Seeds of Doubt Is God Good? (November 10, 2013)

Transcription

1 Seeds of Doubt Is God Good? (November 10, 2013) Is God Good? In all my years of ministry probably the question that has caused wonderful men and women to wrestle the most with their faith is the question Is God Good? And it is not just Christians this is one of the major issues that keeps men and women away from faith in God. The reason this question has such power is that when we think of an all powerful God who is good and just we think there should not be such overt evil in the world. I am going to play a short video by an atheist philosophy professor that outlines this argument that if there is evil God cannot be good or God cannot exist. I think this sums up the argument fairly well. Let me simplify her arguments a little. Basically this is what she said: If God Is All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving Then If Evil Befalls This World/Me Then Either: God Is Not All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving OR God Does Not Exist If God Is All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving Then If Evil Befalls This World/Me Then Either: God Is Not All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving OR

2 God Does Not Exist This type of argument has immense power because something inside our hearts and minds struggles with the idea of the goodness of God co-existing with the presence of evil. This thought is similar to that expressed by the character J.B. in Archibald MacLeish s play. J.B. asserts, If God is God He is not good, if God is good He is not God; take the even, take the odd. In other words because of tragedies and evil in the world we have to conclude that God can be good, or He can be powerful, but He cannot be both. A God who stands back and allows an earthquake to decimate a city is either evil or impotent. This is the premise of an immensely successful book When Bad Things Happen to Good People written by Rabbi Harold Kushner after the death of his son. Kushner wrote this: I can worship a God who hates suffering but cannot eliminate it, more easily than I can worship a God who chooses to make children suffer and die. 1 For such men and women, the best way to grapple with disaster is to say God cares but God is not powerful enough to stop the tragedy. Christians know that God is all good and all powerful but that does not stop them from struggling mightily when bad things happen. Let me share a few true stories. I talked with a young couple some time ago from another church. They had recently lost their daughter in the most appalling circumstances. They grew up in Christian homes and served faithfully in the church they expected God to look after their precious daughter. Now they were struggling really struggling to see God as good. I spent time with a man who had struggled all his life with mental illness. For much of his life the question was Why God? Why did you make me this way? Here is one I hear really regularly. I struggle with a besetting sin. I hate it I want to be done with it but God hasn t taken it away how is God good? This weekend we have all heard about Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the Philippines and caused such loss of property and life. There are unbelievers I see 1 Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People (New York: Schocken, 1981) p. 134.

3 regularly who I know will ask me where was God? How can God be good? They ask this every time a paedophile is unmasked a lunatic opens fire on a school or a natural disaster causes devastation. Let me say this there are answers. Men and women much smarter than me have written long books explaining this. They deal with questions of the sovereignty of God and free will, the origin of evil, the plan of God. I have read enough of these to know that we are trying to answer a deep question that ultimately belongs in the realm of God. Our limited minds are not equipped to understand all the workings of God and finally we do have to trust that God is good. However, of all the arguments and discussions I want to share a few thoughts that have helped me and I trust they help you as well. How can we say that God is good while evil exists? Have a look again at this argument: If God Is All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving Then If Evil Befalls This World/Me Then Either: God Is Not All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving OR God Does Not Exist What I want to suggest is that there are some crucial and major assumptions that lie behind this argument. Professor Haslanger pointed out two assumptions.

4 We would all agree with the second assumption There are no limits to what an omnipotent God can do. However, that first assumption that she just assumes is true is to my way of thinking the heart of the argument: An all good thing eliminates evil as far as it can Or putting it in Christian terms: An all good God eliminates evil as far as He can I want to argue that this is true ultimately. If there is an all knowing, all powerful, all loving being He must eventually eliminate evil. But the question the professor totally glosses over is this. Might there be reasons that an all good God allows evil to exist for a time before He eliminates all evil? Might there be reasons that an all good God allows evil to exist for a time before He eliminates all evil? I want to suggest that if God is good then His goodness and love mean He must allow evil to exist for a time before He eliminates all evil. I would also like to argue that that there are quite a number of other assumptions that Professor Haslanger s argument simply glosses over. Let me highlight and discuss a couple of the more important ones.

