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This is a question thrown by people who would like to sway others to believe that there is no God.  This question is the relative of the question, "If there is a loving God, then why are there so many evil in this world." 

One trait of God is His omniscience (He is all-knowing).  He knows what will happen for all of eternity.  The things that man know are not even a tip of a nail compared to what God knows.  He even knows what will happen to you a minute from now which you don't have an idea of.  That established, atheists and agnostics would argue that God, if He does exists, with His omniscience, should have decided NOT to give man free will because He knows that they'll just use it to rebel against Him which will result to them going to Hell to pay for their sins.  If He does exists then He must enjoy seeing people go to Hell?

First of all, the Bible makes it clear that God has no pleasure in seeing sinners die which lead them to eternal punishment (Ezekiel 33:11).  He created man for His glory and for His pleasure (Revelations 4:11).  Now here's a question... If you're God, will you derive pleasure from the "love" your created gives you if in the first place, you have programmed them like robots to give you love (they have no choice but to love you)?  I believe that you'll agree that "love" that's not freely given is not true love.  God had to give man a free will so that He can experience true love from His created so that pleasure is achieved.  He wanted man to love Him willingly.  Free will allows man to love God willingly.  That's why God gave us free will. Not doing so goes against reason.  God is a logical Person that's why He saw it right to give man the freedom to choose for himself and He hoped that we'd use it to give Him pleasure. 

But how about the fact that in man's use of his free will to do evil, it results to suffering in Hell? Shouldn't have God just sacrificed His desire to experience true love from His created so that no one goes to Hell?  I believe that God could have chosen to do that... IF He had no power to use evil to bring out good.  What do I mean about that?  God used the evil of the cross to solve man's problem of sin.  The cross is a reflection of all the evil of man.  The cross is a picture of what any criminal should deserve.  God experienced the cruelty of the cross as if He was a hardened criminal just so He can make a payment for man's sins.  Buddha had no solution for the penalty of man's sins.  Mohammed offered no real solution either.  Catholicism, although claiming to be Christian in beliefs, still gives man a big responsibility in saving himself. The New Age movement can only suggest something that will make you focus on the "here and now" so that you'll not be burdened with what's ahead in eternity. This makes Christianity unique.  It offered a solution.  Jesus was the solution.  God turned evil to good by transferring all of man's evil on His beloved Son so He could pay for them.  The chains of sin on us were broken because Jesus let himself experience the evil of men.

God still uses evil in our time to bring out good.  How many people have turned to God for assurance of life in Heaven after they've realized how fragile and short life is through the death of someone they know?  I believe you and your other Christian friends can name some.  God uses natural calamities like the tsunami in Japan and the big earthquakes that rocked major cities early this year to bring to the minds of people that there is a powerful God that they should fear, or better yet, be reconciled with.  Crimes around us, heavy and petty crimes alike, show how man has gone low in their morals, and therefore, disqualifies them from the future joys of Heaven. Your own offense of God's Moral Standards, the Ten Commandments, should bring you to the realization that you're not a good person, that's why you need Jesus' perfection to be transferred on you to enter into His Kingdom. For Christians, God uses circumstances to bring out new strength from us so that, we, in turn, can also be used by Him to strengthen others. He also uses sufferings to re-focus ourselves to Him so that we can enjoy Him even in this world. 

In conclusion, God gave man free will even if He knew it will cause problems through man's wrong use of it because He also knows the solution to it... Jesus. When God finished making this world on the sixth day, He looked on the whole of His creation and saw that it was all good, including the free will He gave man.  To you who are still living in sin, use your free will by deciding to forsake your sins and to have Jesus be your Lord and Savior.  To us, His children, let us use the free will God gave us to bring pleasure to the only One who can use evil to bring out good for our benefit.  Praise be the Lord!

