My Dad has told me on more than one occasion that I should become a televangelist to make good money.
But I just cannot ethically do the fake healing thing.
Edited work from my
PhD.
Preface
Within a sovereignty approach and theodicy as opposed to related but somewhat different incompatibilistic free will theodicy, I deduce a theoretical, possible and suitable reason why God created a good world and allowed human beings to rebel against him.
Certain persons will experience evil and atonement
Certain persons will have experienced their own sin, death, and the atoning work of Christ and his resurrection applied to them. These would be citizens of the culminated Kingdom of God.
Persons cannot be created with experience
Very importantly, persons cannot be created with experience, even if made with a level of initial maturity. God can create a perfect person, but God cannot logically create a perfect person with experience as such. The act of creating implies newness and inexperience. Admittedly, God could hypothetically create a being with false memories of a perfect life, but this would not be the same as having experience. I deduce the results would not be the same.
Through problem of evil certain persons will become Christ-like
It is reasonable to deduce that the problem of evil is possibly God’s means of developing certain individuals to eventual Christ-like stature, not sharing Christ’s divinity in nature but becoming like Christ in a mature and moral manner, combined with an unbreakable devotion to God. This would be finite moral perfection and goodness but not infinite, God-like moral perfection and goodness. Isaiah 43 makes it clear there was no God formed before God and there will be no God formed after. Isaiah 44-46 make similar statements.
Conclusion
Those within culminated Kingdom will have greater spiritual maturity than initial persons
A reason for God to willfully allow human rebellion
My theory and conclusion is that human beings in Christ with the use of compatibilism will eventually have greater spiritual maturity than Adam and Eve did prior to a fall from God.
It would also appear that God ultimately prefers persons (human ones at least) as they will be in the culminated Kingdom, over persons in a different scenario that would have never freely chosen to disobey God.
Perhaps in that case as well the former group would have greater spiritual maturity.
Further Explanation
It is believed that Christ will be God’s lieutenant in this godless world and bring about, through his crucifixion and resurrection, the promise of a better future, which includes hope. Moltmann (1993: 256). The Kingdom of God was present in Christ and this has been defined in history. Moltmann (1993: 263).
God would not have to go through such a process as he is infinitely good and human beings are finitely good and capable of falling.
That being stated, some angels apparently never did fall and yet had finite goodness.
I reason God could create significantly free finite beings that would fall, and significantly free finite beings that would not.
AUGUSTINE (388-395)(1964) On Free Choice of the Will, Translated by Anna S.Benjamin and L.H. Hackstaff, Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice Hall.
FEINBERG, JOHN.S. (1994) The Many Faces of Evil, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House.
FLEW, ANTONY (1955) ‘Divine Omnipotence and Human Freedom’, in Antony Flew and A. MacIntrye (eds), New Essays in Philosophical Theology, London, SCM.
HICK, JOHN (1970) Evil and The God of Love, London, The Fontana Library.
LEIBNIZ, G.W. (1710)(1998) Theodicy, Translated by E.M. Huggard Chicago, Open Court Classics.
MACKIE, J.L. (1955)(1996) ‘Evil and Omnipotence’ in Mind, in Michael Peterson, William Hasker, Bruce Reichenbach, and David Basinger (eds.), Philosophy of Religion, Oxford, Oxford University Press .
MOLTMANN, JÜRGEN (1993) The Crucified God, Minneapolis, Fortress Press.
PLANTINGA, ALVIN.C. (1977)(2002) God, Freedom, and Evil, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans .Publishing Company.
Another shot from 'my estate'. Public road included.
