It is natural to ask, especially at times of pain or suffering in our own lives: "If there is a good God, why does he allow so much pain and suffering?"
Other people are more aggressive in their approach. They say that the Bible itself proves that God is evil, according to any standard of human decency. But see below.
A useful dialogue to read on this subject. Click here to read. I begin to address some of the theological issues in my teaching for new believers. Click here to check it out. Also read here.
This section is still very much under construction. Books could be written on this important subject.
There are many sides to the problem. Firstly, God was not interested in making robots. He gave Adam and Eve the choice between the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their bad choice corrupted them and their offspring after them - since children come from their parents. Most of the bad things that happen are the result of bad decisions of people, and ignorance of natural or spiritual reality, which has allowed Satan and his demons a legal right to get involved in making trouble and suffering for us all.
God made Lucifer a good angel, but with the power to change himself through pride into the one we now know as Satan. The destiny of everyone is determined by rejecting certain possibilities we could embrace and embracing others we could reject. Lucifer corrupted himself and became Satan. This does not imply at all that God is the author of evil.
Some say that the Bible never teaches that mankind has in any sense a free will. This just isn't true. Moses said as a prophet of the Lord to the people of Israel: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Joshua, who also spoke in the name of the Lord, said to the people after they had conquered the peoples of the land (who incidentally had been totally given over to satanic practices of the worst kind by that time), "Choose this day whom you will serve." (Joshua 24:15). These two passages alone imply that God considers that we have the real ability to make choices.
Besides all this, experientially we all know that we can make choices about many things. Christians do not by any means have to be determinists - though we do believe that God has decided to do some things no matter what we do. For example, Jesus will come back eventually. This will happen when the gospel reaches all people.
People can make good choices and bad choices. Bad choices lead to suffering and ultimately to ruin, while good choices lead ultimately to life and better results, though there may be some suffering along the way. We cannot blame God for the bad choices we and others make. We should thank Him that so many times He intervenes to protect us from evil. We should also be thankful that He trusts us enough to allow us to make significant and real choices. However, with this trust comes an awesome responsibility.
Is the God of the Bible Immoral?
Some people attack the God of the Bible on the grounds that He ordered the Israelites to wipe out entire nations of people upon entering the Promised Land. They feel that such a God is not worthy of our respect at all. Many bitter and blasphemous things have been expressed on this subject. But there are certain things that need to be taken into account here.
1. God is the giver of life. Does He owe anybody anything?
2. Since God is the Creator, He also has the right to be Judge over
all. Who are you to say that God has no right to judge His creatures?
You may argue that God does not exist, but that is a different issue. Surely
if God has created, He also has the right to judge! We entrust certain
men in society who are far from perfect the right to
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