Norm wrote:
Hello believers,
Why did God create anything? The earth, us, angels, heavens, animals? As we know, God has always existed. He is eternal. He is Spirit. He is love. He is lonely. God wants sons & daughters. Since God is good & God is love, He naturally wants His sons & daughters to be good also.
Goodness, righteousness, virtue, character & love, and inanimate things cannot be created as a rock, water, or a star etc. By the very nature of goodness, virtue, etc., it requires TIME & CIRCUMSTANCE to develop (or create) these things.
And so God CREATES all that is needed to develop these virtuous traits of character & love. Since any & every virtue you can think of is the result of overcoming some form of evil, evil, therefore, becomes a very important ingredient in the development of virtue, character & love.
As God does not directly try anyone, He had to create adversaries to do this "dirty work," & so God created His OWN ADVERSARY, Satan, the devil. There are lesser adversaries in the form of demons.
God gives man the illusion of having a "free" will, which exalts man's pride & vanity & causes him to think he can operate independently of God. This then brings about SIN. SIN is so bad that it needs to be atoned for. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to be this atonement.
There was no evil present with God before Satan, for God UNDERSTANDS all of the ramifications of good & evil. When all enemies & powers are brought under Christ's subjection, then evil, sin & even death itself will be abolished. The Great White Throne is not a black throne judgment where Satan-inspired evil men think all sinners will be literally tortured forever in fire, more than hot enough to melt steel. I thank God almost every day that He does not think like us.
Sin & evil are absolutely necessary for the development of human character, virtue & love.
May God be with you,
Norm
Dear Norm,
The logical human mind would think evil is necessary so that one can understand, appreciate, and emulate good, but nothing could be further from the Truth. Darkness is the absence of light; light has no part or parcel in darkness. The smallest light dispels darkness, and the smallest part of The Truth dispels the greatest lies. As you pointed out, God, Who is Light, existed for eternity before there was any darkness, and to say He needed it to be complete or to accomplish His goals shows little understanding of He, Who is Truth. To say that God was lonely would once again infer that darkness was present, and to say freedom of will is an illusion is to believe The Lie.
You stated, "As God does not directly try anyone, He had to create adversaries to do this "dirty work" & so God created His Own Adversary, Satan, the devil," which may be the view of humans and devils but is in opposition to The Truth of God's Word. God has NEVER created anything imperfect or corrupt, but He also does not make robots but living ones who then may make choices and are free to think on their own. The devil and Adam were made perfect and sinless, but the devil fathered lies and murder, using them to deceive and slay Angels and Adam. The Most High's infinite mercy has redeemed Adam and will swiftly destroy the wicked one. There is no mercy for the wicked fallen ones; they were in heaven and knew better. Adam and Eve were deceived by what The Scriptures call shining ones.
There is no time or space to give you the whole story, so we will point out a few things from The Word of God that should dispel the darkness of this doctrine if thought through.
1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
John 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.
John 8:26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
John 8:27 They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.
John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
John 8:29 And he that sent me is wit= h me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Eze. 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Eze. 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze. 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze. 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze. 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze. 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Eze. 28:19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
All God's Blessings,
The Believers
