John 9.1 - 3 (ESV) - _"As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. "_ I will not sermonize unless someone asks me to. Jesus has presented the theodicy. Thank you, Kurt. I always enjoy your teachings.
We must choose our free will wisely, there is a consequence of our choises, I pray for help from the Holy Spirit as I am a sinner and can’t make it without the Holy Spirit, however the Holy Spirit is only given to those who choose to believe. God Bless all, (choose wisely).
@@robintorassa409 I would caution you on what choose to research, the devil is very good at deception, a red Indian man was once asked what he thought about Christianity, he said it’s like two dogs fighting, he was asked which one wins, he replied, the one you feed. If we read the word of God, and believe Jesus died for our sins the holly spirit will help us choose well, we feed the good dog. God bless @robintoassa409
@@robintorassa409 - _"What do you make of all the research that suggests we don’t really have free will?"_ I dismiss it as the babblings of men. God clearly gives us choices and responsibilities.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they've done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. PSALMS 14; 1
"there is none that doeth good." It is a psalm (song) presumably written by (or for) David. Does it have any theological accuracy or force? Not to me. Many people do good. In fact, most people most of the time do good. The parable of the Good Samaritan is about "doing good" and how to do it. ON the other hand, perhaps David is writing about "fools" and it may be that fools do not do good.
If I consider myself a Christian, why do I do wrong things? It is not appropriate for me to pretend I'm not interwoven in the problem itself, as though I could determine the matter from outside. We are sinners all the time we walk this planet, but Christ died once, for every sin I commit. And then the day I discard this mortal coil I will become sinless and perfect. A promotion beyond my imagination.
Brilliant exposition. Thank you Dr Wise for the wonderful Godly perspective you bring to the study of the natural world. It's so refreshing and uplifting to hear the natural sciences taught this way. You're one of a kind. God bless you.
"If God is truly all-powerful, He could eliminate evil for good." Evil is a definition, a concept. It cannot be eliminated. At any rate, doing so would destroy his purpose, which requires evil to exist and tempt humans so that *choice* exists. A reasonable question is whether "all powerful" includes doing things that cannot be done. Can he create a rock too heavy to move? Yes, and then he can move it anyway! The problem is in the definitions. "If He really is all-knowing, He would be fully aware of its presence and its potential to spread." No doubt; but a reasonable question is whether "all knowing" includes things that cannot be known. "And if He is really is all-good, why would He allow evil to persist?" I do not know where "all good" is declared, much less *defined* as to what exactly it is. There's a human tendency to want to be "good" and this leads to a vulnerability where Tom, not God, defines what exactly "good" is. At any rate, the "good" must be of a nature that requires evil to exist and to allow humans free reign to act.
Christ says, "I Am the resurrection." If Christ is the Word, and the Word pre-existed, then the whole concept of death pre-existed, because resurrection presupposes death. The scriptures do not say that man sinned and death was created; rather, death entered - from where it had been waiting. God isn't the knob twiddler that Richard Dawkins mocks, constantly readjusting as his original plan gets ruined. We're living the original plan, and evil plays the part it must play. "I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things". Evil does not oppose good, it opposes peace.
What is and why is evil? Instead of calling evil evil let's call evil an "opposite", in other words the opposite of what God is. We live in a reality of opposites, what is and how do you understand light without darkness? How do you understand what down is without knowing up? How do you know what right is without knowing left? How do you know what east is without a west? How do you truly know what love is without hate and the list goes on and on and on. Evil by nature defines what God IS NOT and to truly understand the magnitude of God you have to compare Him against the magnitude of what He is not. The beauty of it all is that there is also a duality to your choices, it called free will,..choose wisley!
"What is and why is evil?" It is probably a coincidence, but "evil" backwards is "live" . Otherwise, you and I seem to agree that "good" cannot be defined without contrast to "evil" and a choice cannot exist without things to choose from.
Really interesting stuff. And possibly the best argument against a created old earth I’ve ever heard. Thank you. And not that anyone should care what I think, but to share anyway: I don’t buy it. The problem of evil is so strong we need to rethink our assumptions. Either God is not all-good, or that we, as people, cannot understand what “good” is.
Exactly, humans don't understand what good really is. Judgment by man is faulted greatly in scripture when humans question God's actions. This is expounded in 2 Esdras when Ezra asks these very questions, and are answered by God there, saying Ezras judgments are wrong, and that humans can't love God's creatures more than God, as Ezra was alluding to in his questions about innocent people and animals suffering.
@@billcook4768 that old argument is not hard to answer. We humans do know what “good” is sufficiently enough to be responsible for what we do. Do not forget the rest of the attributes of God such as: omniscience and all wise and all just. His ways are not our ways. What is evil is what He says it is and the morale laws are applied to us not Him-for they are a part of His total character “naturally”-and they are more expanded in totality for His own Being. For example: thou shall have no other Elohim before Me. That does not pertain to Him having to follow it because He IS THE ETERNAL GOD (YHWH), THE ELOHIM, THE MOST HIGH, THE UNIQUE ONE AND ONLY, He has no god before Him to have. Another example is: thou shall not kill (which should be translated as “murder”). Killing of sorts is allowed and justified for us by Him and is totally allowed for Him since He is always justified in it. Therefore, “killing” is never evil, but “murder” is. Killing by God is never murder since He creates the life and can take it and put it wherever He wants: raised back to regular body and soul in the now, Sheol, resurrection, Heaven and Hell, New Earth and New Heavens-even allows wandering spirits for a time. It is wrong for us to murder because we do not give or transport life. Much to difficult to explain things here.
Now to say “that the problem of evil is so strong we need to rethink our assumptions” is exactly why the Bible exists with the solution in the first place! It’s why the world is full of religions.
