The problem with argument against God from evil - 2
"He is not perfectly powerful either, in that he famously cannot control
Israel and get its people to do what he wants. And so on."
- http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/an-imperfect-god/
In this article titled , "An Imperfect God" , Yarom Hazony says that God is not able to control the Israelites to do what he wants and so is not all powerful.
For his kind information , God did not want to control them in such a way that they would be robots who would be manipulated anyway he wants. God created human beings with a free will , as creatures who can choose and serve what/whom they want in their lives. God wants human beings to choose to love him in response to his love for them. Israel is a good example of a people group who did not choose to serve God. God did not want to make people do things . God wants people to respond to him with love and reverance. He did not want to control Israel. He never said he would control them. He does not need Israel to accomplish his ends. He accomplished what he wanted through the Israelites , whether Israel obeyed him or not. Israel was at a loss ,whenever they disobeyed , but God still accomplished him ultimate aim , inspite of Israel's response. This aspect of God is called God's Sovereignity.
God is seeking a relationship with people and he is out to manipulate them. He loves them , but he wants them to seek him , search for him and find him. He has created them with innate desires and cravings which God can fulfill.
God's omnipotence does not mean God can do anything. God of the bible is portrayed as a being who is Holy and cannot do things contrary to his character. For example ,God cannot lie .
"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began" —Titus 1:2.
Hebrews 6:18: “[I]t is impossible for God to lie.”
Also God cannot be tempted.
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; James 1
So God is omnipotent does not mean he will do things contrary to his character. He can only do what is righteous and cannot sin because that is his character.
If God can lie then he would not be truthful and this not perfect.ion God is perfect in all goodness. When God created free willed creatures with ability to do things contrary to God's character , they started doing evil ,whenever they started doing things contrary to the character of God.
The skeptics have misunderstood the omnipotence of God. That is one reason why their argument against God for evil is a strawman argument. It potrays an understanding of God's omnipotence which is not biblical. God cannot create a world of freewilled creatures who can do only good. That is impossible because it is logically contradictory. God cannot do logically contradictory things like creating a square circle. That does not mean that he is not omnipotent. Omnipotence excludes these things. He cannot be perfectly truthful and perfectly lying at the same time.
The problem is with our understanding of God's perfections. God's perfections cannot be perfectly understood anytime by us for all eternity. We were not created to comprehend them fully. We were primarily created to receive love and give back love to God and other humans. That's why at the end of the day , the most famous skeptics (Jean Paul sarte and Albert Camus) of this age commited suicide , because he has rejected the one who loves him and has ended up as a unloved and disappointed beings who finds no purpose in living. It is a logical outworking of rejecting God.
This attempt by skeptics to attack the perfections of God is silly one given the fact that he is finite and cannot even comprehend the perfections of God. How can a finite mind comprehend God , the infinite one completely and critic him so as to disprove God altogether. For me this appears the absurdity of all absurdities, in which the skeptic is bound up.
- http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/an-imperfect-god/
In this article titled , "An Imperfect God" , Yarom Hazony says that God is not able to control the Israelites to do what he wants and so is not all powerful.
For his kind information , God did not want to control them in such a way that they would be robots who would be manipulated anyway he wants. God created human beings with a free will , as creatures who can choose and serve what/whom they want in their lives. God wants human beings to choose to love him in response to his love for them. Israel is a good example of a people group who did not choose to serve God. God did not want to make people do things . God wants people to respond to him with love and reverance. He did not want to control Israel. He never said he would control them. He does not need Israel to accomplish his ends. He accomplished what he wanted through the Israelites , whether Israel obeyed him or not. Israel was at a loss ,whenever they disobeyed , but God still accomplished him ultimate aim , inspite of Israel's response. This aspect of God is called God's Sovereignity.
God is seeking a relationship with people and he is out to manipulate them. He loves them , but he wants them to seek him , search for him and find him. He has created them with innate desires and cravings which God can fulfill.
God's omnipotence does not mean God can do anything. God of the bible is portrayed as a being who is Holy and cannot do things contrary to his character. For example ,God cannot lie .
"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began" —Titus 1:2.
Hebrews 6:18: “[I]t is impossible for God to lie.”
Also God cannot be tempted.
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; James 1
So God is omnipotent does not mean he will do things contrary to his character. He can only do what is righteous and cannot sin because that is his character.
If God can lie then he would not be truthful and this not perfect.ion God is perfect in all goodness. When God created free willed creatures with ability to do things contrary to God's character , they started doing evil ,whenever they started doing things contrary to the character of God.
The skeptics have misunderstood the omnipotence of God. That is one reason why their argument against God for evil is a strawman argument. It potrays an understanding of God's omnipotence which is not biblical. God cannot create a world of freewilled creatures who can do only good. That is impossible because it is logically contradictory. God cannot do logically contradictory things like creating a square circle. That does not mean that he is not omnipotent. Omnipotence excludes these things. He cannot be perfectly truthful and perfectly lying at the same time.
The problem is with our understanding of God's perfections. God's perfections cannot be perfectly understood anytime by us for all eternity. We were not created to comprehend them fully. We were primarily created to receive love and give back love to God and other humans. That's why at the end of the day , the most famous skeptics (Jean Paul sarte and Albert Camus) of this age commited suicide , because he has rejected the one who loves him and has ended up as a unloved and disappointed beings who finds no purpose in living. It is a logical outworking of rejecting God.
This attempt by skeptics to attack the perfections of God is silly one given the fact that he is finite and cannot even comprehend the perfections of God. How can a finite mind comprehend God , the infinite one completely and critic him so as to disprove God altogether. For me this appears the absurdity of all absurdities, in which the skeptic is bound up.
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