1. The passage itself in Isaiah 45:7 says that causes both Peace and Evil to happen. So technically he could do it both ways in GOD can allow Evil to happen and actually commit it himself. The point is still that both Pain and Suffering come from GOD and GOD did not have to have it this way if he controls Reality.
For the record, my church involvement extends to being a "bouncer" for our church's elementary kids church program. I'm not a theologian by any means.
Evil is the breaking of some law. You can't have evil without some standard. God is the ultimate lawgiver. There is no law over him. He sits in judgement of all. He makes and shapes the laws. Technically it would be impossible for him to be evil. That argument has no validity. You might argue that His laws are "inconsistent" but you would have to show that God has no reason for them or the way He acts.
2. Not really, I mean if GOD can do anything he can create a Reality where people Freely are choosing to following him without Pain and Suffering. That's the whole point of him being Omnipotent. It's not like we are saying GOD can make a Square Circle or something. You make some interesting statements like if Evil is not possible then neither is Love. How do you know that considering if GOD can create and control Reality he could make it so that only Love and Silly Behavior is possible. Goes directly back to GOD being Omnipotent.
Again, God could do anything that is not self-contradictory. For love to be real love and not just some programmed expression, choice must exist. Compelled love isn't real love, it is more like rape. If true love exists then hate must be a possibility; along with the possibility of rejection, disappointment, pain and suffering.
3. Sure, but GOD can make a Reality where everyone Freely follows him regardless of whether the Choice Not to Follow him is even Possible. That's why he supposedly is Omnipotent. It's not Contradictory at all especially when you consider that GOD is Omniscient and even knows whom will follow him even before he creates them.
I think the idea that someone can "Freely" follow him regardless of whether he has no choice but to follow him is indeed contradictory. For me, the idea of "freely" suggests that I am free to make my own choice. So the work around that you suggest is that God prevents anyone from being born who would not love Him? Why would God fear making someone who did not love Him? Why would God feel it a necessity to "Stepford Wives" humanity? And more importantly would the love be as real and deep if there were no other option? If you knew the other person couldn't reject you, would you see their expression of "love" as deeply?
4. The idea of Perishing and Suffering does not have to be any Duration, the fact that you have a Deity who deems it to be so as a means of punishing Humans is kind of messed up when he does not have to. You are comparing two different things. GOD has the power to punish only David for his Sin with the Israelites in numbering them, why punish 70,000 people for the Sins of 1 Person IF YOU DONT HAVE TO. Why do we call GOD just if he does that which is Unjust ? It's a call to GOD's character if GOD is Just and Righteous how does this example actually show that ?
Again, how would God be "unjust"? If a programmer erases his program or if a painter destroys his painting or if a potter breaks his pottery, how is that unjust? In each instance, what they created was theirs and they had the right to do with it as the wished. Is God the creator of all? Does He not have the power of live and death over what he created? So I don't get, how God could be unjust towards His creation unless he specifically said "I don't have the right to do that to you" - whether a) he wipes out the whole world with a flood (including babies), b) lets a child die of cancer, c) sends angels into bedrooms to kill the firstborn, or 5) lets his people become slaves for 400 years, or 6) sends soldiers into battle, etc.
In Jewish tradition there are two domains of responsibility - "body" and private. God sometimes punishes the "body" or group,, even though some in the group may be innocent - the most notable examples would be the destruction of Israel itself (both Northern and Southern kingdoms). The prophets at the time surely were not guilty and following God, yet they suffered too. But they do not blame God for wrongly applying justice, but for the group as a whole for not following God.
The converse is also true, he may reward the group for the actions of 1 (Jesus resurrection comes to mind and promises to bless one's descendants for what you did). It seems contradictory that we would gladly accept "favor" or grace from God that we did not deserve - but rage when the "body" is punished. I guess, if you insist that people only get what they deserve, then we all get death and destruction.
That said let me go to David himself about the 70,000. When David sees the angel striking down people after David himself had decided which method God would punish him, he asks God "Why are you punishing others for my sin?" (2 Samuel 24:17). That's what you seem to be asking. Part of the answer, David has already answered. Earlier he said “Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands,” (2 Samuel 24:14). God gave him the option of fleeing from his enemies - that would have only affected him and his soldiers. But David choose the plague because He felt God's grace was greater than his enemies. Another important point is that it was not just David's sin - but Israel's also (2 Samuel 24:1). Further, God had already told the people what he required from a census and what the potential punishment for a census would be:
"When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a [offering] for himself to the Lord, when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them." - Exodus 20:12-13.
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