Innocent children? Let me explain how shallow and commercialistic that sentiment is with an example. The human era was a very difficult time to live in, mainly due to natural disasters and wars. Humans struggled and survived that era. But here are two people. In an extreme situation where they could not overcome without the sacrifice of the other, one died and the other survived. The survivor killed the other. After that harsh time, the one who survived met his spouse and prospered, leaving behind many descendants. So are those descendants not responsible for the sins of their ancestors? I am me and my ancestors are just ancestors, so why should I be responsible for the mistakes of my ancestors whom I could not even see? The proverb, “He who inherits his father’s property also inherits his debts,” is a firm belief. Those who have even a clue to their current life due to the evil deeds of their ancestors are responsible for their deaths as much as one person’s life. We are survivors. And we are descendants of survivors. How much blood do you think we shed to survive until today? Is it really possible to be an innocent baby? Or are we trying to avoid responsibility by saying that it happened somewhere and at a time we don't know? Basically, we are the sons of murderers. We are the descendants of criminals who were cruel and ruthless enough to kill, and sensitive enough to survive, and even a little bit lucky. We owe our survival to sin. Never again say "innocent child." Will the child have good intentions if he or she is incapable? We often confuse incompetence with goodness.
"How much blood do you think we shed to survive until today?" I have shed no blood. Vicariously I suppose; the cows that died to make the Big Mac's I eat. "We often confuse incompetence with goodness." WE? Who is WE? I am not a sheep and certainly not in your herd. "Is it really possible to be an innocent baby?" Yes. It is a simple matter of definition. My father made different choices than I have made. He is responsible for his choices; I am responsible for mine. Now it is true that the *consequences* of his choices will sometimes be felt by descendants; including the fact of descendants at all which results from a choice.
@@thomasmaughan4798 //Do you remove the blood that oozes out when your nape and fork are cut? What on earth does it mean for one creature to eat another? Your answer is correct. No one knows how much blood has flowed from the distant past to exist now. Why? I was just born and did nothing, so I am innocent! The principle of presumption of innocence does not apply to the harsh laws of life. I said, he who inherits his parents' inheritance also inherits their debt... If that inheritance is life and that debt is someone else's life, how can you pay it back? Should I just declare it a golden car and run away? You just consider it the result of a choice, but if it is life, it is not something to be taken lightly. Even if it is not life, there are as many ways to inflict serious damage on another being as there are types of sin in humanity! Even if you did not choose, there are choices you must take responsibility for. If it were me, I wouldn't have a convict declare loudly before he is executed, "If this man is innocent, let his innocent crime be passed on to our descendants for generations to come." When I see so many people in the world who act fearlessly, I think the world has become easier to live in.
@@청솔향-g9u "What on earth does it mean for one creature to eat another?" Of itself it has no *meaning* but nothing prevents you from assigning a meaning.
@@청솔향-g9u "I was just born and did nothing, so I am innocent!" Yes, that seems to be a reasonable definition. Doing absolutely nothing is a sure way to remain innocent.
@@청솔향-g9u "I said, he who inherits his parents' inheritance also inherits their debt" Yes, I noticed that you wrote that. I do not agree with it. The parent makes contract with people, and from those contracts might obtain wealth. The parent can then dispose of that wealth in various ways. In the United States, debt is not inherited and sometimes neither is wealth. Any debts will be paid from the parents' estate, not the wealth of the child.
27:21 I am not entirely convinced. By far, predation is aimed at the juvenile stage or even prenatal stage (egg) and not at the "elderly who can't keep up anymore". You'd have to prove that predation on juveniles and prenatal stage reduces their suffering. That does not completely add up for me.
Then you haven't read up on the deer population in Michigan just after the wolves in the area were hunted to near extinction (or many other prey populations, as mentioned right after your timestamp). Yes, SOME kinds of animals will preferably hunt after the young and defenceless, as evil does in humanity as well with kidnappists and rapists and murderers, but in the general terms of "predator" and "prey" in the animal world, most prey animals die from injuries or old age causing them to be unable to escape or fight back against their predators.
@@edisontrent618 thanks for your reply, very interesting. But it does not address the point i made: in terms of number of animals falling prey to another animal or human, juveniles and fertilized eggs outnumber the mature and elderly. Just think about the enormous amount of fertilized salmon eggs that are eaten every spawn season. If the survival chance (to reproductive age) of a newborn sea turtle is 1/100, how can the number of elderly that fall prey be greater than the number of newborn? Not unless the species is about to be extinct. The examples of animals that you give where survival chance to reproductive age is higher than 1/2 is actually the exception in the animal kingdom, not the norm.
@@sandorrabe5745 So, you are counting by individual deaths instead of by number of species/kinds of animals? Then I shall shift arguments for a moment, though still with the goal of "animal predation being implemented by God, due to sin, is good for the world/humans" Then I put forward: all the variations of fly, the variations of ants (especially carpenter in most areas), mosquitoes, grasshoppers, etc, etc. They all reproduce just fine, but if they are not culled by predators then they become pests in severe enough ways to actually threaten human survival in some areas.
@@sandorrabe5745so what is the problem for you? If “suffering” is better to be very short term and at the the earlier stages of life, then isn’t that a “mercy”? If culling the total population early also reduces other forms of “suffering” then is that not also another “mercy”? Seems there would be a lot of “mercy” in that. Also, “suffering” is not at the same level for the lesser (non human) animals. If a very relatively short mortality is better than a relatively longer immortality, is that not also a huge “mercy”? Nor does God not know our suffering’s Himself through Jesus! We, as limited free will creatures at the top of even the angels, must experience and learn of evil then so be it. We are not wiser and knowing more than God. Our ancestors chose the hard way…no different than most of our own children choose.
@@richiejourney1840 my dear I do not have a problem. I just don't think this particular part of the argumentation is convincing. There are logical gaps and they need addressing. I've seen many videos presented by the same fellow that deal with geology and paleontology and those seem to be more solid in terms of logical conclusions that are made based on the evidence presented. I'd say that this more philosophical approach brings its own particular challenges. Thanks for taking the time to react to my comment and have a blessed day.
