[zeek]

Quote:
Originally Posted by zeek
You seem to be onto something there, but there’s a problem. If evil already existed, then it existed before man exercised his free will. Therefore, such evil is not the result of free will. So the free will argument does not explain it.

I didn't say that free will caused the evil. I said that free will chose the evil. And the consequences were not put only upon the one who first chose. As with some of my other comments, the judgment is not mine to determine. And the fact that I don't like the judgment does not make God arbitrary. It makes me ignorant of the facts.

Right. We could be ignorant of the necessary facts. We could be ignorant of anything necessary to make any pronouncement whatsoever regarding ultimate reality

And the one choice affected us as a species, and as a cosmos. Again, I might rather it was done differently. But then I do not have all the facts. I/we can only presume to know anything about this.

Yup.

A funny little aside. Someone read me a few of the opening lines of the Tao. If you replace "Tao" with "God" you get an interesting thought. In so many words, when we are concerned about God, he becomes a collection of things according to our thought. When we accept God, he is infinite and the source of everything. (Not a very good recitation, but you might get the idea. In other words, even the ancient Chinese sought God although they could only describe it/him as a "way.")

I strongly agree, OBW.