 


Comments

omar
02/07/2012 8:04am

but god gives man no guidence. Evil whispers in our ear and we can't trust one who we don't know is pure. I god is almighty h can whisper in the ear of man and us know what is right. Why does god let us worship false gods if he loves us. Will we go to hell for not worshipping the true god. God has limitations for his son perfection itslelf lead man from evil. we should not be punished for something we have no knowledge of. Gd should have gave all man knowledge of his being. Then god lets science become born. it goees against his every word and he lets it exist. We can not trust a book lost in the age that has been rewritten millions of times.

Reply
Dennis Mark Aglosolos
02/07/2012 8:20pm

Hi Omar! Let me answer your questions one by one as stated in your comment:
1. Yes, God has given man guidance. The Bible is God's guide-book for how man should live his life. The problem is, we criticize the Bible even if we haven't fully read it. A careful examination of it will show you that it had declared scientific truths way before those truths were found by scientists. Many historical events were foretold in the Bible way before they occurred. This is proof that this book has divine origins. God does not really need to whisper to us what's right and evil. Just read the Bible. I suggest you to start with Exodus chapter 20. You'll read there the Laws that God gave to Moses.
2. God does not want us to do evil things like worshiping of false gods. What He wants is that we obey His Commandments. But He wants us to obey them out of a willing heart. But all of us have decided to go against God that's why, one day, He will judge us and give to us our deserved punishment. Please read the 3rd paragraph of my article again so you'll see my point.
3. Yes, we will go to Hell for not worshiping Him as the true God. In Mark 12:29-30, Jesus said, "...The Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." James 2:10 tells us that with even only one offense of God's Commandments, we are already guilty of all. 1 John 3:4 tells us that "sin is transgression of the Law", and Romans 6:23 informs us that the payment for sin is death, including death (suffering) in Hell.
3. It's wrong to say that we have no knowledge of our sins, so therefore, it's unfair for us to be punished. Romans 2:15 tells us that God's Law is written in our hearts and our conscience is proof of that. Any married person who cheats on his wife (adultery) will feel his conscience bothering him. You know through your conscience if something is right or wrong. The conscience is God's warning device for our sinful actions.
4. Everyone has been given proof of God's being. Romans 1:21 tells us that the proof of God's existence is His creation, the world, that's why we cannot be excused for the sins we do by arguing that we did know that there's a God to whom we'll one day give an account of every actions we did in this lifetime. What's proof of a painter? Answer: the painting. What's proof of builder? Answer: the building. What's proof of a Creator-God? Answer: His creations.
5. No. Science does not contradict the Bible. The only reason why there are scientific statements that seem to say that the Bible is wrong is because men who do not believe in God (atheists) are the ones making the scientific declarations. I suggest that you go to this website: www.answersingenesis.org
6. No. The Bible was not re-written millions of times. What has happened was that the Bible was translated in different languages for the benefit of everyone. The Bible was written by several people God himself chose. 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us this, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." What's proof that God told the writers what to write? The Bible was written by different people who, for most of them, do not know each other, in a period of about 4000 years, and yet, they did not contradict each other. That's a big proof that God was the One telling them what to write.

Dear Omar, please study the Bible. We are not pushing you to accept our beliefs. What we are praying for is that you'll take time to examine God's Word so that God Himself will show you the truth that is in Jesus. Why Jesus? Because He, being a sinless God, 2000 years ago, came down to earth to pay for the sins we have made by dying on the cross. He did that because He does not want us to go to Hell. He loved you and me so much that's why He allowed Himself to die like a very evil criminal even if He did NO sin. Now, His sacrifice on the cross can be the payment for your sins if you will just decide to forsake sin in your life once and for all (repentance) and believe that Jesus is the only one that can save you from going to Hell because He has made a payment for your sins. Trust Jesus for your eternity just like how you trust a parachute to save you from plunging to death after jumping off an airplane. Then claim this beautiful promise from the Bible as true and sure: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) will not perish (not go to hell anymore) but have everlasting life (in Heaven with God)".

Thanks for taking time to read my article and posting your comments. I will pray for you.

Reply
Muhammad link
03/10/2012 4:40pm


Interesting article, and I like that you have tried to follow a logical path to reason.