People say things like why doesn't God just destroy them all not knowing that such person themselves is unaware of the darkness that has taken hold of them. It's not easy to watch people being destroyed animals that's very burdening hurtful to the creator. The last time it happened the creator was deeply troubled hurt profoundly but nature is designed in such a way in where there must be equilibrium negativity is what ends it here Earth is living extension of The creator so is the rest of his art in the heavens it has its eco defense mechanism
20:40 answers you directly Man's sin of wilful disobedience was foreseen "before the foundation of the universe..." Jesus' Substitutionary Atonement had always been the Key to The Plan of Salvation. Jesus knew we would all disobey,... and need The Saviour! Maranatha!!!
Whilst trying to understand this subject we must remember - we cannot understand God except that which He has revealed to us. God is not human nor a man that we should question His purposes in creation. He tells us - Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Wrapped in these two statements is all we really need to know - as Creator it is absolute right to make create as He sees fit, and to allow it to function as He sees fit and one day we will stand before Him to answer for our actions during our time on earth, and we will have no standing to question God.
Choosing lesser evil, thinking it's good because it's only getter alternative to the greater evil. This is satan's trickery of false perception, because we're not all knowing to know real outcomes of our choices?
“Choosing the lesser evil” is not always necessarily evil or even greater. E.g. your hiding Jews in your home in Germany during Hitler’s reign of evil power. The nazi’s show up at your door, “do you have any Jews here?” You say, “No.”. Both are “evil”. Which is greater, to give them up to torture, abuse and death or to lie about it for hopefully their safety?
@@robintorassa409 "Can you explain this a little more?" It is just meaningless words. Something to spout off to sound well informed and educated. It comes from a belief that Eve's sin was Pride, in that she believed that the Knowledge of Good and Evil is beneficial. Well, she was correct, it is! God placed that tree there deliberately as a goal; knowing good and evil is essential before anyone can make a free-will choice to serve God rather than Lucifer. This choice cannot be made in ignorance. Prior to partaking of the forbidden fruit, neither Adam nor Eve were capable of sin, including the sin of pride. There was not, and cannot be, a sin of Pride in Adam or Eve, and thus, also obtaining the knowledge of Good and Evil. That ought to be every intelligent person's goal.
Great work ❤ when Adam and madam took the apple 🍏 everything went into a evil spin. Jesus tried and successfully fixed it by giving his life. What is the THE GOLDEN SENTENCE ?
Predation itself is likely part of the evil introduced by sin. Eating an animal alive is pretty evil... I would assume then that was something outside God's hand per se. It's definitely outside of scripture...
Post Script: Job had to be purged of his Self Rightous belief of himself to humble him into a more perfect character? Job's Self Righteousness is reflected by God boasting to satan about Job's Righteousness?
There is no 'problem' with evil. There is only cause and effect. God told Adam and Eve to obey and live; disobey and die. They chose to disobey. The problem with evil is consequences for the decisions of our choice. God will make all things right, in His own good time. Bow before Him and rest in His mercy.
Exactly, when God's sons' families are living on their God given inheritance of family farm growing all living needs through hemp, evil won't be able to survive in such community. Obedience to God will rule without money from others being needed to live by.
35:20 Romans 5:12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:14 Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is a pattern of the One to come.. Romans 5:21 ...so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thing’s far of human understending…”the law of God is perfect a rest for the soul.” Some WORD,s in the Bible are enigmatic…”the dark and the light for God is the same.” Maybe the Melquisedeque apocriff have some answers…or maybe it’s too much for human, better stay unknow, like Christ said of time…”the thing’s of time not for human understanding”
The Creation Week was of physical elements, the spiritual creation within humans was just beginning afterwards during the Sanctified 7th Day of resting from physical works. Creation wasn't complete when it was pronounced Very Good together. Five physical creations were pronounced as Good prior to creation of man, and no pronouncement of man being seen as good by God at that time. Messiah said no man is good, only our Father creating man is good.
Choosing lesser evil, and thinking it's good due to best appearing alternative is satan's trickery of false perception, because we're not all knowing to know outcomes of our choices? Need to stop choosing for ourselves, and obey the One who knows it all?
The wages of sin is death. Not loving Jehovah more than anything or anyone else including yourself is a sin that makes every man guilty and being sentenced to death with pain along the way. Christ suffered before dying. Are we better to deserve less? Not a philosophical answer that satisfies our reason or appeases Richard Dawkins but It is thoroughly BIBLICAL.
"Can Christians Solve the Problem of Evil?" The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides a fairly simple answer to the problem of evil. The short version is that evil is co-eternal with good; without either the other has no meaning. Humans have an eternal spirit or "intelligence" that has always existed. Some of these are inherently evil, one such being Lucifer. However, the principle of justice requires everyone to be given a chance at acceptance and obedience.
Good God Man..in the book of Revelation .. woe unto the inhabitants of the Earth for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath... Ehosin the lske of fire.. in forementioned book. Only the overcoes make it. It written your adversary the devil walks about seeking whom he may devour. May ate taken csptive at hiswill Whom you resist steadfast in the FAITH. Faith comes bay Hearing and by hearing the Word of the. In anything this side of Eternal life. Jesus said IF WE LIVE IN HIS WORDS and if his words live in Us then we will know the TRUTH and the KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH eill set you Free. I really doubt that these kind of guestions should be answered scripturely. Yhese Verses are afew that came to me. . What should be asked do you know the Last 3 Verses in Matthew..
