Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: nunes@ai.toronto.edu (Joe Nunes) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Random thoughts on free will, etc. Message-ID: Date: 19 Dec 89 06:16:19 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto Lines: 23 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article joefritz@pawl.rpi.edu (Jochen M. Fritz) writes: >In article arm@neon.stanford.edu (Alexander d Macalalad) writes: >>Even if that question is resolved, the problem of evil still remains; >>namely, how can evil exist in the world if God intends every action? >>How can God judge us if he intends all of our actions? >> >>What am I missing here? >> >Simple. What you are missing can be said in one word: the devil. >All evil comes from him, and man must choose to follow God or Satan. God is infinitely powerful --- Satan is not. It would be totally within God's power to prevent Satan from doing anything God did not wish and to force him to do anything God wished. Therefore, by deciding not to act, God is responsible for all the evil that comes from Satan. But that's not all. God created Satan. Since God is omniscient, He was fully aware of all the evil that would come from Satan. Since God is omnipotent, it would have been possible for Him to create a universe without Satan (or with a benevolent Satan). Therefore, it was God's *choice* to create a universe in which all the evil caused by Satan would occur. His responsibility for Satan's evil is thus inescapable. In other words: Omnipotence + Omniscience = Responsibility.