Post by jazzlover on Apr 18, 2007 20:40:59 GMT -5
How Can A Good God Allow Evil?
Partially Adapted From An Article of The Same Name By Rick Rood
“John Stott has said that "the fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith."
It is unquestionably true that there is no greater obstacle to faith than that of the reality of evil and suffering in the world. Indeed, even for the believing Christian, there is no greater test of faith than this--that the God who loves him permits him to suffer, at times in excruciating ways. And the disillusionment is intensified in our day when unrealistic expectations of health and prosperity are fed by the teachings of a multitude of Christian teachers. Why does a good God allow his creatures, and even his children to suffer?
First, it's important to distinguish between two kinds of evil: moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil results from the actions of free creatures. Murder, rape and theft are examples. Natural evil results from natural processes such as earthquakes and floods. Of course, sometimes the two are intermingled, such as when flooding results in loss of human life due to poor planning or shoddy construction of buildings”.
There are two aspects of the problem of evil and suffering. The first is the problem of evil approached from the standpoint of the skeptic who challenges the possibility or probability that a God exists who would allow such suffering. This challenge is usually posed in the form of a statement such as this:
A good God would destroy evil.
An all powerful God could destroy evil.
Evil is not destroyed.
Therefore, there cannot possibly be such a good and powerful God.
“David Hume, the eighteenth century philosopher, stated the logical problem of evil when he inquired about God, "Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is impotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Whence then is evil?" (Craig, 80). When the skeptic challenges belief in God on the basis of the logical problem of evil, he is suggesting that it is irrational or logically impossible to believe in the existence of both a good and all powerful God and in the reality of evil and suffering. Such a God would not possibly allow evil to exist”. (See World Peace)
Second is the religious or emotional aspect of the problem of evil. This is the problem of evil approached from the standpoint of the believer whose faith in God is severely tested by trial. How can we love and worship God when He allows us to suffer in these ways?
The Logical Problem of Evil
The classic defense of God against the problem of evil is that it is not logically possible to have free will and no possibility of moral evil. In other words once God chose to create human beings with free will then it was up to them, rather than to God, as to whether there was sin or not. Built into the situation of God deciding to create human beings is the chance that evil and, consequently, the suffering that results. God did not create evil but He created the possibility of evil; People actualized that potential. The source of evil is not God’s power but mankind’s freedom. Even an all-powerful God could not have created a world in which people had genuine freedom and yet there was no potential for sin. God could not eliminate evil without at the same time rendering it impossible to accomplish other goals which are important to Him. Certainly, for God to create beings in his own image, who are capable of sustaining a personal relationship with Him, they must be beings who are capable of freely loving Him and following his will without coercion. Love or obedience on any other basis would not be love or obedience at all, but mere compliance.
It is a self-contradiction to have a world where there is real choice while at the same time no possibility of choosing evil. To ask why God didn’t create such a world is like asking why God didn’t create colorless color or round squares. It would have been a place without hate and without suffering, but it would also have been a world without love, the highest value in the universe.
Real love, our love of God and our love of each other must involve a choice. But with the granting of that choice, comes the possibility that people would choose to hate. The blame ultimately lies with us. God created a world where people were free and yet there was no sin. He did His part perfectly. We messed up. And at any rate, most people agree that there is much more good in the world than evil--at least enough good to make life well worth the living.
The Religious Problem of Evil -
We are neither irresponsible nor wicked to not put a bubble around our children and protect them from every hurt. So it is possible that God is wise enough to see that we need some pain for reasons we may no understand but which He foresees as being necessary for some future good. Therefore, He is not being evil by allowing that pain to exist. We know that moral character gets formed through hardship, through overcoming obstacles, through enduring despite difficulties. Courage for example, would be impossible in a world without pain. The apostle Paul testified to this refining quality of suffering when he wrote that “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope”. The point of our lives in this world is learning maturing and growing through difficult and challenging experiences, a training and preparation for eternity. Scripture tells us that even Jesus learned obedience through suffering. If that was true for Him why wouldn’t it be true for us.
When suffering strikes it is neither unnatural to experience emotional pain, nor unspiritual to express it. But when suffering strikes, we must be reflect on the character of God and on the promises He gives to those who are enduring great trial. It is noteworthy that there are nearly as many psalms of lament as there are psalms of praise and thanksgiving, and these two sentiments are mingled together in many places (cf. Psalm. 13, 88).
One of the great truths of God's Word is that even in severe trial God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). This does not imply that evil is somehow good, but that we are to recognize that even in what is evil God is at work to bring about his good purposes in our lives.
Joseph gave evidence of having learned this truth when after years of unexplained suffering due to the betrayal of his brothers, he was able to say to them, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20). Though God did not cause his brothers to betray him, nonetheless He was able to use it in furthering his good intentions.
Do evil people ‘get away with it’?
