Belinda wrote:
The problem of evil is the bane of theologians. Atheists hardly need to bother with this problem because atheists know that there is evil but we also knpw that there is no problematic God who allows evil to happen. Atheists know that we are on our own and evil is ours to deal with on our own, because as sure as air is breathed we have always had to deal with evil on our own with no help from Providence during the entire human past.

As precise and succinct as can be and worth all the other long winded posts. Remove God from the equation and evil defaults to one source and in the process becomes thoroughly unproblematic except in our own and often involuntary creation of it.

Fanman wrote:I think that God is good, but he allows evil to occur, and even creates evil for his own purposes. One reason I believe that evil exists, is so that good can triumph over it. In my experience, there is a natural inclination for good to overcome evil.

That would mean that evil is also good according to God. It also means that the Devil is God's "faithful" confederate who is always ready to prove God's overwhelming superiority by being slapped. What a silly comedy! What a pathetic God!

Fanman wrote:Jklint,

If the Devil was God's confederate, why would there be passages in the bible which openly declare that God will ultimately destroy the Devil?

Even god can get bored if the game lasts long enough. After all god has to eventually prove who's in charge. History hasn't exactly been clear on that. It's been one gladiatorial event. Even the universe will eventually end. So when he defeats the devil who's been, I repeat, his faithful servant, then what? I mean what's his job description after that?

BaruchSpinoza wrote:
That is not how Satan appears in the book of Job. In this Satan is god's servant.

In any event if god is supposed to be all powerful, then the devil is his instrument.

...aside from the fact that god wouldn't need a devil to overcome in the first place since he's already far surpassed Him in the crime category. God's directive to his "chosen people" (a stupid phrase) to kill, exterminate and enslave others did not come from the Devil. So if his intention was to finally overcome evil, He'd have to commit suicide. One of the greatest depictions of Evil in all of literature is the O.T. God a truly malignant figure if there ever was one. His true offspring are Stalin and Hitler not Jesus. But again it all makes sense if understood in it's historical context, that is, as a "human" document and chronicle, nothing more much like the Malleus Maleficarum is a human document.

BaruchSpinoza wrote:
Yes, the odd thing is that Xinanity does not seem to realise it. A test was done where the names were changed to foreign ones, and the stories of the bible were given to young people and asked to judge what they thought about them in terms of fairness and justice. They slammed the bible stories and declared that the Jews and their god were evil. To a similar group, but with the original names they were forgiving of god and made excuses about god and the jews. Such is the power of indoctrination. To those that can believe in absurdities, can be convinced to do evil.

In the land of absurdity free will abounds and every belief becomes rational. Never subjected to any contemporary standard it becomes rational by default. Anathema to most believers is an intellect subservient to discoveries which annul their frozen 2000 & 3000 year old realities, the absolute authority for which "because the bible tells me so"! Even the Biblical Jews constantly transgressed their "authorized version" and the Lord was not pleased and ready to prove it on every occasion!