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{"id":10516,"date":"2010-10-16T08:57:34","date_gmt":"2010-10-16T15:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnshore\/?p=10516"},"modified":"2010-10-16T08:57:34","modified_gmt":"2010-10-16T15:57:34","slug":"dear-god-please-make-me-a-mindless-zombie-so-evil-wont-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnshore\/2010\/10\/dear-god-please-make-me-a-mindless-zombie-so-evil-wont-exist\/","title":{"rendered":"Why God Allows Evil to Exist (in 300 Words)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>One of the primary arguments atheists use in their case against the existence of God is that a compassionate, all-powerful God wouldn\u2019t allow evil to exist in the world.<\/p>\n

The answer to that problem is simple: it\u2019s people who do evil, not God.<\/p>\n

What people most often mean<\/em> by the question, \u201cWhy does God allow evil to exist?\u201d is \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t God stop people from doing evil?\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason God doesn\u2019t stop any person from ever doing anything<\/em> they want to do is because doing so would necessarily mean violating that person\u2019s free will. And that\u2019s something that God will not do. And it\u2019s definitely<\/em> not something we\u2019d like God to do. Our free will is the irreducible quality that makes us human. It\u2019s God\u2019s ultimate gift to us; it\u2019s what finally defines us as free and independent beings.<\/p>\n

The fact of our free will stands as the ultimate evidence of just how deeply God loves us. It means he loves us so much he\u2019s endowed us with the ability to completely ignore or deny him if we want to.<\/p>\n

That <\/em>is <\/em>love.<\/p>\n

God would have to withdraw that love from us\u2014he\u2019d have to actually hate us\u2014in order to violate our free will.<\/p>\n

The only way for God to stop people from doing evil would be to stop people from ever thinking<\/em> about doing evil. That would mean stopping people from ever having negative thoughts. That would amount to full mind control.<\/p>\n

Asking \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t God stop evil?\u201d really and truly amounts to, \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t God turn all humans into a mindless zombies?\u201d<\/p>\n

To summarize: God doesn\u2019t do evil; people do. And God doesn\u2019t stop people from doing evil, because doing so would mean violating their free will, which God won\u2019t do out of his deep and abiding love for us.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s love for us means we\u2019re free to do whatever we want, evil included.<\/p>\n

That evil exists doesn\u2019t prove that God is not benevolent. It proves just how benevolent he is.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"