God is the creator of everything, I.e Good or evil, read Isaiah 45:7 in the King James Version reads, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”
Perhaps a further illustration will help. If a person is asked, “Does cold exist?” the answer would likely be “yes.” However, this is incorrect. Cold does not exist. Cold is the absence of heat. Similarly, darkness does not exist; it is the absence of light. Evil is the absence of good, or better, evil is the absence of God. God did not have to create evil, but rather only allow for the absence of good.
Evil is not a created thing. the KJV was produced using a limited number of medieval manuscripts that did not represent the earliest Alexandrian set of manuscripts.
Dekatron: please when talking about philosophy, please dnt quote the bible.
Its only those that believe in it that need to be quoted for.
I wl also quote THE ART OF WAR on your Christian thread. Sounds cool?
this is religion section, is the word of God tormenting you? The op mention christian, if you don't want me to quote the bible, don't mention christian or Jesus christ.
So he instilled these attribute in us knowing fully well that some will choose the wrong path? Meaning he doesn't want all to be saved... Such an illogical and nonsensical mode of operation Don't you think?
since God created All things and Called it Good , the natural choice of man action in the garden happened by his own WILL, although God Allow evil to exist for man to be able to chose to love or hate God, true worship or love required trial. In acts chapter 7, evil was to enable man to witness the power of truth. In fact , in 1 Pet. 4:13 it say , when you replace evil with Glory, its gives you greater JOY.
In first Timothy 2:4. who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
God say he want ALL people to be save and come to the knowledge of truth.
lexiconkabir: God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the SON OF MAN, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Rilwon: Theists tend to believe that God is perfect and without flaw, and this is a belief that many Christians share. The New Testament expresses this belief, it mentions:
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” – Matthew 5:48.
It should be noted that this verse specifies that only one person of the three persons of the Trinity is perfect. I found this to be odd. Why doesn’t the verse say, “as the Son, Holy Spirit and Father are perfect?” Why does the verse only declare the Father to be perfect? Does this mean that the Son, is imperfect? As it turns out, it does mean that. The Bible explicitly teaches that the Son, who is a God, is imperfect and had to be made perfect, God had to become perfect. That’s quite a strange idea. How can God be flawed? When we read Hebrews 5:8-9 , this is exactly what it teaches. The passages say:
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
There are quite a few things we learn from this passage. * God the Son, had to learn to be obedient and was thus disobedient at first. * God the Son, was imperfect and had to become perfect. * God the Son, could not grant salvation until He became perfect.
We should take note, that the passage begins with “Son though he was”, therefore qualifying that despite he is a God, these things happened. The author specifically uses this phrase to denote that the deity is being referred to, and that it is the deity of the Son which had to learn and become perfect. What is problematic is that according to the Trinitarian dogma,each person in the Godhead is co-equal. Therefore, if the Father is perfect, then the Son should be perfect too.
However, as we have just learned, this is not the case. The New Testament explicitly states that the Son was imperfect, had to be made perfect, had to suffer and only when he suffered, then he was able to grant salvation. The New Testament teaches that God could not grant salvation of His own will, because He was flawed and imperfect..
let me add this. Luke 6:36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Does this mean Jesus is not merciful ? Were are the evidence that Jesus is not perfect or merciful in the bible ?
Let us read from verse 43 to 48. Matthew 5:43-48 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Jesus clarified that the commandment that say we are to Love those who love us and hate those who hate us is not a big deal, even the pagan do the same , then he went on to teach the people on how to attained perfection :
" THEREFORE YOU are to be perfect AS your heavenly Father is perfect."
So the flow of the paragraph could be summarized as follows:
You have heard "love with partiality" but I say to you "love impartially" so you can be sons of the Father; for the Father loves impartially. If you love with partiality,you are nothing special... even the wicked do that.Therefore, you are to love perfectly as the Father loves perfectly.
Note: Jesus is teaching in matthew 5, you cannot teach what you don't have.
God decrees times of good things and times of judgment. God bring calamity either directly or through human authority: Gen. 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good”
Op, are you a christian? Concerning evil befalling christians, Paul explained it : Romans 8:28 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Apostle Paul,who underwent much more suffering than most of us, even says that: “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” ( 2 Cor. 4:17). The bible say "a refining by fire"
If Joseph is to complain to God bitterly the first day his brothers beat him and sold him into slavery, he would not have held such position in Egypt.
