Tonight I had a dialogue on Facebook with a new Facebook Friend from Canada, whom I will call Friend 1 - and another gentleman from England whom I will call Friend 2, although we are not yet Friends on Facebook.
Friend 1 had posted a photo of large fire and flooding among a community of homes, which he later said was caused by an earthquake and tsunami. I am not sure where or when this event occurred. However he sees this as proof that God does not exist.
Friend 1 from Canada posts: Proof that an all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing god does not exist.
Bill Gray responds: Just curious, how is a man-made fire proof that God does not exist? God does not stop man from doing dumb things. But, He does offer eternal life to all who will believe and receive His wonderful gift.
Friend 1 tells me: That's not a man made fire. It's flooding and fire due to an earthquake and tsunami.
Bill Gray: And, how does that prove that God does not exist?
Friend 1: Bill, Millions of children die of diseases and starvation in Africa every year. Think about the parents of these children. If God loves these children and can do anything, then he must not know about the suffering. If God loves these children and knows everything, then he must be incapable of doing anything about the suffering. If God knows everything and can do anything, then he must not love the children and their parents. In a nutshell, such a god must be impotent or malevolent.
Friend 2 from England joins in: There is suffering in the world; including the suffering of innocents with no rhyme or reason. Due to completely random freak accidents - lives are snuffed out whilst others are ruined. Could an almighty God not easily prevent all this suffering and make the cosmos a vale of happiness, fulfillment, and joy?
The fact that this suffering exists either proves that God does not, in fact, exist - or that, despite all the unbearable suffering, there is a point to existing in this universe and we gain enough from it to make it worthwhile. My money's on the latter.
Bill Gray: I will respond to both your comments. When God created the first man, Adam - He gave Adam the gift of Free Will, the ability to make a choice. Man was given the ability to choose between loving and following God - or denying Him.
Why did God give man that freedom to choose? Assuming you are married - did you force your wife to marry you? Or did she choose to marry you of her own free will? If you had to forced her to marry you - are you sure she even wants to be your wife?
It is the same with God. God's love is perfect and given freely. He wants YOU to love Him just as freely. So, He gave you the freedom to choose.
When Adam, using his Free Will chose to disobey God, his disobedience brought sin and death (physical and spiritual) into the whole creation. Because God's Justice is also perfect - that Justice has to be satisfied. If you commit a crime and go before a judge - that judge will pass a sentence, or punishment, on you - and that sentence must be satisfied. In that respect, you have a crime debt to be paid - just as man, because of Adam, has a sin debt to pay. And, the penalty for that sin debt is death.
Why is Adam's sin passed down to all mankind? Well, actually, it is not. But the effect of his disobedience caused changes that are passed down to all mankind. Adam's sin of disobedience brought both physical death and spiritual death into the creation. Before that, neither existed - it was a perfect world.
We read in Genesis 1:31 the culmination of His six days of Creation, "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was VERY GOOD. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." In other words, God had created the perfect world and had placed Adam in that perfect garden called Eden.
Adam's sin of disobedience changed all that. For Adam's personal sin, he was cast out of his perfect garden home, Eden, and forced to live in a world which had been corrupted by his sin. His sin brought spiritual death, i.e., a total disconnect between God and him - and this spiritual disconnect passed down to all of Adam's descendants. That is part of our DNA now, no spiritual connection with God. In other words, we are born not knowing God. In that sense, we are born with the curse of the Adamic Sin Nature.
However, because God's Love is perfect - He had a plan, a way for man's sin debt to be paid. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place, to pay our sin debt. Christ took the sins of all mankind on His shoulders and died on the cross to pay our sin debt.
Through that death which He suffered for us - we all have the Free Will means of now choosing to follow God or to deny God. When we choose to follow Him, we once again have spiritual life.
Adam's sin brought both physical death and spiritual death to the whole creation. By receiving Christ's free gift of spiritual life - we have a secure eternal life - but, physical death is still in the creation meaning that all people will die physically. The only people who will not die physically are those believers who are alive when Christ comes for His church and are raptured (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
When man, Adam, chose to turn from God and become disobedient, i.e., sin - that brought death and disruption into the whole creation - disrupting all the natural phenomenon and creating such things as earth quakes and tsunamis. And, those natural disruptions do cause famine, hunger, and suffering to many people.
Could God stop all that suffering? Yes and No. Yes, because He is omnipotent, all powerful, He has the power to stop it. But, NO, because all of God's attributes are perfect and complete - meaning that His attribute of Love which would put an end to all suffering - has to balance against His attribute of Justice - which demands payment for sin. God cannot choose to let one attribute outweigh another. So, because His attribute of Justice is perfect - He cannot stop the suffering.
But, in His perfect Love, He did send His Son, Jesus Christ, to offer every single person an opportunity to believe and receive eternal happiness and joy with no more suffering, ever again. If you will believe and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior - He gives you a firm promise that YOU will spend a joyful and blessed eternity in the presence of pure Love, God.