Prior to his known ministry, Augustine was a Manichaean Gnostic who had equated flesh and mortality with evil. This he leaned-back on in his later debates with Pelagius and wound-up solving the dilemma by creating the doctrine of "original sin" (yes, even affecting *infants incapable of understanding sin* and Gods law) and faced trouble at the time for his radical views. While it is true, that around AD 200 some church leaders like Tertullian were debating Paedobaptism, in general the apostasy surrounding infant baptism was strengthened most by Augustine. These early church men kept adding opinions and things to God's Word not explicitly written by God and yet by then, the Bible canon was fully closed. Oxford Scholar Dr. Ken Wilson has studied exhaustively how often Calvin quoted Augustine at 4119 times and how Calvin renamed "original sin" to "total depravity" and added it to the 5 key parts of reformation doctrine (house of cards if you ask me..). I view God's curse on mankind, somewhat differently than Kurt Wise. The curse specifically is *a location issue* forewarned by God (and we all are now *outside of Eden and apart from the Tree of Life* and hence, subject to frustration and decay). Who who can possibly know if Eden encompassed the whole earth? Also, why is the death of an animal (either inside Eden, or out) such a horrible thing if they were not created as eternal beings? (yes, I hold to a young earth) I submit evil for both man and the angelic realm is somewhat different for each. Man's evil is largely born from pain and frustration that his mortal flesh provides and later blossoms into full-on Satanic pride to gain the edge or superiority over other men and even judge his own creator and the longer he waits to reconcile this problem with his creator's solution for it, the worse off he gets. The fallen angelic realm is exclusively driven by pride and hatred for mankind (who was made lower, yet still made in the image of God) and the immutable judgement pronounced on the fallen angelic realm cannot be changed (their activities are curtailed by God acting through His Son and the righteous angels to bring about the restitution of all things). Why see a problem of evil at all? It is exactly the natural state of affairs that will be worked-out over time, since God bequeathed free will to both angels and man. Free will is a fearfully double-edged sword (one edge is dangerously close to harming it's owner and the other rightly divides truth and gains eternal wisdom).🥰
What I have been reading recently about research on “free will” suggests that our will is not free at all or is extremely limited. This has really changed my whole worldview! The research is quite compelling and really brings in to question the truth of Christianity.
Did you choose to read those articles? Was it a choice for you to agree with such research or not? Is it my choice to reject it? Free will is every where, in every choice and decision we make. We’re not automatons. Without free will, there is no real love. Without free will there is no accountability… We are free to will what we eat, but we are limited to a point on our resources.The limitation of resources doesn’t negate our will, but rather give it clear opportunities to exercise our will with. I chose to comment. Doesn’t that in itself refute the very notion of no free will? You can choose to respond or not. You’re free to do so. 😊👍
"research on “free will” suggests that our will is not free at all or is extremely limited." It starts with a definition. Does anyone have a definition? If your will was 100 percent free and unconstrained, would you choose chocolate or vanilla? Likely you would make no choices at all, like a computer waiting for input.
@@thomasmaughan4798sometimes I choose chocolate and sometimes I choose vanilla and sometimes I choose neither or both. But always, there is a pause and pondering before I make those choices.
Your incredulity about "millions of years of natural evil" imposed on animals is not proof of a young earth. The geological record including fossils of animals who indeed sometimes lived in pain IS evidence of an indescribably ancient earth.
God claims to have created both Good & Evil, why is there even a problem except you do not accept this? To imply that because God made evil that that would also attach to Him as being Himself evil, is where you have create your own problem. Can you not see that God can use evil for good? We cannot, but we are not God. You starts with man and try to reason up to God instead of starting with God to reason down to the creature. Is it any wonder you lack for any real answers?
Please explain how this topic.helps indigenous people of Australia since they have been here for 80k years less chromosome, mind you the northern parts intermingled during ice ages be it minor or major . Only southern indigenous people stayed the same . Can anyone explain how this works . Remember Christianity came to Australia and almost killed all indigenous all for religion. The queens religion. Please explain . Also please be respectful due to my nephews holding indigenous blood first white ship english blood greek blood Cypriot blood.
*If your God is all knowledgeable, all Powerful & created all things, then it intentionally created Evil because it wanted Evil. Thus it's first great creation Lucifer!*
Evil is temporary part of creation needed to accomplish God's goal of creation being the Transfiguration of mortal fleshly bodies into immortal fleshly bodies that exist living eternally after evil is eliminated.
@@robintorassa409 good question, Robin. I can only imagine, it may be because God's own Character is being made inside these few Overcomers, which needs the element of freedom or free will to develop that Character of being, as an integral part that can't be missing to be fulfilled.
I wish god had chosen a way to develop the few that didn’t require the vast majority to burn in hell for eternity after believing they were following the right god or the right path in this life@@bookofrevelation4924
John 9.1 - 3 (ESV) -
_"As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. "_
I will not sermonize unless someone asks me to. Jesus has presented the theodicy.
Thank you, Kurt. I always enjoy your teachings.
We must choose our free will wisely, there is a consequence of our choises, I pray for help from the Holy Spirit as I am a sinner and can’t make it without the Holy Spirit, however the Holy Spirit is only given to those who choose to believe. God Bless all, (choose wisely).
What do you make of all the research that suggests we don’t really have free will?
@@robintorassa409 I would caution you on what choose to research, the devil is very good at deception, a red Indian man was once asked what he thought about Christianity, he said it’s like two dogs fighting, he was asked which one wins, he replied, the one you feed. If we read the word of God, and believe Jesus died for our sins the holly spirit will help us choose well, we feed the good dog. God bless @robintoassa409
@@robintorassa409 - _"What do you make of all the research that suggests we don’t really have free will?"_
I dismiss it as the babblings of men. God clearly gives us choices and responsibilities.
_"Holy"_ has only one "L" and "Holy Spirit" should be capitalized, since He is God.
@@rubiks6 Thank You for seeing my many faults, God Bless, (even with my many faults Jesus loves me).
We must all taste the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in this cursed world.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they've done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. PSALMS 14; 1
"there is none that doeth good."
It is a psalm (song) presumably written by (or for) David. Does it have any theological accuracy or force? Not to me. Many people do good. In fact, most people most of the time do good. The parable of the Good Samaritan is about "doing good" and how to do it.
ON the other hand, perhaps David is writing about "fools" and it may be that fools do not do good.