You give explanation of evil - but you give no proper explanation for the 'suffering' to innocents caused by evil done by others.

By your reasoning, God, since He wanted freely given love from His creation - allows that creation (us) to suffer painfully every day by evils done by other people/satan ?

How fair is that? that God make us 'suffer'- so that he may experience 'love'

not very convincing I am afraid.

Ps- I am not Christian but Muslim, but I was troubles by these questions and searched the net, stumbled on your article.

Reply
Dennis Mark Aglosolos
03/10/2012 8:49pm

Dear Muhammad,

First of all, I thank you for taking the time to read my article. I really appreciate it.

Regarding your question about the fairness of God to allow evils done to man by other men and Satan, I'd like to explain that the original world God gave us was perfect and had no sufferings and mistreatment from others. It was man who destroyed the perfect world God gave us when Adam and Eve decided to disobey God (man's freewill in action). Even thorns on plants weren't present before Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3:18). From then on, the world started a spiral journey downwards. Sufferings now abound because we likewise continue to displease God who gave us Commandments to obey through the prophet Moses. We all have lied, stolen things, dishonored our parents, committed adultery by looking at people with lust, etc. And our sins, although when committed is technically done in defiance of God, also affects others. Criminals that murder are not the only ones that bring sufferings to others. We also bring sufferings to others when we commit sin. How many have been hurt by lies we have said? How many people have lost something because we stole these things from them? How many parents are hurt because of our dishonoring of them? How many women have been left with scars in their hearts because we have committed adultery with other women? All of these hurt others because we chose to use our free will wrongly. In essence, God allows suffering because we ourselves chose that sin reign in our lives. I think that's fair.

But here's something that's not fair. Jesus who I believe is God because the Bible says so (John 1:1 / Philippians 2:5-8) and is sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21) came to earth 2,000 years ago and died a criminal's death? Why did He allow Himself to go through that? So that man's sins which is punishable by death (Romans 6:23) can have a payment. It was us who did those sins and enjoyed doing them, but it was He who made a payment for them. Now that's not fair. But He did it anyway because He wants us to someday have a life way different from the life we have here when He brings us to Heaven. If we want God to be fair, what we should have is not just suffering in this world. We should have death and Hell because of our sins. But God instead, gave us mercy and grace when He took our punishment by dying at the cross. All we need to do now is come to Him in humility, acknowledging our sinfulness, so ashamed of them that we desire to forsake sin once and for all, and trust that what Jesus did on that cruel cross is the only payment for our sins. John 3:16 tells us that "...God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus), that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." And something happened 3 days after Jesus died...He rose from the grave. He conquered sin! And because He was able to do that, everyone who have trusted in Him can also be assured that death will not have dominion over them because God will give them eternal life in Heaven when we part from this world (Romans 6:5 / John 11:25).

It is my prayer that my reply to your comment will be helpful in answering your questions in life. I took time to make this response because I care for you. Please read the verses I gave from Bible. It won't hurt to just look them up.

I pray for God's blessing to you.

Sincerely

Dennis Mark Y. Aglosolos

Reply
Muhammad
03/29/2012 3:21pm

Dear Dennis

Thank you for a detailed reply. Much appreciated.

I agree with the explanation that evil is man's doing - that the original world God gave man was free of evil and sinless and it is man's sins that have started the downward spiral you mentioned.

However ! - my question is that God knew this is exactly what man would do with free will (Is God not all knowing???) so he knowingly created man capable of sin and evil, knowingly gave man freewill that God knew for sure man will use for evil - and hurt himself and others in the process.

By analogy, would you give a child a knife when you know the child will hurt himself and others? Of course not.

You said in the original article that the purpose of creation of man was for God to receive freely given love from man – sounds very unfair selfish and even cruel if I may, of God to put man thru this evil just to fulfil that purpose.



thank you and bless you.
Muhammad


Muhammad
03/29/2012 3:21pm

Dear Dennis

Thank you for a detailed reply. Much appreciated.