Contrary to popular opinion evil people are not getting away with hurting others all the time. Justice delayed is not justice denied. There will come a day when God will settle accounts and people will be held responsible for the suffering they have caused. Criticizing God for not doing it right now is like reading half a novel and criticizing the author. In fact the Bible says the one reason He is delaying is because some people are still following the clues and have yet to find Him. One purpose of suffering in history has been that it leads to repentance. Only after suffering did Old Testament Israel, do nations, do individual people turn back to God. Lets face it; we learn the hard way. C.S. Lewis said “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”.
Why bad things happen to good people
In Rabbi Harold Kushner’s best selling book When bad things happen to good people, he states that God isn’t all-powerful, that He would like to help but that He isn’t capable of solving the problems …
There are no “good people”. We still bear God’s image but His image in us has been tarnished. Our good deeds are stained with self-interest; our demands for justice are mixed with a desire for vengeance. And strangely enough it is the best people who most readily recognize and admit their own shortcomings and sins. Just about every human being can reflect on his or her past and say, “I learned from that hardship. I didn’t think I would at the time, but I am a bigger and better person for having endured it and persevered”. Any fairly mature Christian can look back on his or her life and identify some moment of suffering that made them much closer to God than they had ever thought possible.
Scottish theologian James S. Steward said, “It is the spectators, the people who are outside looking at the tragedy, from whose ranks the skeptics come; It is not those who are actually in the arena and who know suffering from the inside. Indeed the fact is that it is the worlds greatest sufferers who have produced the most shining examples of unconquerable faith”.
Does God feel our pain?
God could very well have sat back and said “It’s your fault after all” and He would have been perfectly justified. However He went beyond justice, and went the extra mile. He practiced more than He preached. He entered into our world, suffered our pain, and offered Himself to us in the midst of our sorrows. So the answer to the question of how could God bear all the suffering is He did. He came right down into it. Are we broken? He was broken for us. Are we despised? He was despised and rejected of men. Do we cry that we cannot take any more? He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Do we feel betrayed? He was sold out. Are our most tender relationships broken? He was loved and rejected.
The psalmist encourages us to "pour out our hearts to God" (Ps. 62:8). And when we do, we can be assured that God understands our pain. Jesus Himself keenly felt the painful side of life. When John the Baptist was beheaded it is recorded that "He withdrew to a lonely place" obviously to mourn his loss (Mt. 14:13). And when his friend Lazarus died, it is recorded that Jesus openly wept at his tomb (Jn. 11:35). Even though He was committed to following the Father's will to the cross, He confessed to being filled with anguish of soul in contemplating it (Mt. 26:38). It is not without reason that Jesus was called "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3); and we follow in his steps when we truthfully acknowledge our own pain.
Partially Adapted From An Article of The Same Name By Rick Rood
“John Stott has said that "the fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith."
It is unquestionably true that there is no greater obstacle to faith than that of the reality of evil and suffering in the world. Indeed, even for the believing Christian, there is no greater test of faith than this--that the God who loves him permits him to suffer, at times in excruciating ways. And the disillusionment is intensified in our day when unrealistic expectations of health and prosperity are fed by the teachings of a multitude of Christian teachers. Why does a good God allow his creatures, and even his children to suffer?
First, it's important to distinguish between two kinds of evil: moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil results from the actions of free creatures. Murder, rape and theft are examples. Natural evil results from natural processes such as earthquakes and floods. Of course, sometimes the two are intermingled, such as when flooding results in loss of human life due to poor planning or shoddy construction of buildings”.
There are two aspects of the problem of evil and suffering. The first is the problem of evil approached from the standpoint of the skeptic who challenges the possibility or probability that a God exists who would allow such suffering. This challenge is usually posed in the form of a statement such as this:
A good God would destroy evil.
An all powerful God could destroy evil.
Evil is not destroyed.
Therefore, there cannot possibly be such a good and powerful God.
“David Hume, the eighteenth century philosopher, stated the logical problem of evil when he inquired about God, "Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is impotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Whence then is evil?" (Craig, 80). When the skeptic challenges belief in God on the basis of the logical problem of evil, he is suggesting that it is irrational or logically impossible to believe in the existence of both a good and all powerful God and in the reality of evil and suffering. Such a God would not possibly allow evil to exist”. (See World Peace)
Second is the religious or emotional aspect of the problem of evil. This is the problem of evil approached from the standpoint of the believer whose faith in God is severely tested by trial. How can we love and worship God when He allows us to suffer in these ways?
The Logical Problem of Evil
The classic defense of God against the problem of evil is that it is not logically possible to have free will and no possibility of moral evil. In other words once God chose to create human beings with free will then it was up to them, rather than to God, as to whether there was sin or not. Built into the situation of God deciding to create human beings is the chance that evil and, consequently, the suffering that results. God did not create evil but He created the possibility of evil; People actualized that potential. The source of evil is not God’s power but mankind’s freedom. Even an all-powerful God could not have created a world in which people had genuine freedom and yet there was no potential for sin. God could not eliminate evil without at the same time rendering it impossible to accomplish other goals which are important to Him. Certainly, for God to create beings in his own image, who are capable of sustaining a personal relationship with Him, they must be beings who are capable of freely loving Him and following his will without coercion. Love or obedience on any other basis would not be love or obedience at all, but mere compliance.