If I consider myself a Christian, why do I do wrong things? It is not appropriate for me to pretend I'm not interwoven in the problem itself, as though I could determine the matter from outside. We are sinners all the time we walk this planet, but Christ died once, for every sin I commit. And then the day I discard this mortal coil I will become sinless and perfect. A promotion beyond my imagination.
"Have courage, for I have overcome the world."
I have very high admiration for this man for his great teaching and his almost heroic role as a leader in the creation sciences.
God overcame evil and its consequences at the cross. The day is coming when all evil and sin will be destroyed
@@lechatbotte. Amen! Your Comment is well stated.
The LORD Jesus gave His Life's Blood to completely Pay our Sin Debt forever!
Brilliant exposition. Thank you Dr Wise for the wonderful Godly perspective you bring to the study of the natural world. It's so refreshing and uplifting to hear the natural sciences taught this way. You're one of a kind. God bless you.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
KJV
Praise God, brother. So happy that this channel is taking on this topic. Not an easy one! And I thought that you did a good job 🙏✝️🕊️ God bless
This was an excellent and thoughtful examination of a very popular Question.
"If God is truly all-powerful, He could eliminate evil for good."
Evil is a definition, a concept. It cannot be eliminated. At any rate, doing so would destroy his purpose, which requires evil to exist and tempt humans so that *choice* exists.
A reasonable question is whether "all powerful" includes doing things that cannot be done. Can he create a rock too heavy to move? Yes, and then he can move it anyway! The problem is in the definitions.
"If He really is all-knowing, He would be fully aware of its presence and its potential to spread."
No doubt; but a reasonable question is whether "all knowing" includes things that cannot be known.
"And if He is really is all-good, why would He allow evil to persist?"
I do not know where "all good" is declared, much less *defined* as to what exactly it is. There's a human tendency to want to be "good" and this leads to a vulnerability where Tom, not God, defines what exactly "good" is.
At any rate, the "good" must be of a nature that requires evil to exist and to allow humans free reign to act.
Christ says, "I Am the resurrection." If Christ is the Word, and the Word pre-existed, then the whole concept of death pre-existed, because resurrection presupposes death. The scriptures do not say that man sinned and death was created; rather, death entered - from where it had been waiting.
God isn't the knob twiddler that Richard Dawkins mocks, constantly readjusting as his original plan gets ruined. We're living the original plan, and evil plays the part it must play.
"I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things".
Evil does not oppose good, it opposes peace.
What is and why is evil? Instead of calling evil evil let's call evil an "opposite", in other words the opposite of what God is. We live in a reality of opposites, what is and how do you understand light without darkness? How do you understand what down is without knowing up? How do you know what right is without knowing left? How do you know what east is without a west? How do you truly know what love is without hate and the list goes on and on and on. Evil by nature defines what God IS NOT and to truly understand the magnitude of God you have to compare Him against the magnitude of what He is not. The beauty of it all is that there is also a duality to your choices, it called free will,..choose wisley!
"What is and why is evil?"
It is probably a coincidence, but "evil" backwards is "live" .
Otherwise, you and I seem to agree that "good" cannot be defined without contrast to "evil" and a choice cannot exist without things to choose from.
Really interesting stuff. And possibly the best argument against a created old earth I’ve ever heard. Thank you. And not that anyone should care what I think, but to share anyway: I don’t buy it. The problem of evil is so strong we need to rethink our assumptions. Either God is not all-good, or that we, as people, cannot understand what “good” is.
Exactly, humans don't understand what good really is.
Judgment by man is faulted greatly in scripture when humans question God's actions.
This is expounded in 2 Esdras when Ezra asks these very questions, and are answered by God there, saying Ezras judgments are wrong, and that humans can't love God's creatures more than God, as Ezra was alluding to in his questions about innocent people and animals suffering.
@@billcook4768 that old argument is not hard to answer. We humans do know what “good” is sufficiently enough to be responsible for what we do. Do not forget the rest of the attributes of God such as: omniscience and all wise and all just. His ways are not our ways. What is evil is what He says it is and the morale laws are applied to us not Him-for they are a part of His total character “naturally”-and they are more expanded in totality for His own Being. For example: thou shall have no other Elohim before Me. That does not pertain to Him having to follow it because He IS THE ETERNAL GOD (YHWH), THE ELOHIM, THE MOST HIGH, THE UNIQUE ONE AND ONLY, He has no god before Him to have.
Another example is: thou shall not kill (which should be translated as “murder”). Killing of sorts is allowed and justified for us by Him and is totally allowed for Him since He is always justified in it. Therefore, “killing” is never evil, but “murder” is. Killing by God is never murder since He creates the life and can take it and put it wherever He wants: raised back to regular body and soul in the now, Sheol, resurrection, Heaven and Hell, New Earth and New Heavens-even allows wandering spirits for a time. It is wrong for us to murder because we do not give or transport life.
Much to difficult to explain things here.
@@bookofrevelation4924Job gets an “ear full “ by God as well.
Now to say “that the problem of evil is so strong we need to rethink our assumptions” is exactly why the Bible exists with the solution in the first place! It’s why the world is full of religions.
Innocent children?
Let me explain how shallow and commercialistic that sentiment is with an example.
The human era was a very difficult time to live in, mainly due to natural disasters and wars. Humans struggled and survived that era.
But here are two people. In an extreme situation where they could not overcome without the sacrifice of the other, one died and the other survived.
The survivor killed the other. After that harsh time, the one who survived met his spouse and prospered, leaving behind many descendants.
So are those descendants not responsible for the sins of their ancestors?
I am me and my ancestors are just ancestors, so why should I be responsible for the mistakes of my ancestors whom I could not even see?
The proverb, “He who inherits his father’s property also inherits his debts,” is a firm belief. Those who have even a clue to their current life due to the evil deeds of their ancestors are responsible for their deaths as much as one person’s life.
