I have been pondering over this for a while now and just  can't figure anything out. Please can someone give this a thought and say what he/she feels about it;

                                        "How can an all-loving, all powerful God allow evil in the world?"

Don't you think you'll be a better earth citizen if you spend more time thinking of how to do good than this venture into a matter that you or I have no apparent answer for?

edygirl:

I have been pondering over this for a while now and just can't figure anything out. Please can someone give this a thought and say what he/she feels about it;

"How can an all-loving, all powerful God allow evil in the world?"

I'm not the most religious person around, but I think The Almighty allows evil in the world to test our faith in Him. This may not be the answer you looking for, but I hope it helped.

BTW we missed you, hope you OK my sister.

Your question is similar to Seun's reasons in his thread : 'Why I am no more a Christian'
Answers abound. Perhaps you can read my post therein and wonder no more.

Be cool

Zulu, I am fine. Just been busy .

Feelgood,
              sorry, it is no way similar to seun's whatever and since it doesn't look like his I am sorry again that I can't go read whatever you have posted there.

"How can an all-loving, all powerful God allow evil in the world?"

When you truly understand this, you will apologize to God for all the evil things that have ever happenned to you.

Yes, you heard me correctly.

You need to ask God's forgiveness for the bad things that have happenned to you.

God does not afflict man willingly.

Here is a biblical principle though:

You will cry out to God when you are in trouble.

Same principle Jesus shows when he tells the parable of the prodigal son.

You should be apologizing to God when bad stuff happens to you.

Just as the prodigal son wanted to go home and apologize to his father, even though he had just been put through an ordeal.

Maybe God is not as all powerful and all loving as we mortals think.

edygirl:

I have been pondering over this for a while now and just can't figure anything out. Please can someone give this a thought and say what he/she feels about it;

"How can an all-loving, all powerful God allow evil in the world?"

Maybe there is no 'god'.

SO far the the answers that I have got to my question have been ;

           To try our faith by Zulu and Maybe there is no God by Exu and also that of jagunlabi but guys please, I need more postive thoughts on this.

           Thanks guys for your input as I am still waiting for more input

            And Drusilla, I respect  your thought but sorry everybody has gotten one problem or the other so forget it, I am not blaming God. that wasn't waht the question was neither am I asking why. Who knows I might be a fatalist. And how can you be the master of what you don't know. Who told you I don't pray to my God nor put my problems in his care?. I am not an atheist and will never be and can't even keep friends that are.

People stick to the question please.

The issue is we misunderstand this entity called God.
It is not within the powers of our faculties to understand him.
He is neither good nor bad (the way we understand it)
Why would a father inflict sorrow on his son just to proove his almighty, omniscient and omnipotent nature.

Let me try some.

I think God allows evil to prove his Omnipotent and Omniscient nature, and also the prevailing of good over evil in the end. I also think He allows it, so we can make the right choices we were created for. We were created for good. Evil is a negate of good. Note, making choices says something about our freewill. I guess He also allows it so we can exercise our freewill and not just be robots.

Just a lil' sumthin'.

edygirl,

I apologize. My words made it seem as if I was speaking directly to you. I meant to generalize it.

I should be clearer: God claims to be all powerful and God claims to be the one who created Evil.

Which of course is completely logical.

The all loving part could be just for God's children or for all. Christians have debated that for centuries. So I will not deal with when someone feels God is not being all loving.

edygirl:

"How can an all-loving, all powerful God allow evil in the world?"

Exact question Seun asked.

dude, o da bin pe o ti mu sepe yo abi?

I've never lived in Nigeria, and don't speak any Nigerian languages so you're going to have to tell me in English what that means.

Apologies.

Translation: < it seems u've drank a truckload of booze (locally made gin) , eh?>

Ok.

What did I say to offend you so much as to make a comment like that?

Also, why not deal with the issue I brought up?

I must confess that I didn't become an atheist by asking "why does God allow evil in the world". My initial question was, "why did God allow evil in my world". Only then could I really notice the evil in the rest of the world.

Seun,

ummm, i believe i answered that in my previous posts and some. Just look it up.

exu,

my bad. Just that that comment arose from comments ya made across the board. pele, so ti gbo? gbade's translation <me's sorry, y'heard?>

gbade. x:

I think God allows evil to prove his Omnipotent and Omniscient nature, and also the prevailing of good over evil in the end. I also think He allows it, so we can make the right choices we were created for. We were created for good. Evil is a negate of good. Note, making choices says something about our freewill. I guess He also allows it so we can exercise our freewill and not just be robots.

