Jstar1 wrote:I was at a church camp once and the mentors put on a skit about god healing a cripple so that he could walk again. What about all the cripples in the world right now? where is god? God doesn't make sense for those people who have to suffer everyday.
Your first question asked how God could allow sickness and suffering.
You then went on to ask a second question and quoted Deuteronomy 13.
For most people the problem of evil is not an intellectual problem, but an emotional one. They want to know why God allows evil and suffering. When they can’t get a satisfactory answer, they become angry. They don’t like a God who would permit them or others to suffer. This anger does not mean that God does not have a reason. We are assured that He is just and that every act shall be called into account at the time of the White Throne Judgment.
In other posts I've already explained that the Plan of God (Plan A) did not include sickness and death. Adam was not supposed to sin, he was not supposed to eat that fruit. Cain and Able were actually supposed to talk it out and God encouraged Cain (who became stubborn) to do well so that his sacrifice would also be accepted. Did God enforce the rule "An eye for an eye" and kill Cain? No. In point of fact there were no commandments in place at that time.
To understand your questions it is critical to recall that man had not spent much time with his Creator and was not fully held accountable yet.
In the Christian worldview, God has done something about evil in the person of Jesus Christ. He does not just say, “Okay, I created you. Now prepare to suffer!” Instead of indifference to the suffering and death of mankind we were given His son. Though he was innocent, He voluntarily took upon Himself the punishment we deserve. And why? Because He loves us. It is like He was saying, “I know you don’t understand why I permit every evil. It’s not possible for you to understand yet. But just to show you that you can trust me, I’m going to suffer (through the person of My son) with you.” He has given us a clue, a deposit, a down payment that He does have good reasons for allowing evil and that He does have a greater good in store. By keeping the promise that he made to the seed of the woman, He showed us that we could trust Him.
Those who are children of faith are children of the promise. We believe that our time on earth is but a very short time and can not be compared to the promise of eternal life. But that isn't what was said to Moses during the time of the Exodus. After witnessing the miracles that brought them out of Egypt they (the chosen children of God) complained, "Why did you bring us out to the desert to die??? Why didn't you just let us die in comfort in Egypt???" They had not yet become truly Children of the Promise.
Jstar1, yours is the most popular argument against the existence of God and is based on the timeless question:
"If there is truly a good God, then why is there evil in the world?" Typically the argument runs as: "Since our world is full of evil and a good, all-powerful God would never allow for evil, God therefore cannot exist." Again, this argument involves more emotion (usually anger) than reason, but the question is important to consider.
As
Stress pointed out we must first consider the meaning of evil. There are two kinds of evil: moral and physical. Moral evil is willful sin, while physical evil is natural harm. Examples of moral evil are murder, adultery, fornication, theft etc. Examples of physical evil are famine, illness, natural disasters and death. Now we can see that evil is not something in itself, but a lack of something that should be present, an example would be how a lie lacks in truth. God does not create evil since it is not a thing to be created. Evil is an imperfection, a lack of something (like integrity). It could be argued that "Evil" from God would be a missing ingredient essential to our fulfillment or a void in God's creation.
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Personal note:
I took a nap at the conclusion of the last page here (page 7) and was surprised to find so many responses when I woke up. I'll ask you to pardon me as I get something to eat before I attempt to describe how difficult it was to deal with men who were called "stiff necked" and "stubborn" by their leader, Moshe (also called Moses). At the time of Deuteronomy (just before his death) he was 120 years old. The Israelites had not yet crossed over the Jordan into the Promised Land.
In order to understand the answer to the second question about how God dealt with the men He called out, we will have to cast ourselves into a place in time that can now only be imagined. When we look back at the interactions between God and man we need to recall that God wasn't dealing directly with 21st century individuals, nor was He dealing with individuals at all for that matter. When we speak of "The God of the Old Testament" the reference is by definition "Christian". The words, "Old Testament" mean old covenant, another word for 'agreement'. Basically man was offered an agreement with his Maker that included trust that God would deliver on His Promise. No agreement is binding unless it is binding on both parties. Man's side was the same as it always was, that he obey God. But now (as opposed to the time in the garden of Eden) man was saddled with knowledge of good and evil. I can not stress enough that this was not in God's perfect will. God continued to make His word, His Promise, not only to the person He was speaking to but also to the seed, the progeny of that person. The Promise was first delivered to Eve (and her seed).
Later, God chose Abram (who believed the Promises of God - that He would make him the Father of many nations, that He would lead them to a Land filled with milk and honey) and then later still chose Moses to lead those stubborn children of Abraham (oftentimes against their will) into the Promise. Indeed, Abraham has become a father of many nations. I believe that God will make a way to keep the promise he made to the seed of the woman (Eve) that was continued through the seed of Abraham. Every promise that God has made, to those of us called Muslim, to those of us called Israelite, to those of us called Gentile and yes, even to those of us called "The Nations" will be kept. How's that for an example of faith? It's true enough and I'm certain that I won't be ashamed of having said that. I have God's word on it. I also doubt that this will be found as satisfactory because by nature it is a statement of my faith. For the most part (and especially on this game forum) in my past posts I've tried with varying degrees of success to not attempt to make this my pulpit. To those who object to these posts, I can only offer my apologies but I'm fairly certain that you scrolled down and skimmed. No problem and very understandable.
Back later, gonna eat now (I grabbed a peanut butter sandwich but still hungry) - getting sleepy too. Before I post another chapter I would appreciate feedback regarding your first question. The reason that I said that I wouldn't argue with you, Jstar1 is that it appeared that my effort would be fruitless. If you are mad at God (or your dad) I won't want to interfere. It's pointless.
~Granps
BTW, Thanks
Barotix. I started to listen to the vid you posted of that guy and couldn't wade through it.