5 If God Is All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving Then If Evil Befalls This World/Me Then Either: God Is Not All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving OR God Does Not Exist This argument wrongly assumes that: An all good God eliminates evil as far as He can immediately We know what is ultimately good and what is ultimately evil What is ultimately important is man and not God s glory I want to suggest this argument wrongly assumes that: An all good God eliminates evil as far as He can immediately We know what is ultimately good and what is ultimately evil What is ultimately important is man and not God s glory I want to suggest that if an all knowing, all powerful and all loving God exists then by definition none of these presuppositions can be true. Notice the words like immediately and ultimately. When we are dealing with God we have to take our eyes off single events and look at the whole flow of history and redemption. Lets look at these. Firstly, this argument assumes that: An all good God eliminates evil as far as He can immediately When you listened to Professor Haslanger, she admitted that her argument relies on the assumption that: An all good thing eliminates evil as far as it can I would totally agree with her on this. But what she then does is assume this has to happen immediately. She looks at evil in the world and says since it is not eliminated right now there is no God or He is not good.

6 She does not even contemplate that there might be reasons why an all knowing, all powerful and all loving God could allow evil to exist for a time before eliminating it. Her argument assumes that either God has to create a world without the possibility of sin or God has to eliminate evil destroy the world as soon as sin was manifest. The Bible says that God created man to have a relationship with Him. This means man choosing to love Him. This also means that there is a real choice to not love Him which means that evil rebellion against God can and will exist. But the big question remains. Why would a holy and just God not choose to destroy man, the world, the universe as soon as Adam sinned? Habakkuk 1:13 says of God: You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong. So why are we still here and not incinerated? This is one of the great mysteries. The closest we can come is this: John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Or God is love. These verses seem to say that an all loving being will choose to save and restore rather than destroy. And so from before the foundation of the world God chose to put in place a plan of redemption. That plan will redeem man, the earth and the heavens. Romans 8:19 21: For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. But don t mistake the fact that one day God will finally destroy all evil. 1 Corinthians 15:24 26: Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Revelation 20:9 10:

7 Fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation 21:1 4: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. God will ultimately destroy all evil and heaven will have no sin, no sinners and no consequences of sin. A good God does that. But a loving God allows a time for men to repent and turn to Him. And in this time because sinful men exist evil will exist. We like it when God is patient with our sin. We tend not to like His patience with the sin of others. In 2 Peter 3 some were asking when is God coming to set things right? The world keeps going sinners and evil keep existing. When is God going to step up and end it? Listen to Peter s reply 2 Peter 3:8 10: But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come. The love of God and patience of God means there is a time in which men can repent and escape hell. I look at evil men in this world paedophiles, warlords, drug dealers. Men who hurt children and women. Men without a conscience. And I wonder how can God let that go on? Then I remember I was a sinner I am a sinner and God withheld His arm of judgment for a time in order that I might hear the gospel and repent. Does that make God evil or good?

8 That makes God so good. So gracious. So long suffering. So patient. An all good and loving being does eliminate all evil ultimately but His love allows a time for repentance a time when sinners still exist, sin exists and the consequences of sin exist. But a good God does not allow this to go on forever and a just God ensures that sin is punished. When the Russian army finally reached Hitler s bunker in Berlin and found that the Fuhrer had committed suicide many were very angry. Many were angry at God. How could this man commit such evil and not face punishment? He did not escape. The day of judgment and justice will come. This idea that God must act immediately is the major flaw in the argument. They underestimate just how good and how loving God is. Secondly, this argument assumes that: We know what is ultimately good and what is ultimately evil Professor Haslanger just assumed what evil is. She mentioned lynching, terrorism, the death of innocent babies. Don t get me wrong I agree with her there is evil in the world. But what I want to suggest she fails to grasp is that an all knowing, all powerful, all loving God can take the evil of men and use it for ultimate good. Even this time before evil is eliminated can be turned by God to good. I want to suggest that we are too limited, too fallible, too small to understand what is ultimately good and what is ultimately evil and how God is at work even through the evil of men. Listen to Isaiah 46:9 10: Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. God declares the beginning and end. His counsel will stand.

