How can evil be "the absence of God" when the Bible CLEARLY states that God created and is in ALL things?
544058
if god is perfect, how could he create evil?  evil is an imperfection, a perfect being could not create something imperfect.
1092979
If all things are from God, than what evil is there aside from what the human mind perceives. \n\nGood and Bad, are like positive and negative energy. In harmony and in balance, these entities are useful forces. When they become out of balance and one over shadows the other, we sometimes fail to understand and our perception becomes distorted and refer to it as, evil.
1100782
Everyone and everything was made by God. Look around you. Do you think that everything could be how it is without God? There is an obvious creator for everything to fit like it does.
53167
In the book of Job, Satan is pretty chummy with God and makes wagers with him like two blokes at a country club.\n\nAccording to Paradise Lost, Satan rebelled against God because he would not serve Him. ("Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven.")\n\nIsn't God everything? If God is everything, isn't Satan just an aspect of God?
899062
The truth about Good and Evil is that it's in the eye of the beholder. There is no active force of Evil or Good, only progress and lack  thereof.  This is what Adam and Eve learned in the Garden and thats what the Creator God didn't want them to know. One mans Evil is another mans Good and evildoers will always refer to their progress as good.  Those who fallow the creator God are trapped in a world run by these invisible forces and it distracts them from the real world and it's real problems. In reality nothing exists to be feared, only understood. knowing this will set you free forever. God bless Jehova, for he and his children shall never know.
583567
Hah, people are dumb. Way to go, dude.\n\nThe answer is: Because there is no god, it's just a concept. Evil does not exist, it's what you create.
262160
The short answer is that God is loving enough to allow us to suffer the effects (both good and bad) of our actions and the actions of others. If God did not allow us to experience the consequences of our actions (and others'), then free-will would be only an illusion, and God would be unjust in judging some worthy of hell, and others being admitted to heaven. OUR ACTIONS CAUSE EVIL, not God! Does God allow evil? Yes! Did God create evil? NO! God merely created free moral agents with the ability to choose to follow Him, and do no evil, or to rebel against Him, and do evil things.\nThat begs the question, why did God create free-will? Because without free-will, we would be nothing more than robots, or puppets on a string. God created man for the purpose of having relationship with, and to serve and protect the lesser creations of God (animals, the earth, anyone or anything less powerfull than ourselves).\nHaving said that, God does use evil (when it happens), to further His agenda for the earth, and particularly for those that love Him, and are called according to His purpose.\nGod created the POSSIBILITY of evil, He did not create evil, and along with the possibility of evil, had a plan to turn what was evil into something beautiful. THAT is why Jesus MUST BE God, Because God Himself stepped in and bore EVIL on His own self, in order to undo the power of evil, Jesus must also be man, because evil was introduced to the earth through a man, and a man must then break the power of evil.\nJesus was both 100% God and 100% man - fulfilling justice for both God and Man.
691863
God chose to make it impossible to prove his existence so that he could seperate those with faith from those who cannot believe in things greater than themselves.  Proof of God's existence would eliminate free will and the ability of humankind to become more than it is.  The universe was created by intelligent design so that an alternate explanation for existence was possible so that faith would be possible.  You can believe that God created himself and the universe or you can believe that all of the matter and energy in the universe suddenly created itself but you cannot prove either.  We live in a universe bound by the laws of causality.  Every thing has a beginning and an end and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  There has to be a starting point to causality and you must decide what you believe in based on what you can perceive in the human spirit and the world around you.
834990
Nope God is not evil.He does not temp good with evil nor can he be evil.Satan is the first person that was evil.Evil is the same thing as sin.Being evil is disobeying God.Their was no evil when it was just God.Only after satan fell and tried to control man and make them evil.
557902
The curious as well as the critics of Christianity ask this question. If God is all-powerful and all loving, then why does He permit evil and suffering in the world? Various answers have been given but permanently settling the issue is impossible because so many of our answers raise further questions. Nevertheless, our lack of ability to answer the question perfectly does not mean that we cannot offer solutions. Of course, I do not assume to be able to answer these questions definitively, but I can offer some solutions.\n     First of all, it is possible that God has reasons for allowing evil to exist that we simply cannot understand. In this the Christian can have confidence in God knowing that His ways are above our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). As the Bible says, the just shall live by faith (Hab. 2:4).\n     Second, God may be letting evil run its course in order to prove that evil is evil and that suffering, which is the unfortunate product of evil, is further proof that anything contrary to God’s will is bad, harmful, painful, and leads to death. \n     God gave Adam dominion over the world (Gen. 1:28). When he rebelled against God, he set in motion an entire series of events and changed the very nature of man and creation. Both were affected by sin. Creation was no longer a paradise, but bore thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:22). People became sinful (Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:3), who were haters of God (Rom. 3:19-12), etc. The only conclusion to such a situation is death. Jesus said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24:22). \n     Sin is rebellion against God and His created order. But God has not left us alone in this fallen world. He continued to enter this world, pointing us to Himself, to truth, to morality, purity, and love. He used the evil of the world (liars, perjurers, the envious, etc), to bring His Son to the cross so that we might have the opportunity of eternal life. In this, God has not stepped away from fallen creation, but has stepped into it by becoming Jesus. God works within the fallen world to affect change and He uses fallen people to accomplish His will. In this, He is proving His sovereignty over evil, suffering, and rebellious people, proving that sin and evil are utterly futile, and that He is worthy of honor and glory.\n     A third possible reason that God is letting evil occur is so that on the day of judgment, the condemned will have no right to say that their sentence is unjust. God is not stopping people from exercising their free will. Think about this: If someone said that God should stop evil and suffering, then should God then stop all evil and suffering? If God only stopped some of it, then we would still be asking the same question of why it exists. So, if we want God to stop evil and suffering, then He must stop all of it. We have no problem with this when it means stopping a catastrophe, or a murder, or a rape. But what about when someone thinks of something evil? Evil is evil whether it is acted out or not. Hatred and bigotry in someone’s heart is wrong. If it is wrong, and if God is to stop all evil, then He must stop that person from thinking his own thoughts. To do that, God must remove his freedom of thought. Furthermore, which person on the earth has not thought something evil? God would be required, then, to stop all people from exercising their free will. This is something God has chosen not to do. Therefore, we could say that one of the reasons that God permits evil and suffering is because of man’s free will.\n     Fourth, it is quite possible that God uses the suffering to do good. In other words, He produces patience through tribulation (Rom. 5:3). Or He may desire to save someone through it. Take for example, the account of Joseph who was sold into slavery by His brothers. What they did was wrong and Joseph suffered greatly for it. But, later, God raise
1010301
Not really, because if we didn't know what is evil, how would we know what is good? There would be no comparison and therefore good would be just what everything is.
