The Problem of Evil-3

Review: There are only about a half-dozen worldviews concerning evil and suffering.

Christianity offers the best way to explain and cope with evil and suffering

An atheistic, secularistic, humanistic worldview (very prominent in U.S. offers the worst way of explaining and coping with evil and suffering

The atheistic, secularistic, humanistic worldview

A prominent atheist, Richard Dawkins, explains:

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"In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference" (River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life).

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That is the atheist view in a nutshell.

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There is no evil.

‌No good.

Nothing but pitiless indifference from a universe that was NOT created, but “just is.”

And the problem gets worse.

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For the evolutionary naturalist (the person who believes that there is only 'stuff') there is no creation, no life after death, no ultimate foundation for morality, no ultimate meaning in life and no human free will.

‌It's all chemistry, biology, physics and genetics.

The problem of evil for the atheist is so overwhelming that they either deny its existence (evil is just a social construct), or if they wish to remain logically consistent they are compelled to become theists.

CS Lewis made the journey that many have made from atheism to theism, partly because he realized that evil was a far greater problem for the atheist.

If a good God made the world why has it gone wrong? And for many years I simply refused to listen to the Christian answers to this question, because I kept on feeling “whatever you say, and however clever your arguments are, isn’t it much simpler and easier to say that the world was not made by any intelligent power? Aren’t all your arguments simply a complicated attempt to avoid the obvious?” But then that threw me back into another difficulty.

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?…Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist—in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless—I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality—namely my idea of justice—was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

(Matt Emerson, “C. S. Lewis on Atheist Simplicity,”)

So, the atheistic, secularistic, humanistic person has NO answers for evil or for how to cope with evil..

It leaves us morally bankrupt and hopeless and gives us nothing with which to cope with the evil and suffering all around us.

What about Christianity?

Christians do not deny the existence of evil:

Chad V. Meister & James K. Dew, Jr. in their book God and the Problem of Evil: Five Views say:

Evil abounds. Regardless of when or where we look—in the feudal systems of the Middle Ages or the cyber world of the twenty-first century, in the posh suburbs of a major city or the poor slums found across the globe, in the practice of organized crime or the peccancy in organized religion—in all times and in all places we find pain, we find suffering, we find evil. Evil is no less present, no less pernicious, and no less perplexing in the modern world than it has ever been. This poses a tenacious problem for those who believe in a God who is perfectly good and loving, all-powerful, and infinitely smart. For surely a God who is good and loving would not want there to be widespread pain and suffering in the world. And surely a God who is omniscient and omnipotent could ensure that no such world would exist. But such a world does exist. Our world.

I believe that those who have put their full trust in God, can more easily deal with the idea of an Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent God and evil than those who have less faith and trust in Him.

Agree/Disagree?

Dr. Michael Brown (2023). Why so many Christians have left the faith says:

… because God gave us free will, He allows evil things to happen every moment of every day. He doesn’t stop every drunk driver from hitting innocent victims. He doesn’t stop every abusive husband from beating his wife. He doesn’t stop every despondent woman from aborting her baby. He doesn’t stop every madman from declaring war. And He doesn’t stop you from leaving Him. Or denying Him. Or cursing Him. Or mocking Him. Or running back into His arms.

Almighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth, gave us free wills, urging us to choose life but not forcing us to. Yet because He is God, in the midst of our human sin and rebellion and failing, He [still] works out His will, bringing joy, freedom, healing, and redemption. The sooner you realize that He is not your enemy, that He is not the one who abused you, that He grieved for you and with you as you suffered pain and shame, and that He is here to help you and restore you even now, the sooner your life will turn for the better.

Jesus the Great Shepherd will take care of His sheep, and if you will simply confess to Him (even by faith), “Lord, I know You didn’t fail me,” your healing can begin. Multiplied millions have found this to be true.

But to say it again, God does allow each of us to make choices, for better or for worse. If you are a parent, does He stop you from being mean to your child? Or neglecting your child? Or setting a bad example for your child? Or doing something worse? Then why would you expect Him to stop a pastor from hurting a congregant? And would you conclude that parenting was evil or that families were evil because there are so many bad parents who hurt their children? It’s the same with ministry leaders and the church. We cannot conclude that all ministry leaders are evil and that the church is evil because of our own bad experiences or because of some very public scandals.