We are survivors. And we are descendants of survivors. How much blood do you think we shed to survive until today? Is it really possible to be an innocent baby? Or are we trying to avoid responsibility by saying that it happened somewhere and at a time we don't know?
Basically, we are the sons of murderers. We are the descendants of criminals who were cruel and ruthless enough to kill, and sensitive enough to survive, and even a little bit lucky. We owe our survival to sin.
Never again say "innocent child." Will the child have good intentions if he or she is incapable? We often confuse incompetence with goodness.
"How much blood do you think we shed to survive until today?"
I have shed no blood. Vicariously I suppose; the cows that died to make the Big Mac's I eat.
"We often confuse incompetence with goodness."
WE? Who is WE? I am not a sheep and certainly not in your herd.
"Is it really possible to be an innocent baby?"
Yes. It is a simple matter of definition.
My father made different choices than I have made. He is responsible for his choices; I am responsible for mine. Now it is true that the *consequences* of his choices will sometimes be felt by descendants; including the fact of descendants at all which results from a choice.
@@thomasmaughan4798 //Do you remove the blood that oozes out when your nape and fork are cut? What on earth does it mean for one creature to eat another?
Your answer is correct. No one knows how much blood has flowed from the distant past to exist now.
Why? I was just born and did nothing, so I am innocent!
The principle of presumption of innocence does not apply to the harsh laws of life.
I said, he who inherits his parents' inheritance also inherits their debt...
If that inheritance is life and that debt is someone else's life, how can you pay it back? Should I just declare it a golden car and run away?
You just consider it the result of a choice, but if it is life, it is not something to be taken lightly. Even if it is not life, there are as many ways to inflict serious damage on another being as there are types of sin in humanity!
Even if you did not choose, there are choices you must take responsibility for. If it were me, I wouldn't have a convict declare loudly before he is executed, "If this man is innocent, let his innocent crime be passed on to our descendants for generations to come." When I see so many people in the world who act fearlessly, I think the world has become easier to live in.
@@청솔향-g9u "What on earth does it mean for one creature to eat another?"
Of itself it has no *meaning* but nothing prevents you from assigning a meaning.
@@청솔향-g9u "I was just born and did nothing, so I am innocent!"
Yes, that seems to be a reasonable definition. Doing absolutely nothing is a sure way to remain innocent.
@@청솔향-g9u "I said, he who inherits his parents' inheritance also inherits their debt"
Yes, I noticed that you wrote that. I do not agree with it. The parent makes contract with people, and from those contracts might obtain wealth. The parent can then dispose of that wealth in various ways.
In the United States, debt is not inherited and sometimes neither is wealth. Any debts will be paid from the parents' estate, not the wealth of the child.
27:21 I am not entirely convinced. By far, predation is aimed at the juvenile stage or even prenatal stage (egg) and not at the "elderly who can't keep up anymore". You'd have to prove that predation on juveniles and prenatal stage reduces their suffering. That does not completely add up for me.
Then you haven't read up on the deer population in Michigan just after the wolves in the area were hunted to near extinction (or many other prey populations, as mentioned right after your timestamp).
Yes, SOME kinds of animals will preferably hunt after the young and defenceless, as evil does in humanity as well with kidnappists and rapists and murderers, but in the general terms of "predator" and "prey" in the animal world, most prey animals die from injuries or old age causing them to be unable to escape or fight back against their predators.
@@edisontrent618 thanks for your reply, very interesting. But it does not address the point i made: in terms of number of animals falling prey to another animal or human, juveniles and fertilized eggs outnumber the mature and elderly. Just think about the enormous amount of fertilized salmon eggs that are eaten every spawn season. If the survival chance (to reproductive age) of a newborn sea turtle is 1/100, how can the number of elderly that fall prey be greater than the number of newborn? Not unless the species is about to be extinct. The examples of animals that you give where survival chance to reproductive age is higher than 1/2 is actually the exception in the animal kingdom, not the norm.
@@sandorrabe5745
So, you are counting by individual deaths instead of by number of species/kinds of animals? Then I shall shift arguments for a moment, though still with the goal of "animal predation being implemented by God, due to sin, is good for the world/humans"
Then I put forward: all the variations of fly, the variations of ants (especially carpenter in most areas), mosquitoes, grasshoppers, etc, etc.
They all reproduce just fine, but if they are not culled by predators then they become pests in severe enough ways to actually threaten human survival in some areas.
@@sandorrabe5745so what is the problem for you? If “suffering” is better to be very short term and at the the earlier stages of life, then isn’t that a “mercy”? If culling the total population early also reduces other forms of “suffering” then is that not also another “mercy”? Seems there would be a lot of “mercy” in that. Also, “suffering” is not at the same level for the lesser (non human) animals. If a very relatively short mortality is better than a relatively longer immortality, is that not also a huge “mercy”? Nor does God not know our suffering’s Himself through Jesus! We, as limited free will creatures at the top of even the angels, must experience and learn of evil then so be it. We are not wiser and knowing more than God. Our ancestors chose the hard way…no different than most of our own children choose.
@@richiejourney1840 my dear I do not have a problem. I just don't think this particular part of the argumentation is convincing. There are logical gaps and they need addressing. I've seen many videos presented by the same fellow that deal with geology and paleontology and those seem to be more solid in terms of logical conclusions that are made based on the evidence presented. I'd say that this more philosophical approach brings its own particular challenges. Thanks for taking the time to react to my comment and have a blessed day.
People say things like why doesn't God just destroy them all not knowing that such person themselves is unaware of the darkness that has taken hold of them. It's not easy to watch people being destroyed animals that's very burdening hurtful to the creator. The last time it happened the creator was deeply troubled hurt profoundly but nature is designed in such a way in where there must be equilibrium negativity is what ends it here Earth is living extension of The creator so is the rest of his art in the heavens it has its eco defense mechanism
20:40 answers you directly
Man's sin of wilful disobedience was foreseen "before the foundation of the universe..." Jesus' Substitutionary Atonement had always been the Key to The Plan of Salvation. Jesus knew we would all disobey,... and need The Saviour!