My points is. The very transcendence of God plays a significant role in biblical responses to the problem of evil. Because God is who he is, the covenant Lord, he is not required to defend himself against charges of injustice. He is the judge, not we. Very often in Scripture,when something happens that calls God’s goodness in question, God pointedly refrains from explaining. Indeed, he often rebukes those human beings who question him.Job demanded an interview with God, so that he could ask God the reasons for his sufferings (job 23:1-7). But when he met God, God asked the questions: “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me”(job38:3).The questions mostly revealed Job’s ignorance about God’s creation: if Job doesn’t understand the ways of the animals, how can he presume to call God’s motives in question? He doesn’t even understand earthly things; how can he presume to debate heavenly things? God is not subject to the ignorant evaluations of his creatures.
Moral evil exists because humans are free to do either good or bad, it's just that simple. Why does God allow this? God instills in each of Us the ability to know right from wrong,as divine creator, that is more than enough since, as sentient and free beings it falls on US to choose, not God to dictate.
God also instills on us the ability to TEACH and UNDERSTAND right and wrong so that none have any excuse ( other than the mentally ill of course). Moral evil exists because WE choose for it to exist ( we choose by doing what we know to be wrong AND by choosing to be apart from God).
Here are few verses where Allah sworn with what he supposed to create and inanimate objects. I swear by the Book that makes manifest (the truth). Surah 44:2 . I swear by the glorious Quran (that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah) Surah 50:1 I swear by the wind that scatters far and wide, surah 51:1 I swear by the heaven full of ways. Surah51:7 I swear by the Mountain, Surah 52:1 I swear by the star when it goes down. Surah 53:1 But nay! I swear by the falling of stars; Surah 56:75 Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write, Surah 68:1 But nay! I swear by that which you see, Surah 69:38
lexiconkabir: malvisguy212 you are busted, see what Q37:161-162 says, totally different from what you copied and pasted, i have told you to desist from copying and pasting blindly, so as not to be embarrassed, but you wont listen, see your life? didnt God swear by himself in the bible?
lexiconkabir: the first verse you quoted is telling muhammad to say! click http://quran.com/6/114 to see the original verse, the second verse Allah is swearing by himself since there is none higher than him, God did swear by himself too in the bible check hebrews6:12-14, genesis22:15-17, jeremiah22:4-5 and so on.
you fail woefully. Hebrew 6:13-14 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because HE COULD SWEAR BY NO ONE GREATER , HE SWORE BY HIMSELF,14 saying,“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”[ a]
Genesis 22:15-17 15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I SWARE BY MYSELF, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
But the quranic verses I provide say ,Allah pray by the Lord of the east , here is another one:
Who did Allah hymn praises to?
Lo! verily, ye and that which ye worship, Ye cannot excite (anyone) against Him. Save him who is to burn in hell. There is not one of US but hath his known position. Lo! WE, even WE are THEY who set the ranks, Lo! WE, even WE are THEY who hymn HIS PRAISE S. 37:161-166 Pickthall
Are you confuse ?who are the "WE" and the "THEY" in this verse ? It is the "WE" who hymn praised to God, surly this God is greater than Allah. Unless you want to tell me ,the quran is not 100% Allah word and angel Gabriel use plurality to adress himself.
hahn: And since Christ came the world has grown worse and is obviously not yet saved. I don't need to read a story book to know that the world is messed up. Your religion only teaches you to ignore what goes on on earth because you are going to HEAVEN. To quote a friend, if there was a perfect go who could create paradise for his creation, he would have done it already.
you guys claimed to be a christian before you convert to atheist, but reading your post make me wonder ,if you're really a former christian before abandoned the faith. All the days of your christian life is a wast if you did not know the purpose of Jesus coming to this world, do you think Jesus came to bring peace ? Have you not read in the bible, that we are to make peace with God ? And not the world because the world will NEVER receive us ? The bible say in john 16:33:
"I have told you all this so that you may have PEACE IN ME . Here on earth you will have MANY trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."
