How allowing evil could lead to greater good?

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MasterHaster said:
Killing Hitler may have been evil (murder) but could lead to a great good such as no Holocaust.
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remember, moral evaluation has object, intent, and circumstances.
In the circumstances in question, killing Hitler is not murder, it is more like self defense.
Murder is the taking of innocent life.
You can’t do evil in pursuit of some other good.
 
Gorgias said:
Here’s the counter-example to your implied assertion:

Deicide is evil. However, it led to the greater good of our potential salvation.
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Well, there are many case that this is not true. For example one does evil and as a result goes to Hell. So what kind of good comes out of this evil?
 
What kind of answer are you willing to accept?

Edit: You’re also shifting the goalposts. Your OP question asks what greater good results from “allowing” evil, not the result of the evil itself.
 
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I believe you are misunderstanding. Certainly no good comes for the person going to Hell no arguments there, because that indeed is not good.

However, the evil done can still be used for something good and no one does this better than God.

I’ve already explained this in a previous post by giving an example of something very evil which God used to bring forth a greater good.
 
God had 2 choices for the human race. He could give us a free will or he could make us slaves to His will. God wants us all with Him in heaven but He will not force us! When Adam and Eve sinned God came looking for them! Imagine that!
 
In my understanding allowing evil gives us the opportunity to choose between the two: good and evil-the primary and most basic evil for creation being disobedience of God. But as man chooses good, the ultimate good being God, Himself, man’s justice, his perfection, grows.
 
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Are you assuming here? How do you kow that many will go to hell? And what sort of evill are we speaking of, and where?
 
yammerGee said:
I think the question isn’t so much about “Can good come out of evil?” (of course it can) but rather the fact that an eternal hell means that evil will forever exist alongside good. The permanence of said evil (where there was none prior to Creation) would at first glance seem to indicate that the good has permanently lost ground, and is therefore lesser not greater.
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You are absolutely CORRECT YammerGee.

If evil/ hell would exists forever then God made THE MONUMENTAL mistake when He created the dramas of evil and sin for the benefit of the human race.
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God could created this world without the dramas of evil and sin, like the life is in heaven, in heaven we will all have free wills without we commit even a smallest act of sin, free will is NOT THE REASON of sin.

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THE REASON OF THE DRAMAS OF EVIL AND SIN IN THIS WORLD IS:

God created the dramas of evil and sin, to convert our sins into greater good, which is to train/ make us Well Informed Battle Hardened and Refined Glorified Saints.
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310 But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it?
With infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world in a state of journeying towards its ultimate perfection, 314 through the dramas of evil and sin.
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324 Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.

298 He can also, through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them,
And since God was able to make light shine in darkness by his Word, he can also give the light of faith to those who do not yet know him.
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294 The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the creator of all things may at last become “all in all”, thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude." 140

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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Divine Providence explains.

“His wisdom He so orders all events within the universe that the end for which it was created may be realized.

He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to the final end for which the

Nor would God permit evil at all, unless He could draw good out of evil (St. Augustine, “Enchir.”, xi in “P.L.” LX, 236; Serm."

Evil, therefore, ministers to God’s design (St. Gregory the Great, op. cit., VI, xxxii in “P.L.”,”

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There is a supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul, which precedes the free act of the will. (De fide.)
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308 The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator.
God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes:
“For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Far from diminishing the creature’s dignity, this truth enhances it.
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With the provisions of sufficient and efficacious graces God perfectly governs the entire human race. – We all FREELY choose our acts God wills us to choose.
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God bless
 
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I am enduring a great suffering in the form of some family members kind of making judgement on me , but most of the times , I just don’t see the good out of it ,??
 
I don’t know the situation, but if you can calmly explain yourself (pray first) that can help.

The good is that when you pray for them, you can grow in spiritual maturity and be stronger in the Lord!
 
Azaryahtt said:
I am enduring a great suffering in the form of some family members kind of making judgement on me , but most of the times , I just don’t see the good out of it ,??
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Hang on a second, though: the assertion isn’t that the “greater good” is your personal experience. What if the greater good is that, for those who witness your heroic response to unjust criticism, they experience comfort that they, too, can react charitably to injustice?
 
PatK63 said:
God had 2 choices for the human race. He could give us a free will or he could make us slaves to His will. God wants us all with Him in heaven but He will not force us! When Adam and Eve sinned God came looking for them! Imagine that!
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390 The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language,
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If we are speaking God’s 2 possible choices then He had 2 choices as follows.

a. To create our life in this world like our life is in heaven, we have free wills and we never commit even a smallest act of sin, no evil/ sin could exist in this world.

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Evil explains.
“But we cannot say without denying the Divine omnipotence, that another equally perfect universe could not be created in which evil would have no place.”

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b. God create our life in this world journeying towards our ultimate perfection, through the dramas of evil and sin.

310 But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it?
With infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world in a state of journeying towards its ultimate perfection, 314 through the dramas of evil and sin.

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In The Mystery of Predestination by John Salza explains;
Page 113: “God, however, willed to permit Adam to reject His grace and to sin.” – His wisdom He so ordered the events of his sin.
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Divine Providence explains;

“His wisdom He so orders all events within the universe that the end for which it was created may be realized.

He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to the final end for which the universe was created.

Nor would God permit evil at all, unless He could draw good out of evil (St. Augustine, Enchir.”, xi in LX, 236; Serm.

Evil, therefore, ministers to God’s design (St. Gregory the Great, op. cit., VI, xxxii in P.L.”
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Free Will explains;
“God is the author of all causes and effects, but is not the author of sin, because an action ceases to be sin if God wills it to happen. Still God is the cause of sin.”

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There is a supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul, which precedes the free act of the will. (De fide.)
.
308 The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator.
God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes:
“For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Far from diminishing the creature’s dignity, this truth enhances it.
.
Aquinas said, “God changes the will without forcing it.
But he can change the will from the fact that He himself operates in the will as He does in nature,” De Veritatis 22:9.

CCC 2022; “The divine initiative in the work of grace PRECEDES, PREPARES, and ELICITS the free response of man. …”

Hence if this divine influence stopped, every operation would stop.
Every operation, therefore, of anything is traced back to Him as its cause. (Summa Contra Gentiles, Book III.)
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God bless
 
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Simply put: was there ample evidence of courage, self-sacrifice, heroism, increased prayer and faith during and after the 9/11 attacks?

That is the good that God alone can bring from evil.
 
“But we cannot say without denying the Divine omnipotence, that another equally perfect universe could not be created **in which evil would have no place.”

There are so many negatives in that sentence that I cannot understand it!

If it makes sense to you, fine. Have a good day!
 
STT said:
How allowing evil could lead to a greater good when it is certain that there will be many individuals who will go to Hell?
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God gives free will to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another. The root of sin and of charity is in the heart of man, in his free will. Evils provide the material for the expression of the virtues of the just.
 
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