[flyinRyan]

This has been argued and discussed endlessly throughout the centuries, but the answer to your questions are: free will. For example, God didn't make "the devil", he made an angel who chose to go against God.

The "Eternal life" thing sounds like coercion when you think of it as "do this or you'll be tortured in hell" but the point is God lets you chose to be with him or to not be with him. If God is everything that is good, then there's not going to be a way to make a place that does not have him and yet is pleasant to be, right?

[Crake]

Yeah, this is about when you run into that whole "how can you have free will if god is supposed to be omnipotent" problem that's been dogging various religions for centuries...

[flyinRyan]

Actually, philosophy passed that bit quite some time ago. Being omnipotent is not a problem for free will.

[Crake]

I can see why some people would want to think that. Humans are amazing at rationalizing their irrational emotional responses.