1 APOLOGETICS THE PROBLEM OF EVIL. 2 The Problem of Evil, or “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” The Problem: How can these three statements all

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APOLOGETICS

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

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The Problem of Evil, or “Why Do Bad Things

Happen to Good People?”The Problem: How can these three

statements all be true?1. God is all good2. God is all powerful3. Evil exists, but why?

• Either God isn’t all good, or • God isn’t all powerful

Why should I believe in a being who either isn’t strong enough or good enough to put an end to evil?

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How Humans Have Tackled the Problem of Evil

Atheism (there is no such being as God):Agnosticism (if there is a God, he can’t be known,

and is irrelevant):• Evil undeniably exists• Humans must find answers to reduce the effects of

bad moral choices• “Quit blaming a devil!”• “Quit waiting for help from a non-existent (or nonchalant)

god!”

• Ultimately, either “Life’s a b_ _ _ _, and then you die,” or “Life is what you make of it”

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Manicheanism (and Zoroastrianism, Greek paganism, and Eastern paganism):

• Deity isn’t all good• multiplicity of gods, or dual nature within one god• constant struggle between good and evil

Process Theology (influences present in Social Gospel Movement, Liberation Theology, Amillennialism):•God isn’t all powerful

•“Believers pool their moral resources •with God’s finite goodness”•“Together, evil eventually will be defeated”

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Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, New Age Religions:• Evil doesn’t exist

• “Moral dualism is an illusion”• “Merge with the One,” or• “’Awake’ in Nirvana,” or• “Find peace in the Yin and the Yang”• “All will be well when you

• Cease to believe in ‘good vs. evil and • Find the god within”

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How Humans Have Solved the Problem of Evil

Christianity, Judaism, Islam:• God is all good and all powerful, and

evil does exist• Moral evil (sin and its direct consequences)

is a necessary condition of humans having free will (“the free-will defense”)

• Non-moral evil (natural disasters, etc.) exists to perfect us (“the vale of soul-making defense”)

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A Closer Look at EvilAugustine let the problem of evil keep him from

God, so after his conversion he studies the undeniable reality called evil (Confessions includes some of humanity’s deepest thoughts on the subject)

• All God’s creations were good• Some goods were higher than other goods

• Angels and humans have the ability to choose• This ability was corrupted when they chose lower

goods instead of higher goods

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More about Evil

Augustine taught that evil’s “existence” is not independent

• Evil is the privation of Good• Evil/Good = Darkness/Light• Evil/Good = Death/Life

•Evil parasitizes the Good•The parasite’s existence is never of a higher order than its host’s existence

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Still More about EvilAugustine taught that evil’s “existence” is not

necessary • God existed first, and God is good• Evil entered creation when will (a good

faculty) was misused• Humanity’s main problem is the perverted will

• Good can be appreciated without there being evil

• The City of God is inhabited by humans with converted wills• The City of God will never go away, even though

Rome goes away (this is why Augustine wrote The City of God)

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Suffering

• Does the presence of suffering indicate the absence of God?

• If so, does the absence of suffering indicate the presence of God?

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Suffering

• If neither, then . . .• Suffering and • God being here (or not

here)

. . . are not necessarily related causally

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Suffering and Eternity

Should all who die painfully go to

heaven?

Should all who die painlessly go to

hell?

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Pain• The Gift Nobody Wants

• “Nightmares of Painlessness”• How much pain is too much?• How much pain is enough?

• Would a morally fallen world without suffering be

• Heaven?• Hell?

“Pain is God’s megaphone.”

– C.S. Lewis

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The Vale of Soul-Making Defense

Is God a …• Zookeeper?• Loving Parent?

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Does God Feel Pain?If He does not, then there is an element of experience that we have that God does not have. This is absurd.

If He does, then His ability to feel pain is not limited like ours is. This boggles the mind, and vexes the heart.

If God feels pain, and sin pains God, then why did He create us?Study of the character and attributes of God can be the most rewarding and enriching experience in learning that you will ever encounter.

Love Creates Possibility of EvilA Creator’s Options

1 create nothing 2 create an amoral world: no evil, no good 3 create only automatons, no free choice 4 create free will to choose right or wrong, to love or not to love

Love must not be coerced to be true love no love possible in options 1-3, only possible in #4 love requires loving enough to give the freedom to reject the love love without pain is superficial love

Evil is man’s choice, not God’s take responsibility for own actions don’t blame God for man’s evil natural pain is not evil but “God’s Megaphone” (C.S. Lewis)

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Philosophical DoomHow do we know which creation option is best?

Requires ultimate knowledge ourselves Any choice but #4 annihilates ourselves

Assume we exist (self-evident, Descarte) 1 create nothing: poof -- we’re gone 2 create amoral: poof -- we’re gone 3 create automatons: poof -- we’re gone

Self-annihilation to limit pain is only logical recourseAtheists may not be willing to pursue this logicBut many have!