Our freewill is not absolute. For example God has not given us the ability to do things that are contrary to the laws of nature at will. God has not given us the ability to fly like an eagle. So why did God give us the ability to do evil? Why didn't he give us a form of free will that does not lead to evil behaviour? Because he likes evil or does not exist.

But that does not cover all the evil in the world. What about natural disasters? Why does he allow them to happen if he doesn't enjoy to see human being suffering? Are earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes really necessary?

About natural disasters, i don't know. But at the same time that does not mean there's no solution/answer to that question. But i think they are signs of the end-times coming.

About freewill not being absolute. The choices we make begin from the mind and are confined to the mind. The consequences of those choices. thereafter are the physical manifestations of those choices. So freewill is in the mind, so to speak.

"God has not given us the ability to fly like an eagle."

- we don't have the ability simply because we don't have the physical features neccesary for that ability e.g. , streamlined shape of the body, light-weight body e.t.c. Every living thing on this earth is unique in its physical composition and is designed specifically for a function. We don't have the ability to fly like birds, just the same way we don't have gills like fish. Everything's designed for a purpose.

" So why did God give us the ability to do evil?"

- He didn't give us the ability to do evil, rather he gave us the ability to choose between good and evil: freewill. Like i once said, freewill starts from the mind. So if a man chooses to do evil, the thought process begins from his mind. There's a portion of the Bible that says, " As a man thinketh, so shall he doeth."

"Why didn't God give us a form of freewill that does not lead to evil?"

- then it'd no longer be freewill. Freewill depicts the fact that we have to choose between 2 things: good and evil. Like i once said, evil is a negate of good and vice-versa. So in essence, we are merely robots, if we were given " a form of freewill that does not lead to evil".

I do not believe humans have freewill. God already knows who'll become a pastor, and who'll become an armed robber. Whatever man does will not change him from being what God 'programmed' him to be. Either this, or God is not omniscient.

Goodguy,

I agree. 100 percent.

There is no such thing as: Freewill for humans.

There is only slavery to "sinful human nature".

Christians however when given the Holy Spirit are set free from their sinful human nature and given the ability to choose.

Why has God made us slaves to our sinful human nature if he does not want us to sin?

@Seun
Maybe he does not exist

4 Play:

@Seun
Maybe he does not exist

No! He exists! God exists.

@4play,

"maybe He doesn't exist."

- saying "maybe" bespeaks a possibility. In other words, if you suggest the possibility that God doesn't exist, then be ready to accomodate the possibility that God exists. 2 sides to a coin, one event. High school maths.

@ goodguy and Drusilla,

i believe God's Omniscience and man's freewill go hand in hand, yet run parallel. What do i mean by this? God knows what we'd "become" but possibilities arise, depending on the choice we make and the consequences thereafter. In making those choices, God doesn't interfere and this is where our freewill comes in. E.g : an 8 year old boy turns armed robber, years to come. Between those years, He has the choice to make.

Seun,

"Why has God made us slaves to our sinful nature, if he does not want us to sin?"

- God has/did not make us slaves to our sinful nature, rather we are the architects of our own misfortune. If you should read about The fall of Adam, and the temptation in the Garden of Eden, you'd see that both adam and eve had the choice to obey God, but they chose to disobey Him. Thus our sinful nature is the consequence of that choice adam and eve made.

gbade. x:

@ goodguy and Drusilla,

God knows what we'd "become" but possibilities arise, depending on the choice we make and the consequences thereafter. In making those choices, God doesn't interfere and this is where our freewill comes in.

In other words, even if those choices will harm other people, or even ourself, God doesn't just care, and can easily blame that on the "freewill" he gave us after the deed must have been done? Is that what you're saying?

gbade. x:

E.g : an 8 year old boy turns armed robber, years to come. Between those years, He has the choice to make.

I do not believe God will give anybody the freewill to choose to become what will eventually cause harm to other humans. Or are you impyling that he's not a good God?

Goodguy is gradually becoming an atheist. All you need now is a major calamity to push you over the edge.

Actually he's not. He's just like every Christian (me including) who seek knowledge about our God and his relationship to us.