Tag: Evil
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How Do We Respond to Calls to Discuss Justice in the Church?
How do we respond to calls to discuss justice in the church? Not only is this a hot issue right now, but it is a critical issue to discuss. Because it is crucial, we need to address it in the church. Approaching the Conversation Primarily, we need to be intentional about how we approach the…
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Where did all of humanity’s problems begin? Simple!
If someone can make you second guess the very words of God, they can justify just about anything. For many people who wrestle with doubt or ongoing sin, the problem lies not only in temptation but in questioning God. A perfect example of this can be seen in the Garden of Eden, where Satan approached…
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Taking a Deeper Look at the Problem of Evil: The Cross
Finally, I end by covering the cross and our eschatological hope as Christians. Jesus agonized the nastiest evil that can be thrown at him: denial by his own adored people, in the streets of their capital city; abhorrence from the authorities in his own religion; unfairness at the hands of the Roman court; unfaithfulness…
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Taking a Deeper Look at the Problem of Evil: The Greater Good Principle
Concluding the free will theodicy, I will delicately move to the greater good principle or defense. I say “delicately” because this defense may not help a questioner much if they have been a victim of a seemingly very unwarranted evil, and/or if they are still carrying anger or bitterness. The principle supports certain evils…
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Taking a Deeper Look at the Problem of Evil: The Best of All Possible Worlds
From the last post, I want to move to the best of all possible worlds theodicy. One of the strengths of this theodicy is how straightforward and precise it is. It is also traditionally recognized as one of 18th-century philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s highly essential contributions to philosophy of religion. The place to start is…
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Taking a Deeper Look at the Problem of Evil: Evil is a Privation
The “problem of evil” is famous. If you believe in a God who is all-powerful and sovereign over the world and together is impeccably good and just, then the presence of evil and suffering creates a problem. This timeless report of it was provided by David Hume, in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. “Epicurus’s old…
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Talking About the Problem of Evil: The Cross
Finally, I end with the cross and the hope of Christianity. Jesus agonized in enduring the nastiest evil that can be thrown at him: denial by his own adored people; abhorrence from the authorities in his own religion; unfairness at the hands of the Roman court; unfaithfulness and disloyalty from his closest friends; the public…
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Talking About the Problem of Evil: The Greater Good
To review, so far, we’ve addressed how one can even object to evil, in the moral argument. We’ve talked about what evil is and is not, and the idea of it being a privation. We’ve talked about some possible reasons God allows evil, which included the best-of-all-possible-worlds argument and the free will defense. Today I…
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Talking About the Problem of Evil: Human Free Will
Yesterday we covered the principle of sufficient reason as part of the best-of-all possible worlds. The last principle of the best-of-all-possible-worlds is human free will. For Leibniz, this idea was just a principle in part of his greater defense. For Augustine, CS Lewis, and Alvin Plantinga[i] it was an entire defense by itself. In its…
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Talking About the Problem of Evil: The Best-of-All-Possible-Worlds
Yesterday we addressed how one can even object to evil, in the moral argument. Then we talked about what evil is and is not, and the idea of it being a privation. Today I want to move to the best-of-all-possible-worlds argument. The place to start is God’s omniscience. This allows God to understand all possibilities.[i]…
Surrendered and Free 