God is good, but evil still exists, it's not solved

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God is good, but evil still exists, it's not solved

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

What happens when we die? (Confused)
Re:

Ah, science to the rescue again (Interested )
Re:

Hi Interested, what did St Peter said about time? (eom) (Seeker)
Re:

Hi Seeker (Interested )
Re:

Things Creationists Hate
Re:

Answers to Things Creationists Hate (edmund)
Re:

Theodicy (Seeker)
Re:

Problem solved, God is good! (Benjamin)
Date: 2001, May 31
From: Seeker

Hi Benjamin:
This a bit of deja-vu but I'm still very interested in exploring it. Christopher will say it's the rebel at work again, haha. Still it's a good topic to discuss. So here goes. Advance apologies if I do sound "rebellious" in my language, okay?
>>>The solution to evil will not come from man, but from God.<<<
Correct. So the fact that evil still exists means that god is either unable to solve it or unwilling to solve it, or both.
>>>But can evil exists side by side with God in the supernatural realms? The answer is then yes.<<<
Why? Why would god who is all-holy allow evil to exist side by side with him, even in the supernatural realm?
>>>But the existence of evil is not in God's being, but in His creation.<<<
So god's creation is flawed with evil? But we are suppose to be created in his image. So if we are flawed, that means the creator is flawed too. Why would a perfect creator create something that is flawed?
The comeback may well be that Adam was created perfect, but became flawed due to the exercise of free will. This merely means that there was a latent flaw in the product, waiting for the right moment to manifest itself. So Adam was not created perfect. He only seem to be perfect. Why and how can a all-powerful god make such a mistake?
>>>But it will be according to His higher ways. Our human instant solution is too simplistic for we don’t know what we are asking for.<<<
Why is our human instant solution too simplistic? Why is being simplistic no good? What is "His higher ways"? So far, it just seem to mean continued suffering.
>>>Our human solutions do not do justice to God’s character.<<<
Why? God's character is, inter-alia, all-powerful and all-loving. Surely, asking for reprieve from evil and suffering is not too much to ask from a merciful being? There is evil and suffering. Solution is to remove evil and suffering. What is wrong with this "human" solution that will not do justice to god's character?
>>>But God’s solution both satisfy His holiness and justice. God enters into human history as one of us, and paid the price of sin on the cross.<<<
"His holiness" should have prevented evil from even existing in the first place. "His justice" is mislaid because he created Adam flawed and vulnerable in the first place (see earlier point). He allowed satan to live and he deliberately allowed him into the garden to tempt Eve into sin. And now he wants us to pay for the price of this sin. Doesn't sound very just to me.
>>>He who is both God and man is the solution. So physical death (consequence of sin) becomes the avenue by which eternal life comes.<<<
I can understand physical death. Actually, so do the many who kill themselves to escape this life. Surely, this can't be the solution? The solution is to rid this world of evil and suffering, something an all-powerful and all-loving god can EASILY accomplish. Having to come down to earth in human form, preaching, dying, then resurrecting (which are all simple things for an all-powerful being) just seems a convoluted and ineffective solution.
>>>It takes the death of an infinite God-man to pay for the sins of the whole world.<<<
This is the strange thing. It seems like a clumsy and not very brilliant solution when all it takes is just a simple "wave of the hand", "snap of the fingers", "twitch of the nose", "nod of the head" from the almighty.
>>>So to answer the question, God HAS ALREADY DEALT with the problem of evil on Calvary 2000 years back.<<<
Can't be. Evil and suffering still exist.
>>>But that’s not all, He WILL REMOVE the person, not just the problem, of evil when the end comes.<<<
And meanwhile, for 6000 (according to YEC) years or so, AND still counting, mankind (actually billions of people) has to endure the terrible pangs of evil and suffering. Doesn't make sense.
>>>A loving God gave man the freedom to love Him back in a reciprocal relationship. Man abused that freedom to disobey God, bringing upon Himself the consequences of disobedience.<<<
I put a jar of candy in a room with a child, telling him specifically not to eat it. Then I put a trickster who hates me in the same room with this child. It doesn't take a lot to foresee what is going to happen.
So, maybe we can say, it's the child's fault. He disobeyed my clear, specific instruction not to eat the candy. Alright, even so, surely I must share part of the blame for knowingly and deliberately exposing him to such a scenario in the first place.
>>>That’s retribution, what a man sows he reaps.<<<
Requiring punishment and retribution is not the trait of an all-loving and all-merciful god.
>>>God has never deserted man, it is man who refuse to come to Him for eternal life.<<<
God deserted man when he allowed satan to tempt Eve. Where was he when satan was sweet-talking Eve? I can't imagine anyone refusing eternal life. Surely, if people can spend time, effort, money and risk silicon implants to stay young, reaching out to god is a far simpler solution, IF he exists. Problem is, in line with our other discussion on scientific evidence, there is no evidence that he exists. So you can't blame people for refusing to come to him. He just doesn't seem to be there.
Regards.