True, but the difference lies in the fact that he's talking about 'men', rather than 'God'. It's a truism, anyway - if you assume to the world to have opposite forces of 'good' and 'evil' striving for dominance, then if 'good' does nothing, 'evil' obviously wins. He's presumably looking at it from less of an absolutist perspective, and the real world is too complex to reduce to such facile concepts, but the idea essentially holds.
In any case... without the presence of free will, concepts such as 'good' and 'evil' cease to be at all meaningful
But, the Bible itself states "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created" - I believe that would be somewhere in Genesis 1:27.
The point is, man is just like god. Man is gods shadow, his progeny, ultimately, his children.
We were given free will. Therefore god has free will. Man was not created equal, however. Some people are born into lives of servitude, some into royalty. Some are born with genetic deficiencies, resulting in a life of pain.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?"
It defeats free will to restrict those who cause harm. But in gods image, when man causes harm, he is acting on gods will.
Then he is not omnipotent.
Man is not omnipotent, either.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Many humans are just the same.
Is he both able, and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
I would like to point out here that the modern bible is very different from version that existed prior to the early 1900's.
But I also found this:
"
Two major deceptions arose in the 1800's. The first deception or lie was the unproved theory of evolution. This lie has grown into a religion that has absolutely no proven facts, but is taught in most public schools. This lie teaches that the first few chapters of Genesis is just a legend and are not really true. If the first few chapters of Genesis are not really true, than why read on and trust the rest of the Bible? Satan has deceived millions upon millions with this clever lie." (
LINK)
Evil, and the concept of evil, are both fairly relative. An act of evil to one person could be an act of caring for another.
Let's look at an easy and well established question.
"If a man steals, is he a bad man?"
The answer is yes.
"If a man steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving children, is he a bad man?"
Good question. If I were highly religious, I'd hit people like me with a quote from the Corinthians (2:17). Paul wrote that many would "corrupt the word of God" (He also warned us in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ".)
I think I'm losing my direction here, so next section!
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God."
God is supposed to be all powerful. Revelation 22:18-19 "God loves all his children and does not leave them without guidance."
If god gave us guidance, then why are there so many innocent people suffering from disease, from pollution or other factors?
This to me raises another question.
Do the sons bear the sins of the fathers or not?
1. Yes they do
1. (Exodus 20:5) - "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,"
2. (Deuteronomy 5:9) - "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,"
3. (Exodus 34:6-7) - "Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."
4. (1 Cor. 15:22) - "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive."
2. No they don't
1. (Deuteronomy 24:16) - "Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin."
2. (Ezekiel 18:20) - "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself."
(Exodus 20:5, Deuteronomy 5:9 and Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekiel 18:20)
Why would god allow the innocent to suffer for sins outside of their own control? Are not all men children of god?
These are simple questions. And I could spin them to make any point I wanted. The point I'm making right now, is that the subject is too broad. People have their own ideas of god, some are fundamentalists, some are non believers, and everybody wants to hear what they LIKE to hear.
It makes an argument of god virtually impossible to win.
I myself believe in Celtic/Pagan gods, but I don't rule out the possibilities of a single god (monotheism) or the ideas of family pantheons, etc.
Mark 3:28-29
“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—
I think I read too much.