Maranatha!!!
Thank you Dr. Kurt 👍🏼🕊
That is why I like to read Job. God is in control
I love your passion in teaching the word of God.
Whilst trying to understand this subject we must remember - we cannot understand God except that which He has revealed to us. God is not human nor a man that we should question His purposes in creation. He tells us - Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Wrapped in these two statements is all we really need to know - as Creator it is absolute right to make create as He sees fit, and to allow it to function as He sees fit and one day we will stand before Him to answer for our actions during our time on earth, and we will have no standing to question God.
That was a good one Kurt! Thanks!
Choosing lesser evil, thinking it's good because it's only getter alternative to the greater evil.
This is satan's trickery of false perception, because we're not all knowing to know real outcomes of our choices?
“Choosing the lesser evil” is not always necessarily evil or even greater. E.g. your hiding Jews in your home in Germany during Hitler’s reign of evil power. The nazi’s show up at your door, “do you have any Jews here?” You say, “No.”. Both are “evil”. Which is greater, to give them up to torture, abuse and death or to lie about it for hopefully their safety?
Absolutely wonderful study, Thank you so much brother Wise. What a blessing. This will be of help to all who hear in our apologetics arsenal
I like how you know it will increase. 1:07
I appreciate your work I find it uplifting...I would like to ask you a question .
Was is the golden sentence ?
Yes!
God could fix evil, but He would have to do away with our free will, which He will not do.
Darkness does not exist. It is the absence of light. Evil also was not created, it is simply rebellion towards God.
the knowledge of good and evil is the foundation of pride
I don’t really understand what you mean. Can you explain this a little more?
@@robintorassa409 "Can you explain this a little more?"
It is just meaningless words. Something to spout off to sound well informed and educated. It comes from a belief that Eve's sin was Pride, in that she believed that the Knowledge of Good and Evil is beneficial.
Well, she was correct, it is! God placed that tree there deliberately as a goal; knowing good and evil is essential before anyone can make a free-will choice to serve God rather than Lucifer. This choice cannot be made in ignorance.
Prior to partaking of the forbidden fruit, neither Adam nor Eve were capable of sin, including the sin of pride. There was not, and cannot be, a sin of Pride in Adam or Eve, and thus, also obtaining the knowledge of Good and Evil. That ought to be every intelligent person's goal.
Great work ❤ when Adam and madam took the apple 🍏 everything went into a evil spin. Jesus tried and successfully fixed it by giving his life.
What is the
THE GOLDEN SENTENCE ?
Predation itself is likely part of the evil introduced by sin. Eating an animal alive is pretty evil...
I would assume then that was something outside God's hand per se. It's definitely outside of scripture...
Post Script: Job had to be purged of his Self Rightous belief of himself to humble him into a more perfect character?
Job's Self Righteousness is reflected by God boasting to satan about Job's Righteousness?
Good! 👏
Are you the one remaining Christian in Sweden? Asking as an expatriate
@@cosmictreason2242 Yes, I am still holding out.
There is no 'problem' with evil. There is only cause and effect. God told Adam and Eve to obey and live; disobey and die. They chose to disobey. The problem with evil is consequences for the decisions of our choice. God will make all things right, in His own good time. Bow before Him and rest in His mercy.
Exactly, when God's sons' families are living on their God given inheritance of family farm growing all living needs through hemp, evil won't be able to survive in such community.
Obedience to God will rule without money from others being needed to live by.
@@bookofrevelation4924 - That's some strange stuff you're putting out there. Have you used some of that hemp this evening?
35:20
Romans 5:12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
Romans 5:14 Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is a pattern of the One to come..
Romans 5:21 ...so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
@@petetumas6513 Amen! Nothing preaches the truth better than Scripture!
Thing’s far of human understending…”the law of God is perfect a rest for the soul.”
Some WORD,s in the Bible are enigmatic…”the dark and the light for God is the same.”
Maybe the Melquisedeque apocriff have some answers…or maybe it’s too much for human, better stay unknow, like Christ said of time…”the thing’s of time not for human understanding”
The tree of good and evil. The fallen angels. The cosmos. It is all to test man.
The Creation Week was of physical elements, the spiritual creation within humans was just beginning afterwards during the Sanctified 7th Day of resting from physical works.
Creation wasn't complete when it was pronounced Very Good together.
Five physical creations were pronounced as Good prior to creation of man, and no pronouncement of man being seen as good by God at that time.
Messiah said no man is good, only our Father creating man is good.
Choosing lesser evil, and thinking it's good due to best appearing alternative is satan's trickery of false perception, because we're not all knowing to know outcomes of our choices?
Need to stop choosing for ourselves, and obey the One who knows it all?
The wages of sin is death.
Not loving Jehovah more than anything or anyone else including yourself is a sin that makes every man guilty and being sentenced to death with pain along the way. Christ suffered before dying. Are we better to deserve less? Not a philosophical answer that satisfies our reason or appeases Richard Dawkins but
It is thoroughly BIBLICAL.
Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, lightning, volcanos are not evil.
Evil was not created. The exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creature.
"Can Christians Solve the Problem of Evil?"
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides a fairly simple answer to the problem of evil. The short version is that evil is co-eternal with good; without either the other has no meaning. Humans have an eternal spirit or "intelligence" that has always existed. Some of these are inherently evil, one such being Lucifer. However, the principle of justice requires everyone to be given a chance at acceptance and obedience.
Mind blown!
Good people just don't stand by and watch evil things happen or go on those who are ok comfortable with evil so
Good God Man..in the book of Revelation .. woe unto the inhabitants of the Earth for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath...
Ehosin the lske of fire.. in forementioned book.
Only the overcoes make it.
It written your adversary the devil walks about seeking whom he may devour. May ate taken csptive at hiswill
Whom you resist steadfast in the FAITH.
Faith comes bay Hearing and by hearing the Word of the.
