(July 7, 2014 at 11:46 am)Chad32 Wrote: While I don't think you could be accused of first degree murder if you're standing nearby when one person murders another, you will still be accused of a crime if you do nothing while having the power to do something.
There may be a difference, but it isn't a big difference. Not that god has never caused an evil event. There are many things in the bible, directly caused by Yahweh, that most people would consider evil.
We are not in a good position to assess the probability of whether God has morally sufficient reasons for allowing evils that occur. As an example, under Chaos theory, large systems are sensitive to the smallest fluctuation. A butterfly flapping its wings might produce a hurricane 10,000 miles away. The same applies to any single event in human history. From a perspective only available to God, there is no way to see how allowing any event OR intervening in any event will affect other events.
You might be mistaken in what Christians believe as it relates to this subject.
a. We have free will to chose or reject God and are therefore capable of evil.
b. The chief purpose of life is not happiness, but the knowledge of God.
c. Mankind is in a state of rebellion against God and His purpose. The human caused evil in the world is a clear example of the consequences of such a state.
d. God has an eternal perspective beyond our rather short existence on earth.
Alternatively, I'm sure you have all heard that if God does not exist, there would be no basis for moral absolutes and therefore nothing could really be good or evil. Even more disturbing is that free will is an illusion and everything that happens is determined by your molecules--further destroying the argument that good and evil exists.