869114
God is not a created being. In the Bible God says to Moses... "I am".
64123
Before we ask that question, we need to ask another:  What is the nature of the relationship between good and evil?\n\nHere's my answer:\n\nMost people think of the relationship between good and evil as "one or the other".  I believe it is "presence or absence".  More fully, the relationship bewteen good and evil is the presence of good versus the absence of (or separation from) good.  Evil, therefore (according to this line of thought, which I happen to agree with), is the absence of good or the separation from good.    \n\nThink about light and dark for a moment.  Light is not a counterpart to dark, nor is it the absence of dark.  Light makes dark go away.  Think about that.  Light can't be defined as the absence of dark because it _causes_ the absence of dark.  Darkness only exists if light is taken away, by deactivation of the light source or separation from it (as in closing off a dark room from the light outside).  So it's the other way around: dark is the absence of light or the separation from it.  The relationship between good and evil works very much the same way.\n\nNext, evil is not itself a power.  Rather, it is that the separation of the self from good can have powerful effects.  If one chose to rid oneself of all good, one could accomplish powerfully negative and hurtful things.  So, you can do evil things at will if you really want to, but this is not because evil is powerful; it's because anyone who sets his or her mind to it can accomplish powerful things.  (Turning off the light doesn't make darkness more powerful; it only removes the influence of the light; we don't measure darkness levels, we measure light levels).\n\nPeople who are duped into doing evil, believing they are doing good, end up that way because their belief or faith is blind.  They are unwilling to question the rules and scriptures of their religion or belief system.  As a result of that, they get lost and become separated from good.  So, it doesn't really work to say that it is evil that controls them.  They are controlled by something within, to be sure, but it is their own unwillingness to open their minds and question things that controls them.  This is not evidence of evil, but rather of human weakness and of separation from good -- but the result of that separation from good can certainly be terrible.\n\nCan evil be controlled?  That depends on what you are asking.  If you're asking whether one can control evil within oneself, I believe the answer is yes.  Whether you fill yourself with good or separate yourself from it is a choice, just as you can choose to step into a dark room and close the door.  It's also true that you can end up separated from good inadvertently, but once you realize that you've become separated you can choose to reverse that separation.  I'm not saying it's easy to choose good, because it's not.  It takes a lot of strength and perseverance.  To live a life of good is to know that some others will, at times, take advantage of your goodness and to make one's peace with that.  \n\nIf you're asking whether you can control the evil within another, I think the answer is no.  You can only try to encourage others to change their ways.
424728
Philosophers of religion generally agree that the concept of omnipotence does not require logically impossible or self-contradictory abilities. Thus it would be absurd to think that an omnipotent being could create a square circle for example. Hence, if one believes that god is omnipotent it is not necessary to believe that she could therefore create a stone so heavy that even he could not lift it, because the latter idea is self-contradictory. \n\nA trickier question is this: if god is both omnipotent and all-good, why does it permit evil and injustice to occur?
985775
The bible is something that someone made up.\n\nHell doesnt exist.\nHeaven doesnt exist.\nThere is no God.\n\nThese are my beliefs.. I'm sure you'll receive lots of different responses to that.
292654
Read your bibles!  God created evil!
987079
For both of your questions:  God does not exist as he is told of in the Bible.  That is merely a manifestation of mankind's idiocy in a textual form.  Really, somehting as drastic as salvation cannot be attained simply by asking forgiveness.  God exists as a force of nature, and ironically enough, was worshipped under the name Shaitan (Satan) before the Christains came and torched everyone who thought differently than they!  It's historical, YOU CAN LOOK IT UP!  REMEMBER THE INQUISITIONS!\n\nAnd upon your question on god hating anyone?  It is in your Bible.  I swear, I know more about the bible than christians do.  ...Jacob whom I have loved...Esau who I have hated...read your f****** holy book.