I remember a man who gave his life to christ ,he ask me for advice and he was expecting sweet talk but instead I cast terror and fear in him , I say ,prepared for sorrow and trial including pain. Some months leter, I pay him a visit, beholds the brother still kept the faith, I say to him " Weldon bro , God don't look for quantity (crowd) God look for people with quality and Genuine faith(few) "
CaptainJune: Do not bother yourself trying to reach a mind under bolt and lock. They think that God's goodness should completely override His sense of justice and vengeance. How deluded. They expect God to turn a blind eye to the injustice and wickedness of men to their fellow men simply because He is a good God. People can be so wanting in their thought process.
According to their intelligent thinking, a good God should bless unrepentant murderers for taking the lives of many in cold blood, He should protect those who trample on the poor and needy through their position in the society or rank in the military, He should smile on rapists, arsonists, wife beaters, home breakers, sorcerers, idol worshipers, evil schemers and plotters, just because He is a good God. There should be no retribution or punishment of crime and evil because God is a good God.
Malvisguy212, don't waste your time giving any answer to people who don't even understand the question they ask. A bloody waste of time I tell you.
thank you very much for this wonderful post. God bless you.
Nd this isn't about evil, but contradiction and confusion.
Bible said Jehova is merciful to all, yet associated him with brutality... Jehova must be suffering from cognitive dissonance
if your father is not merciful to All, is he a bad man for protecting you against those who wanted to kill you ?
The book of Jeremiah is a warning. Against isreal (God own people) doesent this mean that God love required justice ? There is NO place in the bible , God sanctioned killing without warning , if God is not merciful to thoes He destroyed, NO need for 'the' warning. Am I right ?
A person said to be merciful to all cannot be brutal to anyone
actually, Jeremiah 13 was a warning against isreal, infacte , if you read the context, is a parable. Your father is merciful, if he punished those who seek to killed you , will you called him evil ?
macof: PSA 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
JER 13:14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons against each other, said the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
So is Jehova merciful or brutal. .. one cannot be both
two different context, Jeremiah 13 was 'a' warning against isreal and psalm 149 was talking about Love for All , yes God love everyone and that love required justice. Just like the world interceded and destroyed Nazi Germany to protect the people of the world from violence, God did likewise. God destroyed the land in the time of Noah because of the violence it was filled with (Genesis 6:13). God destroyed Sodom and Gomorra because of the violence that it was filled with (Genesis 13:13), and the fact that there was not one righteous man living there (Genesis 18:16-25).
lexiconkabir: let me start with: Arabic is a very rich language and as such one word could mean many things, it now depends on the context you are using it. the word translated to PRAYER by the site you copied and pasted from is "solat", in arabic solat from Allah means sending His Blessing and Mercies to His servants, solat from angels means supplication interceding for we mankind and solat from mankind means prayers to Allah. click here and you will see numerous translations of that verse, none of it says Allah prays, yusaf ali translation is there too(guess you like him )
Surah 6:114 What, shall I seek after any JUDGE BUT GOD? For it is He who sent down to you the Book well-distinguished; and those whom WE have given the Book know it is sent down from THY LORD with the truth; so be not thou of the doubters. Surah 70:38-41 What, is every man of them eager to be admitted to a Garden of Bliss? Not so; for WE have created them of what they know. No! I SWEAR BY THE LORD OF THE EAST AND WEST, surely We are able to substitute a better than they; We shall not be outstripped. .
Allah swears by the Lord of the easts and wests, says that he will seek no other judge besides God and that he gave the book that Muhammad’s Lord sent down!
Krystalzkris: we were all born atheists until our parents and society fed us with crap... If u think there is a god who has predestined everything then why do u look twice before crossing the road?
Preciousgirl: Please, for sometime now,
Anytime i pray, i feel drops of water sprinkled on me
yeah
Like someone dropping tiny droplets of water on me when i pray
Please what is the significance of this?