So, freewill impacts us in a few ways:

God gave freewill to the angels. One of which, Lucifer, decided to rebel against God and convinced a third of the rest of the angels to follow him.

Isaiah 14:12–15 (LSB) “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 “Nevertheless you will be brought down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.

Revelation 12:4 (LSB) And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered: Since Satan is referred to as a star which fell or was cast down to earth, and Revelation 12:4 says a third of the stars were cast out with him, then the conclusion is that the stars in Revelation 12 refer to fallen angels, fully one third of the heavenly host. If the one-third number is in fact accurate, what assurance that is! Two thirds of the angels are still on God’s side, and for followers of Christ, they are on our side as well.

Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God. They were created “good” and without sin. Lucifer, appearing to as a serpent, deceived them into using their freewill to disobey God. That disobedience had a universal impact that will continue until there is a new heavens and a new earth.

All humans are born with a predominant sin nature:

Romans 5:12 (LSB) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— Romans 5:18–19 (LSB) So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were appointed sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be appointed righteous.

Psalm 51:5 (LSB) Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

Romans 7:18 (LSB) For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not.

God is just in applying Adam’s sin to the entire human race, and He is just in applying Jesus Christ’s death to all who will receive Him by faith.

All creation has been corrupted by sin

Romans 8:19–22 (LSB) For the anxious longing of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Including the animals (who, due to sin, want to kill us)

What a redeemed creation will look like: Isaiah 11:6–9 (LSB) 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a young boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 And the nursing baby will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will do no evil nor act corruptly in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh As the waters cover the sea.

Choices made in the past and being made in the present (and future) contribute to evil and suffering in our world.

I believe that the influence of the devil has a huge impact on our choice to sin against God.

Revelation 20:7–10 “And when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

So, back to that question 2 weeks ago: Under what circumstances in your life (or in the world) have you wondered whether God was still in charge?

First of all, do you believe Is God in control?

1 Timothy 6:15 (LSB) which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

GOD’S CONTROL Israel prospered as long as the people regarded God as their true King. When the leaders strayed from God and his law, he intervened in their lives and overruled their actions. This way, God maintained ultimate control.

God is always at work in this world, even when we can’t see what he is doing. No matter what kinds of pressures we must endure or how many changes we must face, ultimately God is in control. When we grow confident of God’s sovereignty, we can face the difficult situations in our life with boldness.

1. As King, God is in control of the world. Has there been a time you felt God was not in control? How did you feel? What were you thinking? How did you choose to deal with the situation?

2. God is in control, even when you do not feel like he is. How can you be sure this is true?

3. What difference does it make for you that God is in control of the world?

4. In what areas of your life do you feel the need to know that he is in control? How will you deal with those times when it seems like he is not in control? How can you prepare yourself for those times? (Student’s Life Application Bible Notes)

If God is in control, then why does He let or allow (synonyms) bad things to happen?

Rick pointed out: Jesus didn’t stop evil when He walked the earth although He did heal people.

Jay: God gives free-will. People choose to be mean.

Theodicy. An answer to the problem of evil that attempts to “justify the ways of God to man” by explaining God’s reasons for allowing evil. Two of the more important theodicies are the “soul-making theodicy,” which argues that God allows evil so as to make it possible for humans to develop certain desirable virtues, and the “free will theodicy,” which argues that God had to allow for the possibility of evil if he wished to give humans (and angelic beings) free will.

Evans, C. S. (2002). Pocket dictionary of apologetics & philosophy of religion (p. 114). InterVarsity Press.

It wasn’t asked, but if God IS in control can we trust Him?

Is God good?

Is God all-powerful?