9 When You actually direct the flow of events in history when You know where events are going when you see the beginning and the end you can work all things together for good. You can use events sin, natural disasters, illness, anything and work it for good. We look at an event and say that is evil how can God allow it? God looks at it in terms of all history and eternity and knows how He weaves it into the fabric of His plan and can bring good from evil. Please let me be clear here. I believe this with all my heart. Can I explain the plan of God in every instance? No. Romans 11:33 34: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? But God in His mercy does sometimes allow us to see glimpses of His plan. Let me suggest some examples. Think about Joseph in the Bible. A good obedient son. Maybe a little arrogant but overall a great kid. His brothers were jealous and ruthless. They determined to kill him but decided to profit instead by selling him into slavery. That is evil. Joseph does the right thing in regard to Potiphar s wife his reward prison. Egyptian prisons were no holiday. No prisoner rights there. It was hard labour. I suspect Joseph often wondered Is God good? He had done everything right and he was sold into slavery into prison and sat there rotting and suffering year after year. Now consider Joseph s case from God s perspective. God had a plan. God raised him up to be second to Pharaoh overseeing Egypt. He was then in a position to save Israel God s people and the seed line leading to Jesus. In Genesis 50 his brothers stand before him. In verses19 20: Joseph said to them, Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Do we know what is ultimately good and what is ultimately evil?

10 Was God s plan for Joseph s life good or evil? The brother s committed an act of evil. Joseph rotted in slavery and prison. But used that even that for good. Ultimately what looked an act of evil was revealed as an act of the greatest good. Yes Joseph suffered in prison. Yes it was unfair. It was evil. But God used it for good and for His glory. That suffering moulded him, prepared him and put him in the place where God could use him in great ways. He saved the nation. He saved the seed line. Without the seed line leading to Jesus there would be no Messiah and no salvation. Everyone ever born would be in hell. God s plan led to God s glory and it was very good. When Joseph was in prison I doubt he could understand why this was happening or how a good God could ever allow it. When he sat on a throne ruling over Egypt He saw some of how the plan of God knitted together. Even then He didn't see it all. He lived to see the salvation of the nation. Could he have seen that it led to Messiah, the cross, the resurrection and the one way of salvation? Not in its fullness. Let me give you another example. Jim Elliot. A godly, gifted man. Young husband and father. He became one of the Auca five killed at just 28 years old on the banks of the Curaray River by the Quechua Indians they had come to bring the gospel to. How could a God of love allow that to happen? Do we know what is ultimately good and what is ultimately evil? Those five missionaries died. Brave, gifted, godly how could this be the plan of God? Leaving young widows and children where is God in this? Killing those men was an act of evil but their widows went back and opened that tribe up to the gospel. God used it for good.

11 As well, their deaths inspired a generation. Books were written, movies were made. Literally tens of thousands of young men and women chose to be missionaries inspired by this story. The effects of their deaths are still felt today. People across the globe had missionaries come to them because of this event. God used this to raise up a generation and save a multitude. And Jim Elliot the man who wrote He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose he gained eternity. No sadness for him just a crown of righteousness. God somehow knots good even from the fabric of evil. Perhaps the greatest example. Consider Jesus. The Son of God. Sinless. Perfect. He came to save those who had rebelled against Him. Yet we betrayed Him, condemned Him without cause and crucified Him. Where was God? How can a good God stand by? Do we know what is ultimately good and what is ultimately evil? In Acts 2:22 24 Peter said: Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death. What they did was evil you crucified Him. But it was part of the plan and foreknowledge of God. God used it for good. God used the greatest act of veil in history to work the greatest good in history. And for all eternity every created being will give God the glory for this event. God is so awesome that He can allow evil for a time to ultimately work a greater good. Thirdly, and related to this this argument assumes that: What is ultimately important is man and not God s glory This can be a hard one to get our minds around.

