Why do people say freewill is the cause of evil? Why not blame god?

Exactly. If God is:

1. Omniscient (knows everything)

2. Omnipotent (all powerful)

3. Designed the universe from scratch

Then....

Evil would have to be the direct VOLITIONAL product of God. There is no where else for it to have originated.

By the way, forget about personal acts of evil. What about natural disasters which kill innocent children? Is that the product of "free will"?

Christians I think understand the simplicity of this, but refuse to acknowledge it because they know that it will cause the rest of their belief system to come tumbling down.

God did create everything. God is spirit. Evil is not created form freewill. Evil is the absence of God and goodness. Freewill creates nothing it is mans ability to make choices between good and evil and to act on that choice. Free will does not control the body, the mind controls the body. God does not make us do anything. He allows us to live our lives as we want and to reap what we sow good or bad. When we submit our will to His, He will guide us and help us to make wise choices so we don't have to worry about consequences. The only fate we have is that we will end up in one of two places based on our choice of either accepting or rejecting Jesus as our savior. That is determined entirely by our own doing we are not coerced or forced to make either decision. The fact that you may or maynot like either choice has no bearing on the fact that you do ultimately make a choice either actively or passively in other words not making a choice

is a choice. That IS true freedom.

The term "free will" is never mentioned in the Bible. It is a term that was made by up by humans. The only thing that Adam and Eve were "opened" to after the eating of the fruit, was the ability to differentiate between good and evil. Before that happened, they were just unaware of the concept. They were directly connected with God spiritually (as Jesus is) and had communication and friendship with Him. They are the ones who brought original sin into the world, and that is the reason that God sent Jesus to earth. Jesus' purpose was to give us a way back to God through Him.

That said, whatever people think "free will" is, is only a human matter. Since we have the capability to decide for ourselves the difference between good and evil, whatever we consider either one (depending on our sensitivity to our conscience), will determine what our choices are and what the consequences will be.

Another "let's blame God" question down the drain.....

"How is evil *not* gods fault."

Invisible sky critters don't exist AND, to a large degree, nor does 'free will'.

Free will is not.

I do NOT have the free will to be thirty once again or even six foot two and 180 pounds.

I do NOT have the free will to have been born as the Sun King in 1638 or to have invented the telephone or to have had Natalie Wood even just once.

Free will is a furphy dreamed up by godsters who lacked the intellect to discern the fact that there are very few things in life that we can actually choose.

We can't chose our parents, intellectual quotient, status in society, our teachers.

Most of the things we 'can' choose are little more refined than Pavlov's dogs responses to his bells.

AND I'll bet the starving-dying little black kid in Darfur KNOWS free-will is a crock.

~

You are making assumptions about God.

You are making assumptions about evil.

If any of those assumptions is false, your argument collapses.

I don't know what the answer is anymore than you do, but I will say this:

The world is the way it is. It is what it is, obviously.

The religious folks simply say that there's a reason for it being this way, even if we don't know why.

If you say it's for no reason, then that is going to take you down a very different path.

Dozens of subtle signposts along the way tell me quite strongly that the world is this way for a reason.

Trying to argue about how it's "wrong" is an unproductive direction of discussion; all you do is make irrational, depressing guesses based purely on speculation.

But if that floats your boat, go for it.

My take is that we are here for a reason.

As Max Ehrman writes:

"Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."

I'll buy that. And if it's a delusion (it's almost certainly not. But if it is...), I don't want to wake up.

Is. 45:7

"I form the light, and create darkness: I MAKE PEACE, AND CREATE EVIL: I the LORD do all these things."

The Bible hides nothing. God has always taken responsibility for ALL of His creation.

It was also God's intention for Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and EVIL! you see, Jesus is the Tree of Life! It was also in the midst of the Garden. They are both one and the same tree.

God said in the day that they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would begin to die. The book of Romans tells us that it is the letter of the Law that kills us!!!

So, when Adam and Eve partook of the Tree of Life in a Legalistic manner, it became a Tree of the knowledge of good and evil for them. And it killed them! Because that is what the letter of the Law does! They were trying to do that which was right in their own eyes.

And, you are right. There can be no free will. If God is ALL powerful and ALL knowing, it would be illogical to believe that we have 'free will'. Therefore, we do not have free will, we have free choice within the framework of the Tree of the knowledge of GOOD and of EVIL! Our flesh is tied to it through the soul. We will always be choosing between what the desires of the flesh want and what we perceive as good and evil.