It is a self-contradiction to have a world where there is real choice while at the same time no possibility of choosing evil. To ask why God didn’t create such a world is like asking why God didn’t create colorless color or round squares. It would have been a place without hate and without suffering, but it would also have been a world without love, the highest value in the universe.
Real love, our love of God and our love of each other must involve a choice. But with the granting of that choice, comes the possibility that people would choose to hate. The blame ultimately lies with us. God created a world where people were free and yet there was no sin. He did His part perfectly. We messed up. And at any rate, most people agree that there is much more good in the world than evil--at least enough good to make life well worth the living.
The Religious Problem of Evil -
We are neither irresponsible nor wicked to not put a bubble around our children and protect them from every hurt. So it is possible that God is wise enough to see that we need some pain for reasons we may no understand but which He foresees as being necessary for some future good. Therefore, He is not being evil by allowing that pain to exist. We know that moral character gets formed through hardship, through overcoming obstacles, through enduring despite difficulties. Courage for example, would be impossible in a world without pain. The apostle Paul testified to this refining quality of suffering when he wrote that “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope”. The point of our lives in this world is learning maturing and growing through difficult and challenging experiences, a training and preparation for eternity. Scripture tells us that even Jesus learned obedience through suffering. If that was true for Him why wouldn’t it be true for us.
When suffering strikes it is neither unnatural to experience emotional pain, nor unspiritual to express it. But when suffering strikes, we must be reflect on the character of God and on the promises He gives to those who are enduring great trial. It is noteworthy that there are nearly as many psalms of lament as there are psalms of praise and thanksgiving, and these two sentiments are mingled together in many places (cf. Psalm. 13, 88).
One of the great truths of God's Word is that even in severe trial God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). This does not imply that evil is somehow good, but that we are to recognize that even in what is evil God is at work to bring about his good purposes in our lives.
Joseph gave evidence of having learned this truth when after years of unexplained suffering due to the betrayal of his brothers, he was able to say to them, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20). Though God did not cause his brothers to betray him, nonetheless He was able to use it in furthering his good intentions.
Do evil people ‘get away with it’?
Contrary to popular opinion evil people are not getting away with hurting others all the time. Justice delayed is not justice denied. There will come a day when God will settle accounts and people will be held responsible for the suffering they have caused. Criticizing God for not doing it right now is like reading half a novel and criticizing the author. In fact the Bible says the one reason He is delaying is because some people are still following the clues and have yet to find Him. One purpose of suffering in history has been that it leads to repentance. Only after suffering did Old Testament Israel, do nations, do individual people turn back to God. Lets face it; we learn the hard way. C.S. Lewis said “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”.
Why bad things happen to good people
In Rabbi Harold Kushner’s best selling book When bad things happen to good people, he states that God isn’t all-powerful, that He would like to help but that He isn’t capable of solving the problems …
There are no “good people”. We still bear God’s image but His image in us has been tarnished. Our good deeds are stained with self-interest; our demands for justice are mixed with a desire for vengeance. And strangely enough it is the best people who most readily recognize and admit their own shortcomings and sins. Just about every human being can reflect on his or her past and say, “I learned from that hardship. I didn’t think I would at the time, but I am a bigger and better person for having endured it and persevered”. Any fairly mature Christian can look back on his or her life and identify some moment of suffering that made them much closer to God than they had ever thought possible.
Scottish theologian James S. Steward said, “It is the spectators, the people who are outside looking at the tragedy, from whose ranks the skeptics come; It is not those who are actually in the arena and who know suffering from the inside. Indeed the fact is that it is the worlds greatest sufferers who have produced the most shining examples of unconquerable faith”.
Does God feel our pain?
God could very well have sat back and said “It’s your fault after all” and He would have been perfectly justified. However He went beyond justice, and went the extra mile. He practiced more than He preached. He entered into our world, suffered our pain, and offered Himself to us in the midst of our sorrows. So the answer to the question of how could God bear all the suffering is He did. He came right down into it. Are we broken? He was broken for us. Are we despised? He was despised and rejected of men. Do we cry that we cannot take any more? He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Do we feel betrayed? He was sold out. Are our most tender relationships broken? He was loved and rejected.
The psalmist encourages us to "pour out our hearts to God" (Ps. 62:8). And when we do, we can be assured that God understands our pain. Jesus Himself keenly felt the painful side of life. When John the Baptist was beheaded it is recorded that "He withdrew to a lonely place" obviously to mourn his loss (Mt. 14:13). And when his friend Lazarus died, it is recorded that Jesus openly wept at his tomb (Jn. 11:35). Even though He was committed to following the Father's will to the cross, He confessed to being filled with anguish of soul in contemplating it (Mt. 26:38). It is not without reason that Jesus was called "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3); and we follow in his steps when we truthfully acknowledge our own pain.