12 But when we talk of good and evil right and wrong all too often we look at things only from man s perspective. But if there is an all knowing, all powerful, all loving being then the only perspective that matters is His. The Bible tells us this is the reality. Isaiah 42:8: I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other. Why is this important to state? Because when we make man the centre, the one who is truly important then some things that God would call good we would call evil. In fact because of a man centred perspective, many say God does not just allow evil to exist God causes evil. They might look at what God did to His enemies in the Old Testament and say He is a monster a mass murderer. He did evil. He destroyed His enemies, whole nations men, women, children even their animals. They say this is clearly evil and God cannot be good. However, when you have a perfectly holy and good being to oppose that being is the greatest evil there is. For that being to punish those who oppose Him is actually good. For me a fallen sinful man to seek vengeance on my enemies it is evil for God it is good. I want to suggest that God s actions in the Old Testament are in no way evil they are good. I want to suggest that we are trying to read in what we think should be good and evil rather than accept what God says is good and evil. Another example consider hell eternal, conscious torment. Many say hell makes God evil. William C. Easttom an Atheist said this: God says, Do what you wish, but make the wrong choice and you will be tortured for eternity in hell. That would be akin to a man telling his girlfriend, do what you wish, but if you choose to leave me, I will track you down and blow your brains out. When a man says this we call him a psychopath and cry out for his imprisonment/execution. When God says the same we call him loving and build churches in his honor. 2 2 William C. Easttom II, quoted in Gary Poole, How Could God Allow Suffering and Evil? (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003), 59.

13 But when the One being opposed is the most glorious, perfect, Holy being what brings glory to His name is actually good. God is not evil nor is he the author of evil. Psalm 5:4: For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. When we devalue the glory and majesty of God some things that are good are called evil. I want to suggest that this logical argument regarding whether God can be good or not falls down because they fail to grasp just how all knowing, all powerful, all loving, all glorious God actually is. Now, so far this has been a philosophic argument. But that only gets us so far when we find ourselves suffering, persecuted and crying out to God. Something inside us believes a good God should step in there and then. I don t have all the answers. Here are two that have helped me. I believe that: God knows what is best for me more than I do God sometimes asks us to walk by faith First: God knows what is best for me more than I do God sometimes asks us to walk by faith God knows what is best for me more than I do If I could write the story of how I would like God to treat me in this life, I think I would like to look like a male model stay young be wealthy never sick. No accidents, illnesses, no bumps in the road. No one I know dying young or having problems. Live in paradise. One endless path of happiness.

14 That is what my fallen sinful heart thinks is best. But God knows what I need more than I do. A soft life does not produce diamonds for the Lord. Romans 5:3 5: Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. We rejoice in suffering so that God might work in us to produce men and women of substance. We suffer so that we might long for heaven and not be satisfied with this fallen dying world. We suffer to show us how great the sacrifice of Jesus is. Let me read out one of the best known but also most misunderstood verses in Scripture. Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Let me remind you of our philosophy professor s argument. If God Is All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving Then If Evil Befalls This World/Me Then Either: God Is Not All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving OR God Does Not Exist If God Is All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving Then If Evil Befalls This World/Me Then Either: God Is Not All Knowing, All Powerful And All Loving OR God Does Not Exist We saw that she has a definition of good that is somewhat different to the Bible.

15 She would not say what happened to Joseph or Jim Elliot or Jesus was good. Paul has a different definition. God works all things together for good. We might want that to mean that He removes suffering and the consequences of evil and disasters from our life. Paul says no God loves us enough to give us more than that. God works things together. Does this mean He removes every bump and makes life easy? No Paul says that means tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword. It means we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Why does God put these in our lives? For our good which means to conform us to the image of his Son to justify us and glorify us. Because God is good and loves us it means that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. God loves us enough that we suffer to become what we were called to be. This is not evil this is good. Some of us will be paraplegics, some will have messy families, some will have deaths in our families to make us like Christ. But that is a really hard lesson to grasp. Part of the reason is that we fail to see things in light of eternity. This world seems so important. It is not. Listen to 2 Corinthians 4:17 18: For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Light momentary affliction. Paul lost everything his position in society, his authority, his wealth, his heritage. He became despised, persecuted and abhorred.