And finally,

1 Tim.2:3-6

"God is the saviour of ALL men, especially of them that believe."

No one will be left out!!!

Something, for brevity we will call it God, created everything including evil for a purpose, in many cases we are too small minded to see exactly what that purpose is. Evil is committed in matter, but how can you know that it originated in matter, perhaps the original idea for evil comes from somewhere outside of God and outside of matter, somewhere outside of God- that was also created by God but created to be separate. Just because we are a part of God it doesn't mean that everything God creates is also a part of him just like not everything is matter. Perhaps that is why evil is in such pain(which it expresses through rage and anger), it is not a part of God and we are.

Also isn't "blaming" God assuming that you have the authority to judge God?

If there is a God, why didn't he make a world where people didn't hurt each other? First of all, he did create a world where people don't hurt each other. At least, that's what the Bible said things were like at the outset of human history. If God didn't create evil the where did the evil come from?

Once God chose to create human beings with free choice, then it was up to them, rather than to God, whether there was evil or not. That's what free choice means. Built unto the situation of God deciding to create human beings is the chance of evil and the suffering that results.

Then why didn't God create human beings who were unable to choose to hate, destroy, or do all the other things that cause pain or suffering? Why didn't he create people capable only of being kind and loving? Think of it this way, if you push a button on one of those talking Barbie dolls, and it says, "I love you." How meaningful is that? If love or goodness is something programmed into you, something you have no choice about, is it really love?

Real love must involve a choice. Think about your own relationships. God gave people free choice because that's the only way one could experience love, which is the greatest value in the universe, but then humans abused their freedom of choice by rejecting God and walking away from him. And that's how human suffering came into the world. God did not create evil and suffering.

Now, it's true that he did create the potential for evil to enter the world, because that was the only way to create the potential for authentic love. But it was human beings, with our free choice, who brought that potential into reality.

But if God is God, couldn't he have known what would happen? Couldn't he have anticipated the consequences of giving people free choice? No doubt he did, but let me ask you a question: When you start a relationship, whether it's a friendship or a relationship that might possibly lead to falling in love, can you foresee the possibility that the other person may sometime disappoint you or hurt you or even walk away from you completely? So why do you ever make friends or start relationships?

I guess it's worth the risk. Having good friends, and all the wonderful things about being in love, that more than makes up the risk of getting hurt. I think it's the same with God. He knew we'd rebel against him, but he also knew many people would choose to follow him. It must be worth it to him, because he not only created us with free choice, but he even created the way to bring us back to him after we rebel, through the suffering of his Son Jesus.

First, of all God is with a spelled with a capital, not "god" . It shows a lack of reverence and lack of spelling.There is a universal issue to settle-. that of the rebellion of Satan, the god of this world and any who would follow him. He created us with free will, we will always have a choice. Otherwise, we are robots, androids, or automatons.

Energy can only be transformed not created;.a corollary of E =mc squared.

He gave us creation ability, therefore we may choose to create "evilly" and make bad choices knowingly. We can use a car to take someone to the hospital or rob a bank with it. He doesn't send a huge hand down from the clouds to stop us. However, there are natural laws, i.e. if we continue to rob banks, death or injury, and imprisonment await.

There is another complication. For instance we may be 80% pure and 20% not. God can read our heart and it's inclination.. We have inclination toward good or evil and what we will choose. Rebellion creeps in.

Harm begets harm; good begets good. If a person abuses alcohol or drugs, natural laws will click in, that is destruction of the liver and brain. That's the way it is.

At this point it sounds like the only choice you have is to let God's Will dominate in your life or not. The times that I have decided to let His Will dominate and not mine have been long hard lessons in life and at levels where only the heart can understand. The times I haven't determined to do His Will and have gone my way have been many and I'm not all that good off for it. Even though He is everything and does everything you say somehow you are free to choose what you will.

where are you getting this?

who told you that, the cause of evil is our corruptible body(flesh)

our freewill is the ability to make a choice between good and bad.not the cause of evil..our fleshly body is whats corruptible...

1 Corinthians 15:50

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

1Cor 15:51-54 " Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

if you can see the fruit of the flesh is not the same as the spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."(Gal 5:22-23)

CHILL!!