Why does evil exist in this world?

[Kain]

I agree with Tawa on the " Test" issue.

If everyone was good and evil did not exist who are God's loyal subjects?
Who will uphold justice in a world full of corruption, lust, gluttony, greed, and sin in all its forms??
Who will serve the righteous cause?
This is where the opposition comes between Good and Evil. You can either follow the path of righteousness... The hard path
Or you can take the easy way and slip away into what people now know as " Fun" or " Cool" or " Normal"
That's a brief version of things.

[abousoun]

First thanks Justin for this interesting subject
Before answering why Evil exists, it's important to know who created Evil !!!!

To establish that, let me tell a story that i read:
- A university Professor in one of the famous universities challenged his students and asked them: "did God created everything?"
A student responded bravely: "Yes"
- Professor : "Well, If God created everything, he certainly created evil because evil exists ... and as evidenced that a person is judged by his own work ...Therefore, we can assume that God is evil because he created the act of evil!!!"

A little silence overwelmed the student who did not find an answer .. As the Professor was happy with himself as he demonstrated that the faith in God is not but a fairy tale.

Suddenly, another student lift his hand and said: "Professor, may I ask a question?"
- "Of course," said Professor.
- the student asked: "my sir, does coldness exist?"
- "What kind of questions is that?! ofcourse coldness exists. didn't you feel it before ?" professor replied.
- the student replied: "Coldness in reality does not exist.
According the laws of physics, what is coolness is considered the lack of adequate heating. Every object can be studied when it allows transmission of energy, and the heat gives objects energy.
The temperature so called absolute zero is the total lack of the presence of heat. So Coldness does not exist.
We created the term "cold" to describe how we feel when the temperature decreases or it's absent "

- He continued to ask the Professor and said: "Professor, does darkness exist?"
Professor replied: "Of course there is darkness!!"
The student answered: "wrong again sir, Darkness does not exist!! darkness is in fact the absence of light.
Light can be studied but not darkness. we study light, measure its intensity, and identify the colors that form it, and we can measure the amount of energy that it caries ... also it can be classified into visible and invisible, and so on ...
however, You can not measure darkness.
A simple ray of light can penetrate a world of darkness and flashes it ...
How can we know what is the amount of darkness in somewhere? we Measure the amount of light who is the same location, isn't?
So the darkness is the term used to describe what happens when there is no light"

- Finally, the student asked the professor: "Professor, does evil exist?"
Now, with confidence professor replied: "Of course, I said this earlier. We can see examples of the evil each day, such as inhumane acts, abortion, the wars ... Evil is all the crime and violence in all corners of the earth. isn't that evil?!!!"

- Student responded to this, saying: "Evil does not exist!!! Or at least not present by itself. Evil is simply the result of what happens in the absence of God's love in human hearts. Evil is a word created by humans to describe the behavior resulting from the absence of goodness. Just like the words of darkness and the coldness.
God did not create evil! Evil is the result of what happens when there is lack of goodness and god's love in human hearts ... Just as cold happen to the lack of heat and darkness to the lack of light .."
- then the professor sat on his chair silently.
It's said that this remarkable student is Albert Einstein but not sure of that

Second why there is Evil ?
as we established that God didn't create evil, however he allowed its presence by the lack of goodness ... but why he did that ? as Tawa said "to test us"
God didn't create programmed human beings to do whatever he wants, however he gave us the free will to choose between right and wrong, good and evil to be rewarded or to be punished ...

Thank You ...

[Justin]

Originally Posted by Tawa

To Test Us!

Originally Posted by kain

I agree with Tawa on the " Test" issue.

lemme tell u somethin, if God knows what u think & feel, and knows about each & every step you can make, how come he needs to test you since he already knows the answer???? got my point

PS: Im a believer of God

I liked abousoun's answer, gr8 reply he had on that professor lol

Originally Posted by abousoun

however he gave us the free will to choose between right and wrong, good and evil to be rewarded or to be punished ...

so Tawa, kain & supporters, God didnt put us in a test, its our freewill to choose btw right & wrong

[Kain]

Originally Posted by Sheriff Justin

lemme tell u somethin, if God knows what u think & feel, and knows about each & every step you can make, how come he needs to test you since he already knows the answer???? got my point


so Tawa, kain & supporters, God didnt put us in a test, its our freewill to choose btw right & wrong

No Justin you are right but we are not wrong
IT IS OUR FREE WILL!! this is where the "test" part comes in!! He already knows the answer because he controls the very fabric of time and already knows who among us has chosen the right or wrong path WITH our own free will
Get me now?

