I’ve been having this conversation with my grandson. I told him about the movie “Time Bandits” where God says “It has something to do with free will.” We are going to watch the movie together now.
God: “You see, on the one hand, polio causes pain and suffering. On the other, it keeps your numbers down. On the third hand, death is slow and long in coming. But on the fourth hand, it spurs medical research that can be extended to prevent dissimilar diseases. But on the fifth hand…”
There are different types of “evil.” Evil as such involves rebellion against God’s will—crime, war, etc. Then there are inconveniences (some enormous)—natural disasters, diseases, etc. These aren’t evil as such; they just cause us problems. (Some actually have beneficial aspects.) I speculate that diseases were originally problems for us to solve, but when we rebelled, we became subject to their effects.
The thing to remember is that suffering and death aren’t the worst things we can experience. The worst thing is not knowing God, not being in relationship with him. Anything else is comparatively trivial. This life is not all there is; God is omnipotent and omniscient, and thus able to more than make up for anything we experience in this life. If an evil or problem shows us our need for God, that can be a good thing. It doesn’t make evil good; it just gives it a function until God replaces it with the perfect things he intended all along.
And yes, free will does entail the possibility of choosing evil. And God evidently thinks it’s better to allow some evil temporarily than to take away our free will. That’s his call.
Differentname over 5 years ago
Just because God can do anything, that doesn’t mean She wants to do anything.
Olddog1 over 5 years ago
Polio exists because there is a place for polio to exist.
Qiset over 5 years ago
I’ve been having this conversation with my grandson. I told him about the movie “Time Bandits” where God says “It has something to do with free will.” We are going to watch the movie together now.
Ida No over 5 years ago
God: “You see, on the one hand, polio causes pain and suffering. On the other, it keeps your numbers down. On the third hand, death is slow and long in coming. But on the fourth hand, it spurs medical research that can be extended to prevent dissimilar diseases. But on the fifth hand…”
Woman: “Wait, I’m talking to Vishnu, aren’t I?”
PoodleGroomer over 5 years ago
Everything has to eat. We happen to have tasty parts with poor immunity and redundancy.
mysterysciencefreezer over 5 years ago
Makes as much sense as anythingelse.
StephenRice over 5 years ago
There are different types of “evil.” Evil as such involves rebellion against God’s will—crime, war, etc. Then there are inconveniences (some enormous)—natural disasters, diseases, etc. These aren’t evil as such; they just cause us problems. (Some actually have beneficial aspects.) I speculate that diseases were originally problems for us to solve, but when we rebelled, we became subject to their effects.
The thing to remember is that suffering and death aren’t the worst things we can experience. The worst thing is not knowing God, not being in relationship with him. Anything else is comparatively trivial. This life is not all there is; God is omnipotent and omniscient, and thus able to more than make up for anything we experience in this life. If an evil or problem shows us our need for God, that can be a good thing. It doesn’t make evil good; it just gives it a function until God replaces it with the perfect things he intended all along.
And yes, free will does entail the possibility of choosing evil. And God evidently thinks it’s better to allow some evil temporarily than to take away our free will. That’s his call.
Teto85 Premium Member over 5 years ago
There is no god.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 5 years ago
Symptoms of a “fallen Earth”.
Daeder over 5 years ago
God doesn’t have choice paralysis, God has no free will and cannot make any actual choices.
Radish the wordsmith over 5 years ago
You have free will to chose your pre-destiny.