'Evil' as a choice yes- but the evil you witness is our choosing that evil.
But God also created us, choice, etc. So it's all still on his plate, no? Why couldn't he have created us such that we never choose evil? Or such that evil doesn't exist in the first place? If he's omnipotent, a perfect world full of perfect humans is within his power to create, right? If he's good, why didn't he?
Hmm... I never said he created evil people....
Then who did? Somebody had to have created them, right?
he created the choice but the choice to choose evil is humans only.
Didn't God create humans, and "choice?"
Or is evil a creation of humanity?
In which case, what other aspects of the universe are our own creation? Good? God?
He did create Angels which can't do evil- the difference between Humans is that they can with full control do the right things- for which reason they are placed higher than Angels-
Why not just create humans who
don't do evil?
God doesn't create natural disasters (although he could/ and has in some instances) - they are 'natural' as natural would imply.
Didn't God create nature? Is his omnipotence limited in some way that prevented him from knowing the inevitable consequences of nature? Regardless, isn't God powerful enough to avert natural disasters, and their associated unjust suffering? Why doesn't he? Why does he stand idly by as thousands of innocent families are destroyed by tsunamis or earthquakes or hurricanes?
You might as well ask why God created 'death'-
Indeed, why
did God create death? Doesn't seem like a nice thing to do.
as for the 'just God'- you are assuming that you actually exist. Another assumption is that God has to be 'just' in this world while it could be that he does not interfere here and is 'just' on "judgment day'
Sure. But that's a very cruel God, and almost all religious people I've encountered are unequivocable on the point that God does intercede in the here-and-now. And in response to prayer, at that.
Why should he? If he is the creator then he can choose the purpose and the conditions.
Because he is held to be a good, just creator.
If he's just doing this as a cosmic joke, to see what we'll make of it... well, that's a relatively consistent view, but not the one I hear from people who believe in God.
God is neither good nor evil-
Not according to the vast majority of religious people I've encountered. Why would we worship a god that isn't good?
I see.... Yes the word is ill-defined.... You could re-define to mean: the ability to do everything that doesn't exceed His own self. In which case even we are omnipotent- but he is the Ultimate one as in being able to do everything that anything else can do and being able to do everything he Himself can do.
So he's not omnipotent, as such. He's simply more powerful than anyone else.
Sort of like an advanced race of aliens would be, from our perspective.
I think the reason the word 'omnipotent' is used is so that you don't have to list down everything he can do (as you would have to do with my definition)- so it is a matter of convenience just take it to mean the 'ultimate power' that can do basically everything.
Most religious people I've met take the omnipotent part literally. They'd just say "ultimate power" if that's what they had in mind. It isn't any less convenient than "omnipotent."
That being the assumption that they truly were saints-
And the assumption that there truly is a God, etc. If you're going to start pointing out that we have no way of knowing any of this stuff, then I'll happily agree with you. But most religious people don't hold that position. The Church is the instrument of God on Earth, let's recall, and its anointed saints are exactly that.
Can you name a study of prayer that has been on-going for a thousand years- I would love to read their thousand year finding. And perhaps none of them were righteous enough to have had that specific prayer accepted. Anyways there are too many uncontrollable variables to take any such experiments seriously.
How many righteous people do you imagine have prayed for world peace, over the millenia? Yet where is it? Why did God even create a world full of strife and injustice and war in the first place?