I agree with the explanation that evil is man's doing - that the original world God gave man was free of evil and sinless and it is man's sins that have started the downward spiral you mentioned.

However ! - my question is that God knew this is exactly what man would do with free will (Is God not all knowing?) so he knowingly created man capable of sin and evil, knowingly gave man freewill that God knew for sure man will use for evil - and hurt himself and others in the process.

By analogy, would you give a child a knife when you know the child will hurt himself and others? Of course not.

You said in the original article that the purpose of creation of man was for God to receive freely given love from man – sounds very unfair selfish and even cruel if I may, of God to put man thru this evil just to fulfil that purpose.



thank you and bless you.
Muhammad


Michael
03/29/2012 1:53pm

Dennis,

I believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

May you be able to continue receiving love and wisdom from God so that you can continue to bless and guide others.

Mic

Reply
Dennis Mark Aglosolos
03/29/2012 9:13pm

Dear Muhammad,

First of all, I'd like to tell you that I really appreciate your openness to a discussion with me. If only you can see my heart, you will discover how much I care about you and how much I want you to embrace Jesus in your life for I truly believe from my study of the Bible that He truly is the only Way, Truth and Life and that no one can get to Heaven except through Him. I'm not engaging you to a discussion so that another person will be included in the list of Christians. I only want to lead another person like you to the only way to be reconciled to God.

As to your opinion that it's quite cruel for God to put man thru evil as a result of his free will just to fulfill the purpose of receiving freely given love, here's my best answer to that--- Man will have so many questions to God that will not get it's answer in this lifetime. And the Bible is also so clear about that. Deutoronomy 29:29 tells us that "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." Obviously, you are not satisfied with the answers I gave you. And I'll be honest to you. That's the best answer I can give you. But in my heart, I know that God's wisdom is so above man's combined wisdom. If you feel that the Bible has not fully answered your question then probably, the answer to your question falls on the realm of the "secret things that belong to God". This is something that we should humbly submit to God... that He knows better than us and that our finite mind will never ever fully understand the thinking mind of an infinite and most powerful God. As just God's created, I must understand that God is more powerful than me and must believe in faith that He has a good reason for doing and allowing things. In the Old Testament, there's this man, Job, whom God allowed for sufferings to come to his life. He lost all of his wealth, his children all died and he got so sick. From chapters 3 to 37, Job wanted to understand God's reasons for allowing sufferings in his life despite him being obedient to Him. He even said at one point that "he looked up, down, left, right, but couldn't find God." He wanted answers so badly but through out chapters 3 to 37, God just gave him silence. When God eventually answered him from chapters 38 to 41, God's answers were questions. God started by asking Job, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?" (Job 38:4). He went on to ask Job questions about his ability to do what God has done through His creation of the universe. The gist of God's oration of questions to Job was this, "Are you as powerful as I Am for you to demand an explanation as to why I allowed sufferings to come to your life?" We are powerless compared to God that's why we really have no right to question His actions. That makes God look sadistic, right? I would agree...until I saw how He lovingly gave His life at the cross so that man can have a way out from the punishment of the sins that he committed in his use of the free will that God gave him. God uses His power to do things as He sees it right, including giving us free will that we use to do evil that brings us to Hell. But He also exercised His will to come down from His glory and die a criminal's death so that He can show us that He has a loving heart, willing to give a second chance to the very people that chose to dishonor Him with their sins .

"Why did God give man a free will if He knew that he'll just use it to do evil which results in man going to Hell?" I'd rather stop questioning God when my limited mind cannot anyway understand God. I'd just trust that He knows what He's doing and focus on what He has allowed man to see like the love He demonstrated for sinners like you and me when He died on the cross 2,000 years ago. I would also dwell on the fact that after 3 days, He rose from the grave, because that means that I can have full confidence that He is able to give what He has promised any person who will repent of their sins and trust Him for his salvation...eternal life in Heaven.

I'll keep on praying for you. I'll pray that God would grant to you, not understanding, but faith to believe that God knows what He's doing.

