God and Thinking 4 Things At Once!

I have been taught about God all of my life. I have tried to believe in God for many years in my life. In all that time there are three traits of God that almost every believer seems to accept.

1. God is all powerful.

Omnipotent

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

2. God is all knowing, and everywhere at once.

Omniscient

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account" Hebrews 4:13.

3. God is love.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

These are all wonderful traits, and it makes God a very attractive concept, or believed in higher power, but these traits don’t make God real. Santa has similar traits. Santa may not claim to have created everything, but he can be everywhere at once, (delivering presents to everyone on the same night) and is all knowing (he has everyone’s name in a book, and knows what we want for Christmas AND like God he has a naughty list). Santa is sort of omnipotent, in that he can fly, go down chimneys, and can carry and deliver gifts to every human on earth all on a single night, which makes him pretty darn strong. Obviously, this giving character of Santa must be all loving.
OK, I will admit that the God I was taught about as a child has more power than Santa, but still, for, apparently most folks, an attractive story.

These three traits of God are just great for a deity. I can hold all three thoughts in my mind at the same time: God is everywhere, knows everything, is all powerful, and is all loving. There is a fourth concept that muddies the water for me:

4. EVIL exists.

Once I add this thought into the mix of God’s traits I find that I can no longer hold all four concepts in my mind at the same time.

• If God is all powerful, all knowing, everywhere, and pure love, then why does evil exist?
• If God is pure love, but not all powerful, then yes, evil could easily exist.
• If God is all powerful, everywhere, but not pure love, then yes, evil could easily exist.
• If God is all love, all powerful, but he just can’t be everywhere at once, then yes, evil could easily exist.

I just can’t wrap my brain around the thought that God could be all powerful, all knowing, if He is everywhere at once, and if God is pure love, why would He allow evil to exist?

Some tell me, that is the answer. God’s power is limited, but only by His will.

But if God has the power to prevent evil, but chooses not to use that will, then God is allowing evil to exist, and that doesn’t seem too much like pure love to me.

I remember sitting in a hospital with a father, as his young son died in a room near by. This father asked me why God would allow something like this to happen.

What is the answer to this grieving father?

Should I say, “God has the power to save your child, but he is not to do it because his WILL has limited His power to save your son.”

When you question the existence of God you get a lot of people upset with you. Some statistics show that only 9 percent of the American population considers themselves to be skeptical of God, and only 2 percent are firm and admitted atheists. It isn't the number of non-believers that causes Christians to feel so threatened, it is this: Believers fear the non-existence of God more than they fear God Himself.