Author:
Wade A. Tisthammer
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Date Posted: 06/26/02 12:01pm
In reply to:
Damoclese
's message, "Rose tinted glasses" on 06/25/02 9:47am
>>Yahweh might not exist, but if the Biblical God exists
>>I doubt he is that malicious when one takes into
>>account all the Biblical data and assume that
>>it is correct (that God really did destroy cities,
>>give commandments of not stealing, loving one another,
>>etc.), often because the Bible offers reasons for
>>God’s otherwise dubious actions (e.g. destroying a
>>city because it is filled with evil) and the Bible
>>states explicitly that he is not sadistic and does not
>>take pleasure in punishing sinners (he would much
>>rather have them turn from their ways and live, see
>>Ezekiel).
>You say he was basically good, and that he wants
>everyone to turn from their wicked ways. Of course,
>God had to know long before he made humans that they
>would be wicked.
I’m only going to deal with this section of the text because it’s the only real evidential argument put forth. The question, “Why did God create us if He knew we were going to misuse our free will?” is a good one to bring up. Very briefly, my answer is, “why not?” Is it better to never give humanity a chance to use its free will to begin with? It’s not clear that it’s better off for us to have never existed. Yes, there is hatred, cruelty, and neglect, but there is also caring, friendship, and love. Maybe it’s better that God created us than to not have created us. Although the existence of evil isn’t a direct consequence of free will, the possibility of it is. I still believe that it’s better to give humanity a chance to use its free will correctly. To me, it doesn’t seem fair to kill a person (whether it’s preventing them from being born or whatever) who has yet to do anything wrong and in fact was never given a chance to do otherwise. I might also suggest Ben’s idea of God not being able to know the future, in which case your objection would also appear unsound.
One might object in not stopping evil at the precise moment when people decide to misuse their free will. This way, people would be given a fair chance and also be justly stopped in this manner. Another good point to bring up, but this is another matter called the problem of evil. We have already discussed this issue several times Damoclese, and I see no point in doing it again. Perhaps you should consult other resources like this web page or, for those who have not seen my point of view, my web page on the matter.
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