In anything this side of Eternal life. Jesus said IF WE LIVE IN HIS WORDS and if his words live in Us then we will know the TRUTH and the KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH eill set you Free.
I really doubt that these kind of guestions should be answered scripturely.
Yhese Verses are afew that came to me. .
What should be asked do you know the Last 3 Verses in Matthew..
Prior to his known ministry, Augustine was a Manichaean Gnostic who had equated flesh and mortality with evil. This he leaned-back on in his later debates with Pelagius and wound-up solving the dilemma by creating the doctrine of "original sin" (yes, even affecting *infants incapable of understanding sin* and Gods law) and faced trouble at the time for his radical views. While it is true, that around AD 200 some church leaders like Tertullian were debating Paedobaptism, in general the apostasy surrounding infant baptism was strengthened most by Augustine. These early church men kept adding opinions and things to God's Word not explicitly written by God and yet by then, the Bible canon was fully closed. Oxford Scholar Dr. Ken Wilson has studied exhaustively how often Calvin quoted Augustine at 4119 times and how Calvin renamed "original sin" to "total depravity" and added it to the 5 key parts of reformation doctrine (house of cards if you ask me..). I view God's curse on mankind, somewhat differently than Kurt Wise. The curse specifically is *a location issue* forewarned by God (and we all are now *outside of Eden and apart from the Tree of Life* and hence, subject to frustration and decay).
Who who can possibly know if Eden encompassed the whole earth?
Also, why is the death of an animal (either inside Eden, or out) such a horrible thing if they were not created as eternal beings? (yes, I hold to a young earth)
I submit evil for both man and the angelic realm is somewhat different for each. Man's evil is largely born from pain and frustration that his mortal flesh provides and later blossoms into full-on Satanic pride to gain the edge or superiority over other men and even judge his own creator and the longer he waits to reconcile this problem with his creator's solution for it, the worse off he gets. The fallen angelic realm is exclusively driven by pride and hatred for mankind (who was made lower, yet still made in the image of God) and the immutable judgement pronounced on the fallen angelic realm cannot be changed (their activities are curtailed by God acting through His Son and the righteous angels to bring about the restitution of all things).
Why see a problem of evil at all? It is exactly the natural state of affairs that will be worked-out over time, since God bequeathed free will to both angels and man.
Free will is a fearfully double-edged sword (one edge is dangerously close to harming it's owner and the other rightly divides truth and gains eternal wisdom).🥰
What I have been reading recently about research on “free will” suggests that our will is not free at all or is extremely limited. This has really changed my whole worldview! The research is quite compelling and really brings in to question the truth of Christianity.
Did you choose to read those articles? Was it a choice for you to agree with such research or not? Is it my choice to reject it?
Free will is every where, in every choice and decision we make. We’re not automatons. Without free will, there is no real love. Without free will there is no accountability…
We are free to will what we eat, but we are limited to a point on our resources.The limitation of resources doesn’t negate our will, but rather give it clear opportunities to exercise our will with.
I chose to comment. Doesn’t that in itself refute the very notion of no free will? You can choose to respond or not. You’re free to do so. 😊👍
@@coryanderson5210 it's really so obvious that some people don't see it. They choose not to and they think they had no choice! Enough said!
"research on “free will” suggests that our will is not free at all or is extremely limited."
It starts with a definition. Does anyone have a definition? If your will was 100 percent free and unconstrained, would you choose chocolate or vanilla? Likely you would make no choices at all, like a computer waiting for input.
There are also studies showing free will sooooo….
@@thomasmaughan4798sometimes I choose chocolate and sometimes I choose vanilla and sometimes I choose neither or both. But always, there is a pause and pondering before I make those choices.
You're going to have to explain what you mean by "natural evil." An old earth is a much better position than holding the earth is 6-10k old.
Evil is nothing. Then creation ex Nihilo is a creation from evil.
Your incredulity about "millions of years of natural evil" imposed on animals is not proof of a young earth. The geological record including fossils of animals who indeed sometimes lived in pain IS evidence of an indescribably ancient earth.
Adam and madam messed up ...sly humans..they would be still alive today and it would be amazing to be in the garden of Eden.
God claims to have created both Good & Evil, why is there even a problem except you do not accept this? To imply that because God made evil that that would also attach to Him as being Himself evil, is where you have create your own problem. Can you not see that God can use evil for good? We cannot, but we are not God. You starts with man and try to reason up to God instead of starting with God to reason down to the creature. Is it any wonder you lack for any real answers?
Please explain how this topic.helps indigenous people of Australia since they have been here for 80k years less chromosome, mind you the northern parts intermingled during ice ages be it minor or major . Only southern indigenous people stayed the same . Can anyone explain how this works . Remember Christianity came to Australia and almost killed all indigenous all for religion. The queens religion. Please explain . Also please be respectful due to my nephews holding indigenous blood first white ship english blood greek blood Cypriot blood.
Really debunks Christian’s who believe in an old earth
Not really
@@richiejourney1840so you didn’t listen to the entire video I’m guessing
*If your God is all knowledgeable, all Powerful & created all things, then it intentionally created Evil because it wanted Evil. Thus it's first great creation Lucifer!*
Lucifer is nothing but an errand boy carrying his own light instead of the light of his creator.
Evil is temporary part of creation needed to accomplish God's goal of creation being the Transfiguration of mortal fleshly bodies into immortal fleshly bodies that exist living eternally after evil is eliminated.
@@bookofrevelation4924 but I don’t understand why we need this transfiguration. Why didn’t god just create eternal beings in the first place?
@@robintorassa409 good question, Robin.
I can only imagine, it may be because God's own Character is being made inside these few Overcomers, which needs the element of freedom or free will to develop that Character of being, as an integral part that can't be missing to be fulfilled.
I wish god had chosen a way to develop the few that didn’t require the vast majority to burn in hell for eternity after believing they were following the right god or the right path in this life@@bookofrevelation4924