[abousoun]

Originally Posted by Sheriff Justin

lemme tell u somethin, if God knows what u think & feel, and knows about each & every step you can make, how come he needs to test you since he already knows the answer???? got my point
so Tawa, kain & supporters, God didnt put us in a test, its our freewill to choose btw right & wrong

Yes God may know the answer, but that person doesn't ... it's like a lesson learning
God brings such tests to prove or to increase the strength and quality of one’s faith and to demonstrate its validity ... when we face temptations, God’s purpose is to prove our faith, and that produce character.

Thank You ...

[Gilgamesh]

I just wonder when I read your posts....Was it out of boredom that "god" did all this? Lets follow the logic, "god" loves us so he creates us, he creates us with a free will but with a nature easy to fall into temptation, after at least a 100,000 year of our existence(and suffering) he sends us his first messenger on how we are supposed to live our lives. Then this "god" tests us, not only with the temptations we are naturally weak against, but with natural disasters, wars(that are a result of his scripture), famine, disease.....He does all this only once as far as religious people know, this one time ends horribly by the disaster of all his creation (98% extinct already). Then "god" sorts them out, those who were his obedient slaves go to a place that is nice (differs between a religion and another, but in all of 'em, PRIMITIVE nice) and those who were not suffer for a partial time or eternity...

In what part is "god" loving exactly....IF a teacher comes into the class, puts all kinda obstacles before you, gives you a 3 minute test with a hard question and then when you fail punishes you by 4 years of prison (4 years are still nothing compared to eternity)...I would doubt you would call such a teacher loving....

As for the concept of the free will, "god's" plan, and "god's" omniscience,
your theologians have been trying to figure out how the three would be compatible ever since the supposed Jesus died on the cross.

Evil exists because humans create it, and most of the time they put it on "god", humans' greatest invention. The supposed all good being has been the reason of slavery, death, hatred, intolerance, ignorance, and unlimited authority of churches that continue till today all over the world....

Not only is his existence wrong, it is harmful. I wouldn't want to live in a world the theists describe, under a celestial dictatorship and as Mikhail Bakunin says, "Even if God exists, it would be necessary to abolish him." (out of the political harm of this notion).

Only when we move beyond the concept of "god", we might be able to solve the problem of evil in this world; otherwise, the end of the world is coming, as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

P.S. Since this debate might inevitably move to another subject (existence of "god"), I will not reply to any posts or replies to my post. PM me or refer to the "Does God Exist?" thread if you are looking for a debate. Thank you.

[Justin]

God didn't create the world in the state in which it is now, but evil came as a result of the selfishness of man... The Bible says that God is a God of love & He desired to create a person n eventually a race that would love Him... But genuine love cannot exist unless freely given through free choice n will, & thus man was given the choice to accept God’s love or to reject it... This choice made the possibility of evil become very real... When Adam n Eve disobeyed God, they didn't choose somethin' God created, but, by their choice, they brought evil into the world... God is neither evil nor did He create evil... Man brought evil upon himself by selfishly choosin' his own way apart from God’s way... God gave us the freedom to choose, & all the death & pain u see in this whole damn world are the results of wrong choices of what a man made... God didnt take no one's freedom but he gave us the right to choose it by ourselves...God is still offerin' love & peace which can bring "gd out of what others meant for evil" He still offers hope & peace to each of us today... He can make somethin' beautiful out of ugly circumstances, so God’s purposes are sometimes beyond our understandin'...

PS: Abousoun, you were right, the student was ALBERT E.

[Tawa]

Originally Posted by Sheriff Justin

so Tawa, kain & supporters, God didnt put us in a test, its our freewill to choose btw right & wrong

Ok I Didn't Get This , God Didn't Put Us In A Test, But He Gave Us Freewill To Choose Between Right & Wrong... Please Elaborate

Originally Posted by athegan

In what part is "god" loving exactly....IF a teacher comes into the class, puts all kinda obstacles before you, gives you a 3 minute test with a hard question and then when you fail punishes you by 4 years of prison (4 years are still nothing compared to eternity)...I would doubt you would call such a teacher loving...

Some People Made Their Ways Around Temptations And If God Exists, I Think That He's Trying To Test Us If We Can Be Like Those People Who Fought Against Temptations...

Originally Posted by athegan

Only when we move beyond the concept of "god", we might be able to solve the problem of evil in this world; otherwise, the end of the world is coming, as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I Don't Really Know If I'm A Believer Or Not, And This Is Not Our Subject Here. But Personally, I Think That Without Religions And Without The Believe In God, The World Will Be Nothing But A Jungle...

[Jess]

1 of the most haunting questions we face concerns the problem of evil. Why is there evil in the world if there is a God?

mm i guess we all know eno everything exists because of God.
God gave us free will. Therefore evil things happen.
And i think that evil exist in the world because man/woman were given a WILL to know right from wrong...
It is their decision on which path to follow. To do good or evil???
I, myself, believe that everything in the universe has an opposite
There cannot be a positive without a negative

[Sony]

can u imagine the world without evil ?
it will be boring, that's why god created evil to challenge you