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“Religious Evils Nullify Religion”

Copernicus, Galileo, Crusades, Inquisition, Slavery, Bosnia, Rwanda, Ireland None of these injustices supported by Christ’s teachingsChrist’s teachings clearly stand against such

After all -- that is the critics’ point: the hypocrisy

What about the greater injustices of Atheism?Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Pol-Pot, Idi AminAll such actions consistent with tenets of atheismSelf-destruction is not “hypocritical” to an atheist

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“Where is God when it hurts?”

Atheism has no moral basis to even ask this question “Hurting” is merely physics and chemistry in an atheistic

worldview Certainly not an “evil” that anyone must be compelled to

“fix”

God does address hurting and evil in His way in His time effectively

Response: Where is Atheism when it hurts?“This pain isn’t really bad because it’s only amoral chemistry

and physics.”

“This injustice is okay because there is no injustice.”19

Solution to Problem of Pain/EvilJesus Christ

Pain and Evil Exposed God’s Love to Man: Cross Love requires self-sacrifice to another: trust

Love and Justice “married” through Mercy and Grace a world without love is no world we would have a world without justice against evil is likewise intolerable

Demonstrates His Power over Evil: Resurrection Requires ability to create Life from Death: Demonstrated

Cross shows man’s inhumanity IS Evil

Cross shows God’s humanity IS Good

Without Jesus Christ, nothing makes sense

Requires a great deal of trust on our part as well as God’s

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Show me an atheistic ...

Joan of Arc

Florence Nightingale

Mother Teresa

Mahatma Gandhi

Martin Luther King

Jesus of Nazareth

Why were they what they were?

They knew truth of God’s reality21

10. ScripturalRomans teaches what we see elsewhere in Scripture:

1. We have no right to complain against God, and when we do, we expose ourselves as disobedient.

2. God is under no obligation to give us an intellectually satisfying answer to the problem of evil. He expects us to trust him in spite of that.

3. God’s sovereignty is not to be questioned in connection with the problem of evil

4. God’s word, his truth, is entirely reliable.5. God is not unjust. He is holy, just, and good.

Apologetics to the Glory of GodCh6&7 Defense: Problem of Evil

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10. Scriptural (continued)

God vindicates his justice by helping us see history through his eyes:

- mystery of time- God enters in judgment, but each time he

preserves the people in grace.- CHRIST IS THE THEODICY (Romans 3:26 “he

did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”; Rom 5:8 “He demonstrate his love..”)

- 1 John 1:9 faithful and JUST to forgive


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10. Scriptural – Greater-Good Defense

Clarifications/Foundation:1. Theocentric (not anthropocentric) –

God’s ultimate purpose is to glorify himself (man’s chief end “is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.”)

2. Obedience to God is a way of life and happiness (John 10:10; Dt 5:33; 8:3; 11:13-15…Ps 1; Ps 119:7) Suffering is for a while; glory is for eternity.


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10. Scriptural – Greater-Good

Ways God uses evil to bring about greater good:

1. Displaying his grace and justice (Rom 3:26; 5:8,20-21;9:17)

2. Judgment of evil (Mt 23:35; John 5:14), now and in the future.

3. Redemption: Christ’s sufferings are redemptive (1 Pt 3:18) and in a way so may ours (Col 1:24)


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10. Scriptural – Greater-Good

4. Shock value to unbelievers, intended to gain their attention and promote a change of heart (Zech 13:7-9; Luke 13:1-5; John 9 healing the man born blind. Why blind?)

5. Fatherly disciple of believers (Heb 12)6. Vindication of God (Rom 3:26)We know that God has a reason for

everything he does. Everything he does reflects wisdom.


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ConclusionWhy can it be called a so-called problem of pain?

It isn’t so much that evil & pain is an illusion It isn’t a philosophical problem that argues against

God’s existence. Pain testifies to the veracity, the truthfulness, of God

and of Scripture.

The answer to the problem of pain is that in reality it is a problem of sin.

A good, just, omnipotent, sovereign God has to make the sinner (the rebel against God) suffer.


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For further studyLewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain

Yancey, Philip. Where is God When it Hurts?

Brand, Paul and Philip Yancey. PAIN: The Gift Nobody Wants. (on library reserve)

Allen, Diogenes. The Traces of God. (on library reserve)

Taylor, Larry. The Relationship of Free Will to the Concept of Soul Making in the Theodicy of John Hick.

Leibniz, Gottfried. Theodicy.

Documents

1 APOLOGETICS THE PROBLEM OF EVIL. 2 The Problem of Evil, or “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” The Problem: How can these three statements all