Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This has been my hardest struggle in trusting that there's a loving God.
For me dealing with evilness equals the buck stops with God. If God created ALL there is, then the possibility for extreme evil was allowed to exist. The falling from God story doesn't work for me as the cause of all this sin and evilness because have you ever seen a cat's joy while it tortures a mouse, pulling a body part off, letting the mouse run a little thinking it can escape and then - wham -torturing it some more sometimes for hours, often not even eating it, just enjoying the torturing of the little mouse.
A deformed baby that's in constant pain from its birth did not "choose" a sinful path.
It's the LEVEL OF EVIL AND SUFFERING that's present here that is my struggle. I understand that a little darkness can teach us to turn to the light, but gang-raping a ten-year-old girl, cutting her arms off, and leaving her in a ditch still alive. -- God created everything and all the possibilities and that just goes too far for me, and I waver in my trust of a loving wise God.....even though I have experienced enormous grace and abundance in life -- the LEVEL of the evilness gets to me pretty hard and in the end I just have to surrender to the mystery of it all.
Last edited by mountainrose; 04-30-2018 at 06:42 AM..
This has been my hardest struggle in trusting that there's a loving God.
For me dealing with evilness equals the buck stops with God. If God created ALL there is, then the possibility for extreme evil was allowed to exist. The falling from God story doesn't work for me as the cause of all this sin and evilness because have you ever seen a cat's joy while it tortures a mouse, pulling a body part off, letting the mouse run a little thinking it can escape and then - wham -torturing it some more sometimes for hours, often not even eating it, just enjoying the torturing of the little mouse.
A deformed baby that's in constant pain from its birth did not "choose" a sinful path.
It's the LEVEL OF EVIL AND SUFFERING that's present here that is my struggle. I understand that a little darkness can teach us to turn to the light, but gang-raping a ten-year-old girl, cutting her arms off, and leaving her in a ditch still alive. -- God created everything and all the possibilities and that just goes too far for me, and I waver in my trust of a loving wise God.....even though I have experienced enormous grace and abundance in life -- the LEVEL of the evilness gets to me pretty hard and in the end I just have to surrender to the mystery of it all.
Mountainrose, may I suggest you read “The Rational Bible” by Dennis Prager. He answers your questions.
... The falling from God story doesn't work for me as the cause of all this sin and evilness because have you ever seen a cat's joy while it tortures a mouse, pulling a body part off, letting the mouse run a little thinking it can escape and then - wham -torturing it some more sometimes for hours, often not even eating it, just enjoying the torturing of the little mouse.
I agree, there was no “fall from God”. But as for cats torturing their prey with “joy”, perhaps this article will put it in perspective for you:
“There’s a common misconception that cats torment their prey for fun, but the reality is that cats have an instinct to play with their prey because it’s the only way they can make a kill without risking injury.”
Evil exists because God gave man free will. God will enact ultimate justice in the end and evil will be vanquished.
Evil exists because God wanted man to know the difference between good and evil and see a demonstration of the consequences of evil. This includes you. Everyone has practiced both good and evil. The purpose for those who are called to salvation in this life is to come to the light and reject our evil ways. If we never experienced evil, we would not KNOW and fully appreciate the glory of God, his righteous ways, his loving nature, his mercy and his hatred of dishonesty, violence, greed, avarice, lying, unfaithfulness, cruelty, murder, etc.. .
How many creators do you believe in ? If there is only one, then you agree by what you are saying here that evil is an illusion.
Wrong -- evil is the absence of God's Spirit. There are two spirits at work in this world, Christ and antiChrist. Antichrist has NOTHING in Christ. It is ridiculous to imagine that just because God knows about evil and understands it that he makes it happen. He doesn't have to make it happen because there is a spirit opposed to all the God is. "The devil made me do it" is no excuse for anyone.
Evil exists because God wanted man to know the difference between good and evil and see a demonstration of the consequences of evil. This includes you. Everyone has practiced both good and evil. The purpose for those who are called to salvation in this life is to come to the light and reject our evil ways. If we never experienced evil, we would not KNOW and fully appreciate the glory of God, his righteous ways, his loving nature, his mercy and his hatred of dishonesty, violence, greed, avarice, lying, unfaithfulness, cruelty, murder, etc.. .
Evil did NOT have to be created by God for this to be happen.
The problem for you Jimmiej is "From Him ta panta comes, through Him ta panta exists, and in Him ta panta ends..."
Ta panta= the all
Ta panta is the strongest word for "all" in Canon, much stronger than pas (all)
The problem for you Rose is that good cannot create evil, or it ceases to be evil. Do you realize almost every poster on this thread disagrees with you?
The problem for you Rose is that good cannot create evil, or it ceases to be evil. Do you realize almost every poster on this thread disagrees with you?
The problem with Christianity is that it thinks that God has an opponent, whereas God has given mankind an opponent.
God created all, as seeds, to develop and grow and when the trees and thorns and briers, the weeds and tares reach maturity it is then time to separate them. A lot of stuff in the bible is not about individual salvation, it is about the kingdom of God on earth which has been developing over time, Christianity thinks they are the pinnacle of creation, as a nation and as individuals, but they are not, there is a lot of weeds in Christianity which will be burnt.
The problem for you Rose is that good cannot create evil, or it ceases to be evil. Do you realize almost every poster on this thread disagrees with you?
It is a lonely place to be, my friend,But the fact remains
Ta panta= the all
Ta panta is the strongest word for "all" in Canon
And, the apostle St. Paul most certainly did not grasp ta panta.
"from Him the all comes, through Him the all exists, and in Him the all ends..."
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
-- God created everything and all the possibilities and that just goes too far for me, and I waver in my trust of a loving wise God.....even though I have experienced enormous grace and abundance in life -- the LEVEL of the evilness gets to me pretty hard and in the end I just have to surrender to the mystery of it all.
But the fact remains
