Evil in Scripture?

[Deacon_Joseph]

Why does God allow evil in the world? I have used the argument about free will, and from that free will some people make evil in the world. I have even heard that tragedies occur so we as a community can learn to help our neighbor. Which goes back to Genesis when Cain asked of God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And the answer is yes, we are our brother’s keeper. But some non-believers won’t buy those responses. Does anyone have another response to this difficult question? Does anyone know where in Scripture?

 

[thistle]

Why does God allow evil in the world? I have used the argument about free will, and from that free will some people make evil in the world. I have even heard that tragedies occur so we as a community can learn to help our neighbor. Which goes back to Genesis when Cain asked of God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And the answer is yes, we are our brother’s keeper. But some non-believers won’t buy those responses. Does anyone have another response to this difficult question? Does anyone know where in Scripture?

I recommend a good book called Why Does God Permit Evil by Dom Bruno Webb.

 

[Mels]

St. Augustine addresses the issue somewhat in his Confessions. The gist of it is that we ourselves - Man - are the cause of evil. Yet for the innocent to suffer, God has other reasons - to bring about a greater good. Perhaps we don’t need to know as much as we need to just have faith that God is trustworthy. If we believe that God is good, then evil will never come from God; it will always come from things that are not God; we know that He is omnipotent, so it is not by weakness that evil exists.

All I know is the foolishness of God is wiser than human folly, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

 

[Steven_John]

I am not the brightest crayon in the box and cant see the connection between the topic of the thread and the post.

I guess the argument of free will you have made is of pure love.

God wants to love me and does.

Without free will i cant want to love him.

Love is of desire not compulsion.

Non believers don’t need to buy it they need to feel the experience of their own life.

Asking questions is better than making statements, questions invoke thinking, statements invoke reactions.

Jesus (pbwh) used parables to invoke people to think.

May i ask are you really a Deacon?

 

[NHInsider]

Well obviously “the problem of evil” is one of those upper-case “M” Mysteries that we’re never going to completely get our brains around until we can ask Him directly! And I don’t believe there are any “perfectly to the point” Scripture verses (if there were, it wouldn’t be a perpetual subject of inquiry). The one that comes closest is Paul’s “all creation groans” observation (Romans 8:22) but that’s more of a “what” than a “why”.

But - I do think that it has to do with the fullness of the relationship that God wants to have with us, which is only possible if it exists in the context of a choice. If the beloved does not choose to return love, is the relationship really one of love?

If God had created life without the possibility of rejection, He would have been left with the cosmic equivalent of a fantastic model-railroad world. He could have filled it with all manner of wonderful features and creatures, and all of them would have acted in accordance with His will at all times - but they would never have been able to love Him. And love is what He desires.

So yes, it’s about free will - He made us in His image, to live in love with Him, and we chose (and continue to choose, sadly) to reject His love and go off on our own paths.

I don’t know if that’s helpful at all?

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I think that Jesus addresses this in the parable of the tares [Matthew 30:24-30]

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants * of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants * said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

 

[diggerdomer]

why does god allow evil in the world? I have used the argument about free will, and from that free will some people make evil in the world. I have even heard that tragedies occur so we as a community can learn to help our neighbor. Which goes back to genesis when cain asked of god, “am i my brother’s keeper?” and the answer is yes, we are our brother’s keeper. But some non-believers won’t buy those responses. Does anyone have another response to this difficult question? Does anyone know where in scripture?

ccc 309

 

[Fidelis]

Well, there are no easy answers to this whopper-stopper of all questions, and ultimately there probably no definitive, completely satisfying answers. That doesn’t mean that suffering is without any purpose – it just means that we need to trust God while seeking as deep an understanding as we can. One of the great thing about being Catholic is that at least the Church has some type of answer that at least attempts to make some sense out of suffering. Here is some reading for you that may help, courtesy of the* Light and LIfe Rosary Confraternity*:

The Providence of God and The Mystery of Evil
rosary-center.org/ll50n5.htm

REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING
rosary-center.org/ll49n2.htm

PLACING OUR HOPE IN THE CROSS
Part I - GOD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
rosary-center.org/ll55n1.htm

PLACING OUR HOPE IN THE CROSS
Part II: PROVIDENCE AND OUR RESPONSE TO SUFFERING
rosary-center.org/ll55n2.htm

PLACING OUR HOPE IN THE CROSS
PART III: THE TRANSFORMING CROSS OF CHRIST
rosary-center.org/ll55n3.htm

 

[fhansen]

Why does God allow evil in the world? I have used the argument about free will, and from that free will some people make evil in the world. I have even heard that tragedies occur so we as a community can learn to help our neighbor. Which goes back to Genesis when Cain asked of God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And the answer is yes, we are our brother’s keeper. But some non-believers won’t buy those responses. Does anyone have another response to this difficult question? Does anyone know where in Scripture?

**Because the only way true believers are molded is in foxholes. The world has little use or appreciation for the most valuable of commodities-God and His Love-when everything’s going well. This is why Jesus tells us that it’s so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. We even somehow fool ourselves into denying death-living for all practical purposes as if there’s no end, continuing to believe the lie that we shall not die- unless we learn from the experience of sin and evil and death that here in this world we’re exiled from God, the source of our life. When we know good and evil we can choose between them. **