If God is good, why is there evil? Because love requires freedom, and freedom entails choosing either the good or the evil. God was good to give us free will. We are responsible for abusing this good thing, not God, and yet God has taken it on Himself to fix the problem we created. God is not just observing the pain and suffering we experience from evil, but became one of us and experienced it Himself so that He can empathize with us and ultimately overcome evil for us.
Thinking to Believe 
March 22, 2016 at 6:48 am
Refreshingly succinct!
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March 22, 2016 at 11:30 am
Thanks Don. “Succinct” is a new area for me. 🙂
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March 24, 2016 at 9:20 am
Which simply means that your God has created good and evil and leaves before you the choice to accept either.
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March 24, 2016 at 9:22 am
And sometimes both depending on the circumstances.
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March 25, 2016 at 1:22 pm
Hello Jason,
I made two entries to this post about two days ago. I did see them successfully post to positions 3 & 4 above. When I returned to this site today I saw they are no longer here. Did you remove them or is there a problem with the site again similar to what has happened previously? If there’s a problem with the site then perhaps they can be retrieved and re-posted as before. If you removed them intentionally would you please explain why.
Thanks,
Frank
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March 25, 2016 at 2:44 pm
Hi Frank,
I removed them because they were not related to the topic.
Jason
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March 25, 2016 at 3:34 pm
In your judgment, Jason.
Frank
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March 25, 2016 at 11:42 pm
Frank, please tell me how they related to the post then and I’ll undelete them.
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March 26, 2016 at 2:02 am
Alright Jason, the first entry was concerning Deuteronomy 30:15-20. These verses speak directly to the point of God setting the parameters by which we shall find His goodness and rest or formulate our own ruin and destruction. His command is that we do not engage with any sorts of idols/false gods. That we do not fall into the same trap as Adam through disobedience. We are to love/worship Him alone as God with all our heart, soul, mind & strength [Deuteronomy 6:4-13]. When we do place our faith/trust in Him we find the righteous path/the narrow gate that leads to Messiah’s Kingdom of God, i.e., to Life. When we stray as we all sometimes do we fall to the lusts of this world/lusts of the flesh thus go off course to run afoul of perishing in the wilderness of sin. All Good comes from YHWH, the evil results from humanity’s rebellion against Him in rejecting His Goodness/Instructions. It’s by following/obeying God’s Law/Torah/Pentateuch that we select the good and reject the evil consequences of rebellion & hatred for God.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/jfb/Deu/Deu_030.cfm?a=183015
The second entry was a 17 minute teaching video entitled, “Heaven and Earth and the Law of God” which exhorts us to choose life! It explains the relationship between Jesus Christ/Yahshua Messiah & God’s Law emphasizing His total commitment to the fulfillment of that entire Law [Matthew 5:17-20]. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18) His desire to see us walk in its way so that we may receive the greatest comfort & inheritance when we ultimately reach glorification of the resurrection in the kingdom of heaven. It also elucidates specifically the significance of Deuteronomy 30:19-20 wherein God tells us that He invokes Heaven & Earth as witnesses against us to the covenant/treaty that He makes with us by setting before us life & death/good & evil. His will is as Jesus/Yahshua expresses that, we choose life that we may live along with our descendants by loving YHWH our God, by obeying His voice and holding fast to Him for protection against every adversary; for this is our life and the length of our days, that we may live in the land/reap the bounty which YHWH swore to our fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. Just as Jesus/Yahshua explains to His disciples, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Thanks for reassessing the matter.
Respectfully,
Frank
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April 6, 2016 at 1:11 am
Frank, I appreciate you taking the time out to explain, but I don’t see how either relates to the topic. The topic is how we make sense of the presence of evil in the world if an all-loving and all-powerful God exists. And now you have posted another unrelated video. I will be deleting that one too. I must admit I’m not a fan of posting videos as comments, but if you are going to do so, they need to relate to the topic and you should summarize the point/contents of the video so that people don’t have to watch the video to understand your point.
Jason
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April 6, 2016 at 9:43 am
Jason,
“The topic is how we make sense of the presence of evil in the world if an all-loving and all-powerful God exists.”
No videos, only Scripture:
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ/Messiah, keep seeking the things above, where Christ/Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ/Messiah in God. When Christ/Messiah, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living among these. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Stop lying to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him – a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ/Messiah is all, and in all. So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience/forbearance towards others; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the uniting bond of perfection. Let the peace of Christ/Messiah act as arbiter in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and show yourselves thankful. Let the word of Christ/Messiah richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus/Yahshua, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward consisting of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ/Messiah whom you serve. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. (Colossians 3:1-17, 23-25 NASB)
– Frank
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April 8, 2016 at 9:52 am
The argument made by atheists concerning the moral objection of, “If God is good, why is there evil?” attempts to put God in a box: He’s damned when He does [act] and damned if He doesn’t [act]. But it never deals with the ulterior motive secreted within their worldview; i.e., their utter reliance on control.
Deconstructing the atheist’s mindset: Interview with Norman L. Geisler, PhD –
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April 19, 2016 at 7:44 pm
God demonstrates over & over again throughout the course of human history that He’s faithful, compassionate & merciful. It’s humanity’s pride, disloyalty, rebellion & sin towards God that always puts us at odds. Nowhere do we see this clash more clearly pronounced in Scripture than in the Books of Joshua & Judges:
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April 23, 2016 at 7:43 pm
If we are to have a clear, thorough, Biblical, Scriptural analysis of how we make sense of the presence of evil in the world when an all-loving and all-powerful God exists then key to our proper understanding is Messiah’s parable of the tares of the field (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43):
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April 24, 2016 at 11:26 am
No Video required when using axiomatic prose: What is an Axiom?
An Axiom is a self-evident and necessary truth, or a proposition whose truth is so evident at first sight that no reasoning or demonstration can make it plainer.
In other words: If there was a God, nobody would have to say, ‘If there was a God’, ever again.
A Near Famous LTG Quote for
A Clear and Presence Sense of Evil in the World.
When it comes to evil I do not see any need to rise to the God level; we need only look to man.
We see in the Record of Mankind and unfolding presently, there is no wrath of any God conceived, more horrible, more perverse, more atrocious, miserable and evil than the wrath man continuously deploys to massacre his fellowman.
Regardless of the blame reasons: ego, emotion, mental, anger, war, money, revenge, religion or God; all reasons, for XYocide are in the hands of man only, ’cause that’s where the buck stops.
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April 25, 2016 at 1:13 pm
Inq,
No video required when you’re not floundering in heresies as you are either. How can you expect man to resolve the problem of evil when he’s deep in the root of its cause? You’re completely enmeshed in false gear. Try getting right with the Gospel of the Kingdom as preached by Messiah Himself.
http://www.truegospel.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/basics.tour/ID/10/False-Gospels.htm
Here’s an assist more in keeping with your attention span:
– Frank
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April 26, 2016 at 4:31 pm
FRank:
Well now tell me this, where is this “…….Kingdom as preached by Messiah Himself.” Where exactly is this place? You should know by now since I’ve told you enough times.
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December 30, 2018 at 5:29 pm
[…] If God is good, why is there evil? […]
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July 31, 2019 at 12:34 pm
Yes, Jason. That about sums it up.
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