He has it all under control. It's our emotions that are out of control. I admit, that when I see or think about some of the things that go on in the world, my heart breaks for the pain of it all. But I have to know that god sees everything, and He has it under control. Love is to give. Emotion is one of its offshoots. We can't allow ourselves to look at the world through emotional eyes, without realizing this, or we will become unbalanced, and we will never know "all" of God.
I did read this, and yes, it is cause for great rejoicing! God is amazing, and His ways beyond finding out! D. Patton did an excellent job of finding out things that we would never have known. This whole event of the Flood gives amazing insight as to the overall plan of God.
I also did search for the remainder of this book though, and couldn't find it anywhere. Is it in print somewhere? It would be awesome if it could be found online. It's not on Kindle.
I did read this, and yes, it is cause for great rejoicing! God is amazing, and His ways beyond finding out! D. Patton did an excellent job of finding out things that we would never have known. This whole event of the Flood gives amazing insight as to the overall plan of God.
I also did search for the remainder of this book though, and couldn't find it anywhere. Is it in print somewhere? It would be awesome if it could be found online. It's not on Kindle.
If Nye is right about Noah and the ark then Jesus is wrong as is the Old Testament. This is why we don't simply avoid the topic altogether. It is important.
Quote:
Then it was asked.....can you give some examples of 'sacred history' or deep factual history in the Bible?
I've always thought the entire Bible was 'sacred history' in a sense because it is there that the divine and the ruminations of man within his environment meet in a literary presentation. Now you may know this. Back in '79, archaeologists on Ketef Hinnom near he Old City, found two silver amulets rolled up into scrolls. They were dated about 600 BCE. After getting a method to not destroy the scrolls while unrolling them they found the words 'YHWH' on one of the scrolls. This was the first time it came up in an archaeological find ever from the city of Jerusalem. But there was something even more interesting where in the full text was this part: "May YHWH bless and keep you; may YHWH cause his face to shine upon you and grant you peace". This now is part of the blessing that God instructed Moses to confer on the people of Israel in Numbers (6th chapter).
travric, are you saying "sacred histriy" may not be "factual history"?
In other words, are you saying Noah building the huge ark and a world-wide flood may be sacred history but not factual history?
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