JehovahsWitness wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 3:14 amHe could choose to...
(a) allow it (sin) ie leave sinful individiauals to do as they please
(b) tolerate it temporarily to a certain extent intervening according to his pleasure or purpose
and/or ...
(c) eradicate anyone who starts or persists in sinful choices (resulting in a world free from any individuals whose bad choices would impact on others).
There's a fourth option if God is really omnipotent. It deals with those of us who don't want our free will. For anyone who says, I don't want it, make me a moral robot, God could answer that prayer. I don't see that it would get anyone into Heaven/Paradise or what have you, because they'd be giving up instead of playing the game, and in addition the sins already committed would remain unpaid for, but for some people it would be worth it anyway.
JehovahsWitness wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 3:14 amIn short, I do not believe it is
inevitable that we live in a world
dominated by sinful individuals, indeed I believe the bible's* basic message is one day soon we will not.
I think the story of the flood is testament to either the fact that God well knows that when you have a mix, evil will dominate good, or it stands as testament to the fact that the people who wrote the story well know that.
I'm of the opinion that it's all mythical, but I also understand that there is a lot of truth hidden in many myths. The story of the garden has it at least partially right when it casts evil as a contagion, because evil is a contagion. The idea that one person can choose sin and cause everyone else to be contaminated is true in a definite sense. What do you do when one child starts hitting? You can either aggress against him in return, punishing him until he stops, thus tainting yourself with violence if he's smart and nothing else will work, or you can let him alone and let everyone else realise that hitting others brings benefits. Either way, once one person starts up, it spreads. The most peaceful societies have governments and rules and practice punishments, establishing a sort of mutualism with evil, using it only as a defence against worse evil, but those very systems are catastrophically vulnerable to anyone who points at anything and shouts evil.