Heaven and The Problem of Evil

[RobbyPants]

So, you're saying that "heaven" is akin to the garden of eden? Therefore, we are capable of sin in heaven and we're capable of being kicked out? It seems like on a long enough time line, no one would be left. Where do they go?

What I'm saying is that originally there was no sin upon the earth. Satan being expelled from heaven onto the earth, caused sin to enter into the human race. Upon Jesus's return Satan is bound during the millennium and therefore will not be able to tempt anyone. ultimately he will be destroyed and sin along with him.

So, when a person dies and goes to heaven, are they going to a place that's like the Garden of Eden, or is it something different? After that thousand years, it will be impossible to sin? Satan is the only cause for it? Why did God create Satan? If he hadn't, we would have been able to exist in "heaven on earth" without sin or temptation, but God made it that way.

The point of my OP is that any imagining of heaven that involves no sin completely invalidates problem-of-evil apologetics. You have not been addressing that or refuting it.

I'll give you points for that being interesting, but I don't see that anywhere in all of the quotes you've provided. It seems beyond speculative.

What exactly is unclear.

The part where the Bible literally says that "a serpent tempted Eve to eat some fruit" actually means "the serpent who wasn't a serpent had sex with Eve... and talked about fruit and knowledge, or something".

I'm really not seeing that jump anywhere in the stuff you quoted.

So, are you saying that God is incapable of making a plane of existence where people can be happy and not disbelieve it (and sin)? If not, why doesn't he create such a place?

As I stated before he did. Satan messed it up. When Jesus returns evil is wiped out and the world will return back to what it was in the beginning except this time without Satan. I think the misconception is that people will live in heaven, not so. The earth is remade and the "children of God dwell forever upon the earth as originally planned, only this time God himself also makes his dwelling upon the earth.

Revelation 21:3
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Again, at any point in time (after Satan's thousand years), will we be capable of living in a world without sin? If so, why not cut to the chase? Why all this sin mumbo jumbo? If God could have created a world without sin and suffering, yet didn't, the only logical conclusion is that he wanted a world with sin and suffering. Your only way out of that is to assume that God can't create a world without sin and suffering, yet no Christian believes that, because they believe in heaven.

That's the whole stated point of this thread. Either:

• God cannot create a realm without suffering (ergo, heaven doesn't exist as commonly described), or
  
• God created suffering because he wanted suffering.
  

That's it. There's no magical third option; just people picking the second option and coming up with unstated reasons for why God has to allow suffering, but he doesn't have to, but he chooses to, because he loves us.