16 He was stoned and left for dead, imprisoned, beaten. His sacrifice and suffering for the kingdom was immense. Looking from the outside you might say how could God do this to His servant? Paul says that is the cost of making a mark for eternity. He was looking for the eternal weight of glory. Philippians 3:7 11: But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. I told you about the young man with mental illness most of his life. He is a pastor now. I was talking to him awhile ago. He fervently wishes that were not his lot in life but he accepts it. His main ministry is to people with mental illness. He can share with them and reach them in ways I simply could not. 2 Corinthians 1:3 4: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Sometimes we go through these things so we know how to minister to others. Just this morning I was talking with Andrew Freeman. I asked how Sandra was doing with her battle with Chronic Fatigue. Not well. But he said it is good because by humbling her in this way Sandra is able to reach out and minister to AIDS patients in ways a healthy person could not. I told you about the family who lost their daughter in absolutely tragic circumstances. Right now they are hanging onto their faith by their fingernails. But I am praying that when they come through this trial they will be able to comfort those who have similar trials. I can go to a family with a dying child and sit with them and tell them God is good. But if that couple went and said it it carries a whole different weight.

17 God knows what is best for me more than I do. I just have to believe it. God knows what is best for me more than I do God sometimes asks us to walk by faith God sometimes asks us to walk by faith Wow is this hard 2 Corinthians 5:7: For we walk by faith, not by sight. The Bible tells us God is good. The Bible tells us God directs the path of this world and knows the beginning from the end. The Bible tells us not a bird flies across the sky apart from the will of God. The Bible tells us God will work out justice on the final day. And then in the midst of living in a fallen world with evil we have to believe this by faith. At times God in His grace chooses to pull back the veil of the curtain and show us his plans. Joseph lived to see how the evil of men and his suffering were fleshed out in the plan of God for saving the nation. Elizabeth Elliot lived so see how the death of her husband Jim was used to inspire an army of missionaries. At other times we go our whole lives with only hints of how the plan of God will come together. We walk by faith and not by sight. The couple who lost their daughter do I have answers for them? Only some that just don t fully satisfy.

18 God who is love doing what is right. God is maturing them so they can be used to comfort others. But ultimately the full explanation awaits eternity. We have to trust that the Judge of the universe will do what is right. We know that bad things happen because this is a fallen world. But exactly how God uses events like Typhoon Haiyan for good is somewhat of a mystery. But one thing we often forget is that the greatest good is not for healing or an easy life but to know Jesus to be saved. Suffering is often the catalyst to turn men s hearts from this world to eternity and Jesus. Think of Mark 2. Jesus is teaching in a home in Capernaum. Some men brought a paralytic to Jesus. They dug through the roof and lowered the man down to Jesus. The man s suffering drove his friends to take extraordinary steps to bring this man to Jesus for healing. But then Jesus merely says Son, your sins are forgiven. Not what they were hoping for. They wanted take up your mat and walk. But then Jesus said, That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. The pain of suffering brought this man to Jesus where He found healing for His soul. Many came to Christ amid great suffering. Death of a loved one, injury, financial crisis some tragedy that shook them from this world and allowed them to consider Christ. And in eternity, every one of them will say the suffering was worth it it was but momentary light affliction in light of the eternal weight of glory. Whenever I think of the question Is God good? my thoughts finally settle on the cross. There I see the greatest evidence of the goodness of God. The cross settles this question for all time in my mind. God who is holy and has every right to destroy evil immediately but instead sent His Son to sacrifice Himself to save the rebels. God who did not abandon this world but set in motion a plan to save it. God who will not leave this world filled with evil but will one day eradicate it. God is love. God cares. He cares about every aspect of your life and the lives of every man and women on this planet.

19 God is good. May we never doubt God s love and goodness.