^^^ the debate can go on forever . (and i don't mean literally)

For me, I have long abandoned the quest to discover why Evil Exists and simply accepted the Lazy-man's deduction and to quote Sherlock Holmes

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

Evil is compatible with Good thus God is the source of Pure Evil and Pure Good.

1: Since we agree that Evil exists before Creation, we cannot suppose it existed before God (otherwise God will not exist to start with)
2: Since creation, Man has always had Free-will (even before the Fall at Eden) so the debacle from Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was simply an exercise in KNOWING the consequence of Free-will. I ask then, Why give us Free-will and continue to intervene (Divine Intervention) in decidedly everything Good and stay your hand when it comes to Evil, Why not make sure Evil does not prosper at all? (His Mysterious ways are surely a wonder to ponder)
3: Evil will still exist in the New Heaven IMHO - If Man is created higher than the Angels, would it not make us less human and more robots to do away with PAIN, (Emotional and Physical hurt) SADNESS (Sorrow from the knowledge that a loved one did not make it to Heaven).

The last time I posed my dilemma to a very tolerable Muslim scholar, he simply surmised his answer thus
You cannot know what is on God's mind just like a Child cannot understand why his Father lets him touch fire knowing full-well that it will cause him pain. At the time of Judgment we shall all understand truly why God does what he does

How does the sacrifice of Christ combat evil? That is the question. What is the relevance of that sacrifice to the question of evil.

lagerwhenindoubt:

^^^ the debate can go on forever . (and i don't mean literally)

For me, I have long abandoned the quest to discover why Evil Exists and simply accepted the Lazy-man's deduction and to quote Sherlock Holmes
Evil is compatible with Good thus God is the source of Pure Evil and Pure Good.

This would imply either a bipolar entity or two Gods rather than one. But, how can an entity be considered the origin of pure evil and pure good? Would you not consider these properties mutually exclusive?

lagerwhenindoubt:

1: Since we agree that Evil exists before Creation, we cannot suppose it existed before God (otherwise God will not exist to start with)
2: Since creation, Man has always had Free-will (even before the Fall at Eden) so the debacle from Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was simply an exercise in KNOWING the consequence of Free-will. I ask then, Why give us Free-will and continue to intervene (Divine Intervention) in decidedly everything Good and stay your hand when it comes to Evil, Why not make sure Evil does not prosper at all? (His Mysterious ways are surely a wonder to ponder)
3: Evil will still exist in the New Heaven IMHO - If Man is created higher than the Angels, would it not make us less human and more robots to do away with PAIN, (Emotional and Physical hurt) SADNESS (Sorrow from the knowledge that a loved one did not make it to Heaven).

The last time I posed my dilemma to a very tolerable Muslim scholar, he simply surmised his answer thus
You cannot know what is on God's mind just like a Child cannot understand why his Father lets him touch fire knowing full-well that it will cause him pain. At the time of Judgment we shall all understand truly why God does what he does

Such an answer to such an important question is not quite satisfactory because, this implies that no-one knows what God wants so one is free to do whatever they wish. And will find out what God really wants at the time of judgement.