Alright, let me try to use a metaphor that can help explain.firedfns13 said:^That is an excellent answer, but I just don't see why it's necessary to have evil. Just because we would not appreciate the good is not enough for me.
But as I don't identify with christianity, I should probably leave this topic.
Edit. Ninja'd
When I went to type my reply to the one who quoted me he was right above this
Now, suppose you had a room with no windows or doors (ignore that youc couldn't leave or enter the room. You're in it, and that's that. This isn't the important part of the metaphor.) and you had an infinite number of lamps are your disposal. Your task was to make the room as bright as possible. Now, no matter how many lamps you put in that room at how many angles, you would never, ever be able to create a room that had absolutely no shadows in it, because the more light you create, the more shadows you create (as the light comes from lamps, which block light from other lamps and become more shadows) You cannot have good without evil. They are interdependant on each other.
It's not even that you couldn't appreciate being good without evil. It wouldn't even be good. If I was locked in a room with you and I had two buttons, one fed you a delicious ham sandwich and one killed you, and I had no choice but to press one (By which I mean my thumbs will press one no matter how hard I try to fight, but I have the choice of which button they press), the one I pressed would determine if I was good or evil. If I only had one button. But if I only had the one button that fed or killed you and not the other, it wouldn't be good or evil because I wouldn't have any alternatives. It would simply be pushing a button.
God has not planned what you will do with your life. I don't know how He does it, but he has given you total freedom of choice. You have no pre-determined destiny (This does not mean God does not have a plan. But his plan is for all of humanity. You, individually, can do whatever you please... unless he tells you to do something different... Then you have to listen...) God does not see the future as you understand it. He exists outside of time and space, and therefore sees time not as a single line, but as every potential situation that can arise and play out.firedfns13 said:You forgot God's supposed omnipotence. He then therefore knows and planned what you will do in your life.Klagermeister said:No, you just made yourself look like a complete fool on the internet. Congratulations.
If someone can foresee the future, are they making it happen themselves?
No, they just give you a choice and in the end, God really does know what you will choose.
He gave Adam and Eve a choice to listen to him, or blow off his only rule.
Guess what? They blew off his only rule.
Therefore, God is not evil. He just gave us a choice between good and evil, and we chose evil.
Allowing =/= Cause