If you refuse this wonderful gift - then YOU are condemning yourself to an eternity of pure hell. All people WILL live eternally. Your choice is: will you spend it in eternal joy - or will you spend it in eternal hell? THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
Friend 1 had posted a photo of large fire and flooding among a community of homes, which he later said was caused by an earthquake and tsunami. I am not sure where or when this event occurred. However he sees this as proof that God does not exist.
Friend 1 from Canada posts: Proof that an all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing god does not exist.
Bill Gray responds: Just curious, how is a man-made fire proof that God does not exist? God does not stop man from doing dumb things. But, He does offer eternal life to all who will believe and receive His wonderful gift.
Friend 1 tells me: That's not a man made fire. It's flooding and fire due to an earthquake and tsunami.
Bill Gray: And, how does that prove that God does not exist?
Friend 1: Bill, Millions of children die of diseases and starvation in Africa every year. Think about the parents of these children. If God loves these children and can do anything, then he must not know about the suffering. If God loves these children and knows everything, then he must be incapable of doing anything about the suffering. If God knows everything and can do anything, then he must not love the children and their parents. In a nutshell, such a god must be impotent or malevolent.
Friend 2 from England joins in: There is suffering in the world; including the suffering of innocents with no rhyme or reason. Due to completely random freak accidents - lives are snuffed out whilst others are ruined. Could an almighty God not easily prevent all this suffering and make the cosmos a vale of happiness, fulfillment, and joy?
The fact that this suffering exists either proves that God does not, in fact, exist - or that, despite all the unbearable suffering, there is a point to existing in this universe and we gain enough from it to make it worthwhile. My money's on the latter.
Bill Gray: I will respond to both your comments. When God created the first man, Adam - He gave Adam the gift of Free Will, the ability to make a choice. Man was given the ability to choose between loving and following God - or denying Him.
Why did God give man that freedom to choose? Assuming you are married - did you force your wife to marry you? Or did she choose to marry you of her own free will? If you had to forced her to marry you - are you sure she even wants to be your wife?
It is the same with God. God's love is perfect and given freely. He wants YOU to love Him just as freely. So, He gave you the freedom to choose.
When Adam, using his Free Will chose to disobey God, his disobedience brought sin and death (physical and spiritual) into the whole creation. Because God's Justice is also perfect - that Justice has to be satisfied. If you commit a crime and go before a judge - that judge will pass a sentence, or punishment, on you - and that sentence must be satisfied. In that respect, you have a crime debt to be paid - just as man, because of Adam, has a sin debt to pay. And, the penalty for that sin debt is death.
Why is Adam's sin passed down to all mankind? Well, actually, it is not. But the effect of his disobedience caused changes that are passed down to all mankind. Adam's sin of disobedience brought both physical death and spiritual death into the creation. Before that, neither existed - it was a perfect world.
We read in Genesis 1:31 the culmination of His six days of Creation, "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was VERY GOOD. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." In other words, God had created the perfect world and had placed Adam in that perfect garden called Eden.
Adam's sin of disobedience changed all that. For Adam's personal sin, he was cast out of his perfect garden home, Eden, and forced to live in a world which had been corrupted by his sin. His sin brought spiritual death, i.e., a total disconnect between God and him - and this spiritual disconnect passed down to all of Adam's descendants. That is part of our DNA now, no spiritual connection with God. In other words, we are born not knowing God. In that sense, we are born with the curse of the Adamic Sin Nature.
However, because God's Love is perfect - He had a plan, a way for man's sin debt to be paid. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place, to pay our sin debt. Christ took the sins of all mankind on His shoulders and died on the cross to pay our sin debt.
Through that death which He suffered for us - we all have the Free Will means of now choosing to follow God or to deny God. When we choose to follow Him, we once again have spiritual life.
Adam's sin brought both physical death and spiritual death to the whole creation. By receiving Christ's free gift of spiritual life - we have a secure eternal life - but, physical death is still in the creation meaning that all people will die physically. The only people who will not die physically are those believers who are alive when Christ comes for His church and are raptured (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
When man, Adam, chose to turn from God and become disobedient, i.e., sin - that brought death and disruption into the whole creation - disrupting all the natural phenomenon and creating such things as earth quakes and tsunamis. And, those natural disruptions do cause famine, hunger, and suffering to many people.
Could God stop all that suffering? Yes and No. Yes, because He is omnipotent, all powerful, He has the power to stop it. But, NO, because all of God's attributes are perfect and complete - meaning that His attribute of Love which would put an end to all suffering - has to balance against His attribute of Justice - which demands payment for sin. God cannot choose to let one attribute outweigh another. So, because His attribute of Justice is perfect - He cannot stop the suffering.
But, in His perfect Love, He did send His Son, Jesus Christ, to offer every single person an opportunity to believe and receive eternal happiness and joy with no more suffering, ever again. If you will believe and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior - He gives you a firm promise that YOU will spend a joyful and blessed eternity in the presence of pure Love, God.
If you refuse this wonderful gift - then YOU are condemning yourself to an eternity of pure hell. All people WILL live eternally. Your choice is: will you spend it in eternal joy - or will you spend it in eternal hell? THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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