Sincerely

Dennis

Reply
Muhammad
03/29/2012 10:08pm

Dear Dennis

First of all I want to thank you. Your words are sincere and your concern for me and others genuine and this is priceless. So thank you.

As I mentioned earlier, I am born muslim and have lately been troubled by these questions hence posted a question here on your forum. The last answer you gave i.e. our minds are limited and we cannot understand God, or His wisdom – this is the same answer I get from Quran. I suppose this is one of those points where Bible and Quran agree.

However, pardon me for saying this, it is not a logical answer, it is essentially a leap of faith – that requires you do not logically question / judge God.

When you mentioned the Book of Job, I was surprised, because I have recently read the first 20 or so chapters in one sitting and believe me I could relate word – for – word how Job related his feelings. I could not have expressed my questions to God better than how Job did. I think I owe it to myself and read the rest of the book.

But the end explanation, either in Quran or in the Bible, that God is above our judgment questioning or reasoning is not satisfactory.

I still think, no matter how powerful God is, He does not have the right to make another sentient being suffer – let alone create a sentient being for the purpose of suffering to fulfil His desires or plans.

I will complete the book of Job soon, and will share my thoughts here.

Thank you and bless you.

Muhammad


Reply
Ishmael link
04/01/2012 8:03am

Hi Muhammad,

Hope you don't mind me jumping into the discussion. I totally understand where you're coming from; I asked this and a host of other questions myself.

Your question was that why would God give us free will if He knew we're going to use it for evil. Try to think about this scenario first:

You have a lovely son and you're enjoying every minute of him. He's growing up as a smart intelligent kid. He's very kind to his friends and other folks except a certain group of people. He grew up to be a typical teen, smarter but not any less "annoying" than any other teen. Let's say you enjoyed being your son as he grows up to be a fine gentleman. He has illusions of grandeur but that's not exactly a bad thing.

Now here's the question, what if that son of yours grew up to be the leader of a country that wipes out a jews in the most horrible ways and other people in war? What if you knew the moment he was born than he was going to do all those horrible things to other people, would you sacrifice all those years of him growing up in your arms.

Now relating that to your question about God, is the "juice worth the squeeze"? For me, I don't think it is. Looking at the world right now and how horrible it has become, I'd rather not create man if I were God. But I'm not God. I don't have infinite knowledge and power. Maybe the juice is worth the squeeze. Or maybe He has other plans for the human race that we don't know yet. And that's the rub, we don't know… yet. At this point, I'm more than satisfied that He does. :)

I don't want to keep this post too long, but I'd like to add two more points. One being this image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Rhein_II.jpg. That's the most expensive photograph in the world priced at $4,338,500. For me, I won't pay a penny on that image (or maybe just a penny but I won't spend more than $0.99 on that thing). Now, I don't understand why anybody would spend a lot on that. Maybe he's seeing value on that image that we don't see. Maybe he has a purpose for that image that's worth more than the value he spent for it. We don't know. By the same token, why would God pay for us miserable humans with the precious blood of His Son? I don't know either. But I'm confident that He either has a purpose for us or we're seeing a value in us that we don't really see.

Last point, if we stop believing in the God of the Bible, what options do we have? We could be atheist but atheism can't account for evil. If we're all molecules in motion, killing an innocent would help in the survival of the fittest; which means evil is good. We could go to Islam but Islam instructs that Muslims kill people of other religion where they stand (Sura 2, verse 191), which includes innocent people. I'm sure you could relate to this more than anyone else. So that doesn't account for evil either. We could look at all the different religions (including atheism) but no other belief system fully accounts for evil other than Christianity. Sure there are things that we don't understand but we're not Christians because of the things that we don't believe. We're Christians because of the things that we do. :)

Hope this helps answer your questions and I pray that God would help you find answers to the rest of the questions you have in mind.


Ishmael

ps
The question of free will doesn't actually oppose the question of his omniscience (all-knowing) but his omnipotence (all-powerful) but that's a discussion for a different day. ;)




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