Is God good? Omnibenevolent

Charnock, S. (1853). 1. The existence and attributes of God: God is only originally good, good of himself. All created goodness is a rivulet from this fountain, but Divine goodness hath no spring; God depends upon no other for His goodness; He hath it in, and of, Himself: man hath no goodness from himself, God hath no goodness from without Himself: His goodness is no more derived from another than His being: if we were good by any external thing, that thing must be in being before Him, or after Him; if before Him, He was not then Himself from eternity; if after Him, He was not good in Himself from eternity

God only is infinitely good. A boundless goodness that knows no limits, a goodness as infinite as His essence, not only good, but best; not only good, but goodness itself, the supreme inconceivable goodness.

Pure and perfect goodness is only the royal prerogative of God; goodness is a choice perfection of the Divine nature. This is the true and genuine character of God; He is good, He is goodness, good in Himself, good in His essence, good in the highest degree, possessing whatsoever is comely, excellent, desirable; the highest good, because first good: whatsoever is perfect goodness, is God; whatsoever is truly goodness in any creature, is a resemblance of God.

The holiness of God is the rectitude of His nature, whereby He is pure, and without spot in Himself; the goodness of God is the efflux of His will, whereby He is beneficial to His creatures: the holiness of God is manifest in His rational creatures; but the goodness of God extends to all the works of His hands. His holiness beams most in His law; His goodness reacheth to everything that had a being from Him.

Tozer, A. W., & Fessenden, D. E. (2003–). The attributes of God: Study guide:

The answer to every question, Tozer contends, is “God out of His goodness willed it” (p. 46). It is the reason why we were created, why God did not destroy Adam and Eve when they fell and why God sent His only Son to die on the cross for our sins. The operative word here is grace—God’s undeserved favor, showered on us for no other reason than that He is good.

It is also why God answers our prayers. It is probably a great blow to the theology of some people to hear Tozer declare, “Nobody ever got anything from God on the grounds that he deserved it”

Mark 10:17–18 (LSB) And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Psalm 34:8 (LSB) O taste and see that Yahweh is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalm 119:68 (LSB) You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 145:9 (LSB) Yahweh is good to all, And His compassions are over all His works.

Exodus 33:19 (LSB) And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

James 1:13–17 (LSB) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Is God all-powerful?

Storms, S. (2006). Attributes of God. Sam Storms: A highly simplistic definition of “power” would be that it is the ability to produce effects, or to accomplish what one wills. The Scriptures clearly affirm not only that God has such an ability but that he has it without limitations. Hence, we speak of God as being omnipotent, infinite in power.

Jeremiah 32:17 (LSB) ‘Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,

2 Chronicles 20:6 (LSB) and he said, “O Yahweh, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can take their stand against You.

Isaiah 43:13 (LSB) “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

(Already Read)1 Timothy 6:15–16 (LSB) which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal might! Amen.

The Christian worldview should shape our perspective. Evil and suffering are reasons to believe the Good News, not to reject it. Because it's the only explanation and even more importantly, the only solution to evil and suffering.

Here is a suggested biblical solution.

1. God did not create evil because it is not created

Did God create a perfect world and then get it wrong? Or did God create a perfect world that he allowed to go wrong? I love Augustine's answer to this question.

a. God created all things.

b. Evil is not a created thing – it is the absence of good.

c. God did not create evil, but permits it for the good.

2. God permitted evil but brings even greater good out of that evil

"And, in the universe, even that which is called evil, when it is regulated and put in its own place, only enhances our admiration of the good; for we enjoy and value the good more when we compare it with the evil. For the Almighty God, who, as even the heathen acknowledge, has supreme power over all things, being Himself supremely good, would never permit the existence of anything evil among His works, if he were not so omnipotent and good that he can bring good even out of evil" (Augustine's Enchiridion, ch. 11).

"For he judged it better to bring good out of evil, than not to permit any evil to exist" (Enchiridion, ch. 27).

I sometimes ask people whether, if I could create them in a world in which they experienced no pain, no suffering, no existential angst, no broken relationships, no cancer, no tears, they would want that. "Oh yes." "In that case I will create you as a chair." "Oh no, I want to be human."

And there is the rub. Maybe in order to be human there needs to be an element of free will, moral choice and love that is not just chemically pre-destined. Maybe for that to happen God created this world to be a 'vale for soul making', a physical and moral environment which allows us to live as free moral agents and to learn what we need to learn.

