There are truly some awful things in this world. Child rapists, murderers, people who do some of the worst kind of evil. Its unimaginable to most of us, but it exists.
God created us.
God created everything. Every thought, every action, every movement, everything.
God is all knowing, so when he created free will, he created what free will allows you to do.
This can only mean one thing. God imagined those evil things and allowed them to exist. People use free will as an excuse.
Predestination doesn't mean the same thing to every person. To some, it simply means that God knows all the possible outcomes of our choices and all the choices that could ever be. In my view (and others', in this understanding, there's no conflict with free will here.
I still don't know my exact feelings and thoughts on the free will matter, but I've never believed that God views time in such a linear fashion. I think that's a very human concept. To me, time is only but another dimension we have simply not accessed yet. Just because we perceive it in the ways that we do doesn't mean that it applies to the rest of the universe, or to a being such as God. In my limited mind, I can only imagine time as a more flexible concept that exists all at once (or not at all) at the same time. That is a "solution" that makes sense to me. Time does not exist in a highly individualized present moment to God like it does for us.
The notion of an all knowing, all powerful, all good creater just cannot go with Evil that we see. Its impossible.
Why is that impossible?
I've had periods of suffering and pain in my life, as has everyone else. I have learned and grown from these experiences and become a better person in a way I don't believe would be possible if I had not experienced them in the first place. I couldn't see it while I was going through it, but those experiences have shaped me and benefited me, in their own ways. Sometimes we can fail to see the bigger picture. Sometimes change may not come in our lifetimes.
In my philosophy course I learned that this was one of the proposed solutions to the problem of evil called the development of the soul. or soul-making. Evil exists because it is necessary for our own development, both as individuals and as a species.
The next reason was free will. We have the ability to make our own choices. If God intervened, not only would those committing the specific action no longer have their free will. All those who would otherwise have the power to do something about it themselves would lose their free will as well.
The final reason is the existence of sin, where individuals or humankind have wronged. I suppose you could say this is the deserving or punishing reason; possible "karma." I learned it is not just a single one of these reasons but a combination of all three that "solved" the ever-complex problem of evil.
I think the proposed solutions to the problem of evil call into question whether God can have morally sound reason(s) for allowing evil. He can be All Good, All Knowing, and All Powerful but "choose" not to prevent evil for a morally sound reason or reasons.
I and everyone else have the opportunities to impact other places and people. As the saying goes, "Be the change you want to see in the world." We have a long way to go, but today we live in the safest period of human history. Don't get me wrong - we have a long way to go still. There is still a lot of evil and suffering in the world, but there is a lot of good, peace, and tolerance too.
I don't think you can have one without the other. What kind of world is that? What kind of test is that? What kind of people would we be, without the hardships and pain to balance and shape us into who we are?
I've posted this before on this forum, but I really like the following
"To suffer is to appreciate its absence.
"To suffer is to care.
"To suffer is to tutor empathy.
"To suffer is to know loss.
"To suffer is to know pain.
"To suffer is to know despair.
"To know loss, pain, and despair is to understand the preciousness of life, love, and hope.
"Your trials and tribulations were often difficult, quite unlucky, and sometimes unfair; however, you persevered through life in that you tried to overcome your burdens.
"On the grand scale, life on earth is but an inhalation and now you may exhale in peace for you understand better than most what is worth cherishing."
Something somewhere must be false
Either God is actually Evil.
There are more then one God, with one being Evil.
There is no God.
God isn't all knowing, or all powerful.
I struggle to see how theres a 5th option. Please help me if you think so.
There are a couple other possible options
God is neither good or evil.
There are many gods (not necessarily divided up into evil or good).
God doesn't care / left us to our own devices (this is the deist approach).
And of course there may be more.
