I shared the same opinion from this guy from different forum replying to the same question you have raised, and I quote:
Beans4brains: "This is an interesting question. A great deal of people have a varying opinion on this issue.
Personally, i am a christian and this is my belief..... God is both willing and able to prevent evil. He is righteous and just, and there is no evil in Him. Therefore He is not malevolent.
Evil came into the world by choice. If you look at the Biblical account of it's happenings, It originated with the rebellion of the devil, (an Angel) who sinned in wanting to be worshipped as God, and led a rebellion taking 1/3 of the angels with him. He was then cursed, Hell was created for him and those fallen angels as punishment and he was cast down to earth. In the Garden, he tempted mankind to 'sin' (or rebel and disobey) against God. The significance of that part of the story is that mankind was created with Free will. The ability to choose right from wrong. The reason 'eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil' was counted as sin, is because God told them not to. They ate, and therefore disobeyed. When it says 'their eyes were opened' it basically means that 'knowledge' of sin and/or evil was made known to them. Their choice to disobey is what brought evil into the world. God kicked them out, and stated the consequences to them for thier actions. When he had originally said, (paraphrase) "Don't eat from that tree or you will surely die" he was informing them of the consequences for disobedience. (the consequences that befell the devil). The devil came to tempt them (to eat the 'fruit' of the tree) because he hated mankind and thier place with God (that essentially mankind had what he no longer did) and hated his punishment therefore wanted to take as many with him as possible. He knew disobedience led to seperation from God. So he wanted mankind to sin (disobey) so that we would therefore have the same eternal punishment as he. Long story short, So, mankind chose to disobey and the consequences were immediate. They realsised they were 'naked' i.e., had knowlegde that they did wrong. Then lied when questioned to cover it up. Then got thrown out of the garden, then later on in the story, the 'first murder' occured as the result of jealousy. So, Therefore evil came into the world through mankinds conscious choice to disobey.
Every religion has a similar story surrounding how evil came into the world. In any case, whether you believe those stories or not, the fact remains that mankind has, individually, and corporatly, free will. That is God given. God does not intervene always (in every situation) where a person chooses to exercise their free will in a destructive manner.
There is among all of the peoples of the world the knowledge that obedience results in reward, and disobedience results in consequence. The decision to obey or disobey (or to sin or not to) is a matter of free will. If God stepped in everytime someone made a wrongful choice.... then mankind would NOT have a free will; nor would the lesson be present of consequence for wrongful action. And how would that benefit us? If we could do wrong knowing that God in his omnipotence would stop the action from happening as well as ensure there were no consequences, how would that profit us? and where would our free will be to choose to do right?
A great deal of opinions vary on this subject; but i think it mostly arises because it is difficult to imagine God as loving when there is unnecessary suffering in the world. BUT, if you think about it, God did not sin or disobey, mankind did. God is not the one causing the destruction, mankind is. therefore the blame should fall on the soul that sins. Blame the rapist for the rape, not God. Blame the theif for stealing, not God. Blame the prejudiced for the hate crime, not God. And the consequences fall on those that choose to do wrong.
I along with a lot of people wonder why bad things happen to good people. I also think, why God did not 'prevent' bad things from happening to me, as if he is God, he could have.
But i am not God, and do not understand his reasoning. I know that He is not the one who hurt me, but i am not going to lie........ sometimes i also wonder why certain things were not prevented. I think that is a question that mankind has always had, and always will have. "If God is gracious and Loving, why is there evil? And why do bad things happen to good people?" I think truly we may never have a definite answer to that until we can all see the big picture; But i do know, that it is better to place blame where blame is due: On the soul of the person commiting the offense, not on God. regardless of the evil that exists, God has promised judgement and punishment for that evil... so therefore, he is not malevolent. If he turned a blind eye and allowed for people to sin and disobey with never a consequence, then he would be malevolent. Though all of this does bring up the question of "If he foreknew through his omnicience that the devil was going to sin, and evil would be in the world, then why even create him at all?" But i do not think that God is evil, nor do i think that he authored the evil, but i think that it is the result of choice made by free will, that falls on us as a consequence for our own choosing to disobey, more than it speaks of God having created it."