So God did not create evil, but permitted it. Why? For a greater purpose than if had not permitted it. The next step...

3. God alone knows the end from the beginning and how to bring good out of evil.

Sometimes we set ourselves up as though we were the judge and God had to answer to us – a complete reversal of the real situation. Consider how God answered a man who suffered more than most of us: Job.

"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. Do you know it, because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great? Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it. Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? (Job 38:2-4,18,21; 40:2,8).

The infinite, eternal, omniscient Creator is far more likely to know about good and evil, and its consequences than his finite, limited, ignorant creatures.

But this is not enough. We do not want to be Job's comforters or to be comforted by Job's friends. We need to know not just the how and why of evil, but do we have a better solution than 'suck it up and see'?

Chad V. Meister & James K. Dew, Jr. in their book God and the Problem of Evil: Five Views say:

A Classic View: The basic answer to the problem of evil given by the classic view is that no evil takes place unless God permits it, and that God has a good reason for permitting each evil, which takes the form of a greater good that he uses the evil to bring about.

A Molinist View: God’s absolute intentions are thus often frustrated by sinful creatures, but his conditional intentions, which take into account creatures’ free actions, are always fulfilled. Even sin serves God’s conditional intentions in that it manifests his overflowing goodness in the incarnation of Christ for the purpose of rescuing humanity from sin, his power in his redeeming humanity from sin, and his justice in punishing sin.

God’s providence, then, extends to everything that happens, but it does not follow that God wills positively everything that happens. God wills positively every good creaturely decision, but evil decisions he does not will but merely permits[1]

An Open Theist View: The most distinctive tenet of open theism, and the one that has generated much of the controversy about the view, is open theism’s conception of dynamic omniscience (the term is due to John Sanders), in particular of God’s knowledge of the future. We hold that much (not all) of the future is known by God as what might happen, and as what will probably happen, but not as what will definitely take place. And this has important implications for divine providence and for the problem of evil: it means that God is a risk taker. When God decides to bring about a particular situation, one that involves his creatures in making free choices, it is impossible even for God to know with certainty how those creatures will respond; there is a genuine possibility that they will not respond in the way he intended and desired for them to do. (Of course, there is much in the Bible that indicates that this not only could but also often does happen.)

An Essential Kenosis View: Essential kenosis says God cannot totally control lesser entities or interrupt law-like regularities and thereby prevent genuine evil. In the case of less complex entities, God necessarily gives the gifts of agency and self-organization. Doing so is part of divine love, because God loves all creation. This means God cannot withdraw, override, or fail to provide the agency and self-organizing of any simpler organism or entity. The love of God is also uncontrolling among the less complex creatures and entities of our universe.

A Skeptical Theist View: First, there is the claim that if the God of theism exists, we humans should not expect to see or grasp very much of God’s purposes for divine actions—including the divine actions of allowing or even causing events that bring much of the horrific suffering around us. Second, there is the claim that if the first claim is true, then much of what otherwise looks like strong evidence against theism isn’t very strong at all.

God's answer to evil and suffering:

The great writers, poets and thinkers have always wrestled with this subject. Dostoevsky, for example, wrote: "Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth" (Crime and Punishment).

A poem by Ben Okri in the National Portrait Gallery in London:

Freedom is a difficult lesson to learn, I have tasted the language of death Till it became the water of life. I have shaped a little my canvas of time I have crossed seas of fires And seen with these African eyes The one light which neither empires Nor all the might of men obscure. Man is the sickness, God the cure.

That is God's answer.

He himself is the cure. Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, the Resurrection, the Healer, the Good Shepherd. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me."

The atheist is compelled to say it's just luck and there is no answer.

The Christian says, "I fear no evil."

There is the fundamental difference between the two worldviews.

The atheist says good and evil are an illusion.

The Christian faces up to reality and says there is real evil, real darkness, real despair, but there is a real Saviour, who came to free those who all their lives are held in slavery by their fear of death. The practical consequences of these beliefs are phenomenal. The atheist puts a band-aid on the problem, the Christian gets to the heart of the matter.