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Divine Mysteries: Exploring the Trinity, Evil, and Human Destiny  /  Why God Permits Evil  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 4
Bercot argues God did not want “a planet of robots,” and even uses the “earthworms” and “uninhabited island of plants” scenarios to show why a world without moral agency wouldn’t be a paradise; what does that imply about what God values most in creatures made in His image, and how does that challenge any preference you might have for God to prevent evil by overriding choices?
Another way to ask: If God didn’t want “robots” and a world without real choices wouldn’t be paradise, what does that say God values most in humans made in His image? How does that challenge your wish for God to stop evil by stopping people’s choices?

Direct Answer Bercot implies God most values creatures who genuinely resemble Him—persons with free will who can choose love and obedience—rather than beings that never do wrong because they have no moral agency. That challenges the wish for God to eliminate evil by overriding choices, because removing free will would undo His purpose of creating image-bearers.

Support from Transcript:

  • He says God could have made beings any way: “He had the ability to create all of us that way,” but He didn’t want “a planet of robots… programmed.”
  • He connects image-bearing to freedom: “the only way… would be to endow… with free will. Because if we don’t have free will, we are not in the image of God.”
  • He uses the island example: a place with “only… plants” where “nothing bad would ever be done” still wouldn’t be “a paradise… we would hate living in such a place.”
  • He uses earthworms: they “never do anything evil,” yet a world of only earthworms wouldn’t be “a perfect world,” and most of us wouldn’t trade our lives for that.
  • He concludes God could stop evil “by taking away our free will. But that would thwart his whole purpose.”
Discussion Follow-ups When you ask God to intervene, are you asking Him to restrain evil without canceling freedom, or to cancel freedom itself? What kinds of intervention feel consistent with Bercot’s framework?

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