I shared the same opinion from this guy from different forum replying to the same question you have raised, and I quote:
Beans4brains: "This is an interesting question. A great deal of people have a varying opinion on this issue.
Personally, i am a christian and this is my belief..... God is both willing and able to prevent evil. He is righteous and just, and there is no evil in Him. Therefore He is not malevolent.
Evil came into the world by choice. If you look at the Biblical account of it's happenings, It originated with the rebellion of the devil, (an Angel) who sinned in wanting to be worshipped as God, and led a rebellion taking 1/3 of the angels with him. He was then cursed, Hell was created for him and those fallen angels as punishment and he was cast down to earth. In the Garden, he tempted mankind to 'sin' (or rebel and disobey) against God. The significance of that part of the story is that mankind was created with Free will. The ability to choose right from wrong. The reason 'eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil' was counted as sin, is because God told them not to. They ate, and therefore disobeyed. When it says 'their eyes were opened' it basically means that 'knowledge' of sin and/or evil was made known to them. Their choice to disobey is what brought evil into the world. God kicked them out, and stated the consequences to them for thier actions. When he had originally said, (paraphrase) "Don't eat from that tree or you will surely die" he was informing them of the consequences for disobedience. (the consequences that befell the devil). The devil came to tempt them (to eat the 'fruit' of the tree) because he hated mankind and thier place with God (that essentially mankind had what he no longer did) and hated his punishment therefore wanted to take as many with him as possible. He knew disobedience led to seperation from God. So he wanted mankind to sin (disobey) so that we would therefore have the same eternal punishment as he. Long story short, So, mankind chose to disobey and the consequences were immediate. They realsised they were 'naked' i.e., had knowlegde that they did wrong. Then lied when questioned to cover it up. Then got thrown out of the garden, then later on in the story, the 'first murder' occured as the result of jealousy. So, Therefore evil came into the world through mankinds conscious choice to disobey.
Every religion has a similar story surrounding how evil came into the world. In any case, whether you believe those stories or not, the fact remains that mankind has, individually, and corporatly, free will. That is God given. God does not intervene always (in every situation) where a person chooses to exercise their free will in a destructive manner.
There is among all of the peoples of the world the knowledge that obedience results in reward, and disobedience results in consequence. The decision to obey or disobey (or to sin or not to) is a matter of free will. If God stepped in everytime someone made a wrongful choice.... then mankind would NOT have a free will; nor would the lesson be present of consequence for wrongful action. And how would that benefit us? If we could do wrong knowing that God in his omnipotence would stop the action from happening as well as ensure there were no consequences, how would that profit us? and where would our free will be to choose to do right?
A great deal of opinions vary on this subject; but i think it mostly arises because it is difficult to imagine God as loving when there is unnecessary suffering in the world. BUT, if you think about it, God did not sin or disobey, mankind did. God is not the one causing the destruction, mankind is. therefore the blame should fall on the soul that sins. Blame the rapist for the rape, not God. Blame the theif for stealing, not God. Blame the prejudiced for the hate crime, not God. And the consequences fall on those that choose to do wrong.
I along with a lot of people wonder why bad things happen to good people. I also think, why God did not 'prevent' bad things from happening to me, as if he is God, he could have.
But i am not God, and do not understand his reasoning. I know that He is not the one who hurt me, but i am not going to lie........ sometimes i also wonder why certain things were not prevented. I think that is a question that mankind has always had, and always will have. "If God is gracious and Loving, why is there evil? And why do bad things happen to good people?" I think truly we may never have a definite answer to that until we can all see the big picture; But i do know, that it is better to place blame where blame is due: On the soul of the person commiting the offense, not on God. regardless of the evil that exists, God has promised judgement and punishment for that evil... so therefore, he is not malevolent. If he turned a blind eye and allowed for people to sin and disobey with never a consequence, then he would be malevolent. Though all of this does bring up the question of "If he foreknew through his omnicience that the devil was going to sin, and evil would be in the world, then why even create him at all?" But i do not think that God is evil, nor do i think that he authored the evil, but i think that it is the result of choice made by free will, that falls on us as a consequence for our own choosing to disobey, more than it speaks of God having created it."