Only mature responses please
CAN THE BIBLE BE A TRUE WORD OF GOD CAN THE GOD MAKE ALL THESE SENSELESS MISTAKES FOUND IN YOUR BIBLE
You're simply a senseless hypocrite When arguments like this comes up, you foóls always result in telling us the bullshıts of OLD TESTAMENT bla bla bla -Is old testament not part of the Bible? - Why must God's law change? -Was your "god" ignorant when he was making those laws? -Was he/she confused then? - Why are Israelites the center of your god's attention? - If God was truly angry with human, does it make sense that a blood sacrifice be made for God to forgive, - Why should God derive pleasure in allowing his 'only begotten son" to be slaughtered by us that he was angry with for him to be happy with us? WHAT A SENSELESS THEORY BY A DRUNKĄRD FOÓL. - What laws did your god give other nations as at the time your bible was given? THE SAME BIBLE YOU TOLD US IS THE BOOK OF GOD MADE SOME HEROIC SILLY ERRORS YOUR BIBLE TOLD US THAT >THE EARTH WAS FLAT > THE EARTH IS THE CENTER OF UNIVERSE > THE SUN AND THE MOON AND LIGHTS > THE SUN AND THE MOON ROTATES ROUND THE EARTH > RABBIT IS A RUMINANT ANIMAL AND MANY OTHER SILLY MISTAKES. This got sensible people thinking; If the "god" in the Bible is the Almighty, all-knowing and omnipresent, HOW CAN HE/ SHE STILL MAKE SUCH SILLY MISTAKES #Old testament Yet your money making thieving pastors still uses old testament to rob you foóls (tithe) What an irony. One thing I know for sure, the bible was written by men in their own inspiration and not God's. In order to bring about laws. You foóls are just wasting your time.
People do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them!
Demmzy15: Angel Gabriel is always speaking by the command of Allah, he is a messenger who heard and transmitted it to the Prophet Muhammad, he didn't compose it!
Another baseless assertion:
" ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “When Allah speaks via revelation, the people of heaven hear from heaven a clanging like a chain dragged across a rock and they swoon, then they remain like that until Jibreel (peace be upon him) comes to them. When he comes to them, they recover and say: O Jibril, what did your Lord say? He says: The truth, and they say: The truth, the truth.”
[Abu Dawood]
Angel Gabriel/Jibril didn't formulate the Qur'an, he was a messenger who passed it to Prophet Muhammad after hearing from Allah.
That's your opinion and it holds no ground!
I've gone through the chapters of the whole Qur'an something you never did and I found nothing as such. Everything is the word of Allah through Angel Gabriel/Jibril!
Surah 33:56 Verily, GOD AND HIS ANGELS PRAY (yusalloona) FOR THE PROPHET the prophet. O ye who believe! pray for him (salloo)and salute him with a salutation!
The following is supposed to be a prayer of Allah taken from Ibn Hisham’s Al-Sirah Al-Halabiyya: ﻗﻠﺖ ﻳﺎ ﺟﺒﺮﻳﻞ ﺃﻳﺼﻠﻰ ﺭﺑﻚ ﻗﺎﻝ ﻧﻌﻢ ﻗﻠﺖ ﻭﻣﺎ ﻳﻘﻮﻝ ﻗﺎﻝ ﻳﻘﻮﻝ ﺳﺒﻮﺡ ﻗﺪﻭﺱ ﺭﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﻼﺋﻜﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺮﻭﺡ ﺳﺒﻘﺖ ﺭﺣﻤﺘﻰ ﻏﻀﺒﻰ I [Muhammad] said, “O Gabriel, does your Lord pray?” He said, “YES.” I said, “What does he say?” “This is what he says. He says: ‘GLORY, HOLY, LORD OF THE ANGELS AND THE SPIRIT . My mercy overcomes my wrath.’”
This same video has been in circulation on youtube since as far back as 2011. The claim that it happened in Kaduna or Kenya is as fraudulent as the claim that it was Mary or Martha.
Shalom
I don't know about All this video you upload, but I tell you bro, she did appear, infacte when the little girl was narrating the incident, people were doubting, then Mary appear for All to see again.
johnydon22: Woow bro you mean you didn't learn anything from it, at least a name... if you learnt even a word from it, that is something and it will be wrong to say it didnt add anything because it did.
But if it didnt add anything to you sorry my bad. . .