THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND THE UNIVERSE BEING CREATED BY A RIGHTEOUS CREATOR WHO DOES NOT KNOW EVIL BAFFLES MANY MINDS. Surely Evil Would Not Exist If The Creator God Were Righteous And Possessed Omniscience. Atheists claim that the fact evil exists is proof that an omniscient righteous God does not exist, because if He did, evil would not exist.

Is any theodicy reasonable?

Alvin Plantinga seems to have produced a logical response to the Problem of Evil. Which do we trust - our hearts or our minds? Where do Reason and Passion intersect?

Happy Riches, Answer requested by Charles Ventin

It is possible that God, even being omnipotent, could not create a world with free creatures who never choose evil. Furthermore, it is possible that God, even being omnibenevolent, would desire to create a world which contains evil if moral goodness requires free moral creatures.—Alvin Plantinga - Wikipedia

Theodicy is generally defined as:

1. A vindication of God's goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil.
2. A vindication of God's justice in tolerating the existence of evil.

The Bible informs us that we are all invited to reason with God:

• Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

• But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

• I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his sake. (1 John 2:12)

• Every one who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4)

• He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

The Bible informs us that sin came into being because of the Devil (i.e. Satan, Lucifer). Sin is the violation of the law of righteousness (royal law of love). Prior to Satan sinning, there had been no violation of righteousness; a continuous state where there are no superlatives like good, better or best—these are human constructs, because humans exist in a state that is governed by lawlessness and they have to work out what is good, right and true.

What seems good for one person may not be right to do to the person who is suffering, and we know this is true, if we are the victims. In other words, to use an extreme example, it may seem good for you to eat the other person so that you can live, but the fact that this is an evil that you would not like done to yourself is a truism. Something more likely to happen is stealing; which might seem like a good idea at the time to supplement your own needs, regardless of the other person’s expense; but that this is not the right way to conduct a lasting relationship is a fact that you know is true.

• The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Genesis 2:15-17)

• Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. (Genesis 3:1-6)

Evil came about with Satan depriving man of a righteous relationship with God by inveigling Eve to doubt Adam’s word, and through the deception of selfishness, successfully tempted her to do what is anathema for sustaining a loving relationship based upon trust, which is the underlying element found in faith. Consequently, Eve broke faith with Adam because she decided to be selfish. What seemed good for Eve, was not a right action to take, if faith were to be sustained between Adam and her. Her actions caused Adam to make a choice. The woman did not die and Adam broke faith with God, because what he saw Eve do contradicted claims for his Creator’s prohibition. His pride could not endure Eve eating of that which he was prohibited. Adam through reason to the wind and acted out of passion.

Evidently, for some reason, Satan found cause to kidnap man and take the planet Earth captive for himself. The Bible does not clearly state the reason for Satan doing what he did, but we know that he was the first one to sin, before that sin did not exist. The inference is the fall of Satan was caused by certain unnamed lusts that caused him to murder and produce lies. We also know that Jesus said that He saw Satan fall from Heaven, and their is an analogous reference to the Day Star (called Lucifer) falling from Heaven in the book of Isaiah.

• You are of your father the Devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

• And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18)

• How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! (Isaiah 14:12)

• How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:12)

God did not desire to create a world that contains evil. The Bible teaches that God created everything good.

• And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)

God created a world that was good: a world with free creatures who were never meant to choose evil. The fact that creatures with freewill chose evil does give credence to Plantinga’s contention: It is possible that God, even being omnipotent, could not create a world with free creatures who never choose evil. The emphasis is on the word “possible”, which could mean a probability of .0000000000000000000001% or infinitesimally less.

Evil did not exist, even though it was an infinitesimal possibility and always could have been a possibility because of the nature of freewill. There was no need for evil to occur. Reason would not reject good for evil.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil need not be construed as a fruit that imparted the ability to perform evil to Adam and Eve. Rather, the fact that they broke faith with their Creator is the evil fruit of which they both partook.

Evidently, the Creator had created man and set before him something which had not been provided to any other creature. Man was placed in a position whereby he could choose to love God, because he reasoned that everything was good, and his Creator would not seek to deceive him. Unfortunately, Adam’s jealousy for having been created before Eve, got the better of him, and he broke faith with his Creator.

Many argue that we are to approach God with our heart and not with our reasoning. Yet the Bible informs us that we are to use reason. However, there is a difference between reason that is good, right and true and reasoning that is evil, wrong and false. There are no superlatives required, just a trajectory that begins either with a good motive or an evil motive. The good motive produces a right action. The evil motive produces a wrong action. The following trajectory, depending on the action is either true or false.
Because people do not understand the human constitution, there are many theories based upon misconceptions that lead people away from the truth, and instead of being enlightened, the knowledge that they have becomes darkened. The simple truth of the Bible is this: God did not create evil, it arose out of his creatures, because they became inward looking and broke faith. True faith is based upon sound reasoning: I was created and my Creator knows more than me. Therefore, I would be a fool, if I were to tell my Creator that I know more than Him.

Faulty reasoning originates from the emotion of pride within that insists that one is better than other people. Sound reasoning becomes: death appears inevitable, and being born to die is futile; therefore, since eternity can be conceived, there has to be a purpose for existence that transcends anything a mere mortal can offer.

You are no better than anybody because everyone is on the same plane, destined to die. The question is what will happen to you after death. Sound reasoning begins with questioning whether anyone has died and come back from the dead. If this is the case, you need to seek that person. Merely saying that you do not accept the fact many people have met Lord Jesus Christ is not based upon reason, rather a passion to disagree. True scientific reasoning exhausts every option to disprove that this is the case by seeking Him.

People who accept what other people say without reason are acting from passion. Usually, people with passion about a subject demonstrate a willingness to do evil rather than good. Initially it might sound good preaching love, but unless this is backed up with right actions and a true submission to the mission to demonstrate the love of God, the claim is false. Hence Jesus said to all who would follow Him that they needed to take up their own cross and walk in his footsteps.

• All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:27-29)

Passion and reason intersect when we realize that we have no hope of overcoming physical death and there has to be a better way. When we decide that we want more than having found ourselves in a sick, sad, suffering world in which we are born to die, we will find the passion to find the answer to our reasoning that there has to be more than the injustice of being born to die, not knowing everlasting love, just the suffering that exists in this world.

Sound Reasoning Results From A Rejection Of The Tendency To Be Too Proud