God using evil

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theresaavey

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Why does God use evil or cause harm to others? Like when the Egyptians were crossing the red sea and the Israelite were after them God told Moses to stretch his stick over the water and it covered the Israelite and they died?
 
I think you have it backwards. I believe the Egyptians were chasing the Isralites.

Think of it this way: was it wrong for God to protect the Israelites?
 
theresaavey said:
Why does God use evil or cause harm to others? Like when the Egyptians were crossing the red sea and the Israelite were after them God told Moses to stretch his stick over the water and it covered the Israelite and they died?
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We often (although not always) suffer temporal (worldly) punishment for our actions. The Egyptians in that circumstance were idolatrous and persecuting Israel. But you ask a fair question and the only fair (and understandable) answer is that this can only make sense if we believe in a world to come where our rewards and punishments in the world to come do not necessarily correspond to our rewards and punishments in this world. We can’t know, for example, the destiny of those Egyptians in the world to come (especially those whose hearts were hardened by God himself) - we trust in God’s mercy and the “hope” that they were held accountable to the level of revelation made available to them. This is equally true for “good people” who suffer disease and other tragedy in this life while evil people often appear to succeed.

Blessings,

Brian
 
theresaavey said:
Why does God use evil or cause harm to others? Like when the Egyptians were crossing the red sea and the Israelite were after them God told Moses to stretch his stick over the water and it covered the Israelite and they died?
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Consider the possibility that the story in question is not a historical account, and is, instead, merely meant to show God protecting the chosen people, not necessarily slaughtering a whole lot of conscripted peasants who had no idea what the fuss was about.
 
theresaavey said:
Why does God use evil or cause harm to others? Like when the Egyptians were crossing the red sea and the Israelite were after them God told Moses to stretch his stick over the water and it covered the Israelite and they died?
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Eh, what? God told Moses to stretch his stick over the water, after that it covered him and the Israelite and they died :confused:
It IS evil. I think that would happen if someone plan to exodus on 1st April. 😃

Moses is somewhat represent God, and to prove to the Israelite and us that God is Almighty the event happened. Jesus Christ on the other hand is the Son of God, who loves his mother, Blessed Mary, and died for our sins. They both somewhat a saviour in a different situation.
In my opinion, this is God’s message that the persecuted & the persecutor BOTH are in God’s love.
 
theresaavey said:
Why does God use evil or cause harm to others? Like when the Egyptians were crossing the red sea and the Israelite were after them God told Moses to stretch his stick over the water and it covered the Israelite and they died?
Click to expand...
I don’t think there was really anything evil about God telling Moses to let the Red Sea come down on the Egyptians.

1). God, being the author of life, has the authority to do what he wants with that life that he has granted to all living creatures. Think of it like this: you plant a garden. You plant exactly what plants you want to be in this garden and where they are to be. However, some of them stop producing what they should (be it fruits, vegetables, or simply flowers). Since it is your garden, there is nothing evil with pulling those plants up and disposing of them.

2). God was protecting his chosen people Israel. They were otherwise going to be hurt, murdered, and brought back into slavery. If there was a group of men coming after your children with these goals in mind, I don’t think anyone here would disagree with you defending your children.

God is all good. He doesn’t cause evil and he doesn’t actively use evil as a means. God, being all good and all powerful, is able to ALLOW evil to enter our lives only because he is so powerful that he is able to bring forth good from it. According to my understanding (and anyone please correct me if I’m saying things in contradiction to Church teaching), God allows evil and is able to bring good out of it, but he doesn’t directly use evil (for instance, God doesn’t actively cause someone to get murdered to cause something else to happen, but he is ultimately able to bring about some good from this unfortunate and evil scenario.)
 
Were the Egyptians going to live forever? Everyone dies, what does it matter if we die by drowning, heart attack, car accident, or old age? The only people who see death as evil are those that have no hope beyond this life. The Egyptians had 400 years to learn about God and worship Him. Exodus says that many Egyptians left with the Israelites. Those who died chose to serve pharaoh instead of God. The moral here is to be ready for death no matter when it comes. If you are ready, you don’t have to get ready.
 
Also

If you saw water standing on both sides and
a dry path that the God of Israel had created to allow his people to miraculously escape,
might you consider it an affront to that God to
use the escape path He created for His people and
to capture and enslave these people?

Maybe there should be some responsibility on those who chose to go down into the Red Sea 🤷
 
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