Hi Alex,
Here are a few more emails.
http://bible-truths.com/email2.htm#freewill2 -----
[Ray Replies]
Dear Matthew:
Matthew, you have got to stop talking about God as if He were a mere mortal MAN! God is NOT A MAN! God IS GOD! God is Holy and Righteous and Good and LOVING. He is not evil, neither is He LIMITED IN ANY WAY.
There are MANY things that God does that we as mortals are NOT TO IMITATE! God "makes war in righteousness"--we cannot. God KILLS and brings back to life again--we cannot.
Because God has chosen to create and USE evil for a divine purpose, we have no right to judge God as BEING evil. He is not. Neither is it a SIN on God's part to make mortals WHO DO SIN. A sin is a mistake, a lack, lawlessness. God is NONE OF THESE!
Your suggestion that because God chooses to NOT DO or NOT BE certain things, that that somehow LIMITS Him is ludicrous. Listen carefully to what I am about to say: A Being (God) Who has the POWER AND ABILITY to be and do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING HE WISHES, IS NOT LIMITED!!! The fact that God chooses to not only tell the truth, but is, in fact, the embodiment of TRUTH, and never lies, in no way diminishes God or limits God. I am surprised that you cannot see and understand this? God IS AND DOES everything that He wishes--that, my friend, is TOTAL SOVEREIGNTY!!!
The idea that if God were both truthful AND A LIAR at the same time, that then He would be sovereign in that area is nonsense, Matthew.
It is also helpful to understand the Scriptural use of the "relative" and the "absolute". I cover this in my paper. Your example of God being "forgetful" is just such a case. God condescends many times in the Scriptures to interact with man as if God Himself were a man. He likens Himself to one having "eyes" and "hands" and "hair", etc. God DOES NOT possess these physical organs of a physical body. If God had only two eyes in the front of His head as a man, then He wouldn't even be able to SEE BEHIND HIMSELF WITHOUT TURNING HIS HEAD! It is foolishness to attribute mortal, fleshly, inequalities to the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE!
When God says He will remember our sins NO MORE, He is not telling us that He is forgetful or has a poor memory. He is telling us that He will NEVER BRING UP OUR SINS to charge us with them. They have all been forgiven at the Cross of Jesus.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4460.0.html ---------------
I have said repeatedly that "evil has no moral bias." It is the motive behind the use of evil that determines whether it is "morally" right or wrong. So you be sure to remember this next time you hear of an earthquake killing ten thousand men, women, children, and infants. Are you seriously trying to tell me that when the translators change "evil" to "disaster or calamity," that there is therefore no "EVIL" involved in either? A "pure" God DID CREATE EVIL, and that is something you will have to learn to live with and die with. Death itself is an evil and an enemy which Jesus will abolish. You have spiritually and morally accomplished absolutely nothing by changing evil into calamity.
http://bible-truths.com/emails.html#evil -------------------------------
Why did God create ANYTHING? THE EARTH? THE HEAVENS? US? ANGELS? ANIMALS?
God has always existed--He is ETERNAL. He is SPIRIT. He is LOVE. He is LONELY. GOD WANTS SONS AND DAUGHTERS.
Since God is good and God is love, He naturally wants His sons and daughters to be good and love also.
Goodness, righteousness, virtue, character, and love AND INANIMATE things cannot be created as a rock, or water, or a star, etc. By the very nature of goodness, virtue, etc., it requires TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCE to develop (or create, if you will) these things. And so God CREATES all that is needed to develop these virtuous traits of character and love.
Since any and every virtue that you can think of is the result of overcoming some for of evil, EVIL therefore becomes a very important ingredient in the development of virtue, character and love.
As God does not DIRECTLY try anyone, He had to create adversaries to do this "dirty work." And 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 "free" will, which exalts his pride and vanity and causes him to think he can operate independently from 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.
Only a few are presently called to understand ANY OF THESE THINGS. The rest of humanity will be called at the great white throne judging.
There was NO evil present with God before Satan, for God UNDERSTANDS all of the ramifications of good and evil. When all enemies and powers are brought under Christ's subjection, then evil, sin, and even death itself will be abolished.
Sin and evil are absolutely necessary in the development of human character, virtue, and love.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,3570.0.html --------
There are many things that God has created that are not a part of His "heart." Evil is not a part of God's heart. The death of the wicked is not something God cherishes in His heart. Sin is not something that God endorses, yet He created all the circumstances for its use.
http://bible-truths.com/email3.htm#evil ---------------------------------
God created evil for a purpose. So naturally He will not make evil inoperative at every turn in the road or there would have been no purpose in creating it in the first place.
Evil serves many noble purposes. One of which is a back drop for good. Good cannot be understood or certainly not appreciated without a backdrop of evil. Evil makes good appear even better and is certainly much more appreciated.
Evil is necessary for the production or development of good. You cannot name one virtue that is not in some way produced by the resistance to some form of evil.
All knowledge is a matter of contrast and relativity. One cannot know what light is unless he has been acquainted with darkness. One has no conception of large unless he also knows of things that are small. Up is only up in relation to down. Life is the opposite of death, etc. To understand and fully appreciate all of these things, there are many necessary experiences to go through. God creates and puts us through these many things in the development of godly character.
All of these evils can be likened to the creation of a beautiful building. Ugly scaffolding is necessary in the construction of this building. It is ugly and serves no purpose other than in the actual construction of the building. When the building is completed, the scaffolding is torn down and discarded. It serves no further purpose. All evil will be discarded one day. And the last enemy, DEATH, will likewise be ABOLISHED FOR EVER (I Cor. 15:26) and God will "ALL in All"!!!
May God be with you and grant you wisdom and understanding.
Sincerely,
Ray