The Problem of Evil Apologetics Week

The Problem of Evil Apologetics Week 4 6.22.2014 Introduction The problem of evil and why it exists has been around since the fall of man. The issue for us as Christians to grapple with is why evil exists and how we respond to this issue. The purpose is to help people who do not believe in Jesus Christ to understand there are real responses to fair questions that they have. Ultimately, we seek for them to have a personal relationship with Jesus, thereby having life now and eternally. We should be ready and willing to be able to explain our beliefs regarding evil in this world, but at the same time, those we talk to should also be able to justify their beliefs regarding evil in the world. Their arguments are just as liable to logical fallacies as our views are. A questioning approach can be the most effective in defending our beliefs. Simple questions can cause our friends to have to rethink what they themselves believe. 1. Worldview a. De inition: The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world; a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. b. Insight into the worldviews of others is essential to an understanding of what makes them tick. c. Conceptual (idea) system, which is logically consistent. Everything someone believes should it within it, and it is the means by which they interpret and judge reality. d. Christians need to/should be able to show that our worldview is rationally, morally and existentially (i.e. how life is actually lived) superior to other worldviews. This is not arrogant, but humbly dependent on God and his Word. i. 1 Peter 3:15: but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. e. The Bible is illed with the concepts of Wisdom, knowledge, insight, judgment, justice, etc which support this interest in the logical consistency of our thoughts and how we arrive there. 2. Worldview and Evil a. A Well Rounded Worldview includes the following: i. God (is there God? Who is God? What is He like?) ii. Ultimate Reality (metaphysics what is there? What is it like?) iii. Knowledge (epistemology what is knowledge? How is it acquired?) iv. Ethics/Morals b. The Christian God is one (Deut 6:4), yet a Trinity (1 Peter 1:2), and is supremely powerful, personal, all knowing and all good i. Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ii. 1 Peter 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sancti ication of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. c. Problem of evil de ined 1

i. If God is good and loves all human beings, it is reasonable to believe that he wants to deliver the creatures he loves from evil and suffering ii. If God is all knowing, it is reasonable to believe that he knows how to deliver his creatures from evil and suffering iii. If God is all powerful, it is reasonable to believe that he is able to deliver his creatures from evil and suffering. iv. Thus, it may appear that God doesn t want to eliminate evil (casting doubt on his goodness), doesn t know how to eliminate evil (casting doubt on his knowledge) or lacks the ability to eliminate evil (casting doubt on his power). Each of these contradict what we believe about God, so how do we move forward? 3. Two Kinds of Evil a. Moral: relates to human actions. For example, why did that person kill the other person with a gun? We act in evil ways when we are sel ish, abusive, when we hurt others. b. Natural: natural disasters, like earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, loods, disease. These don t directly result from human choices, though they can be traced to sin s effect on the world, post fall of man. Romans 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 4. Theoretical vs Personal Problem of Evil a. Theoretical: why is there so much evil/suffering in the world? This is not necessarily related to a person s direct experience with evil, but indicates a more theoretical or philosophical approach to the question b. Personal: why has evil/pain impacted me so much? When discussing the problem of evil with someone who is suffering, be sure to have a loving approach to the conversation. Cliche or overly theoretical answers will not be appreciated. c. It is hard to distinguish the two when going through hard times. CS Lewis and the Problem of Pain and A Grief Observed : the former is dealing with the theoretical and the latter going through the pain of the death of his wife. 5. Evil explained by alternatives worldviews a. There are many alternative views to suffering in the world, e.g. dualism, pantheism, materialism, naturalism. b. Religious Dualism i. Good god (light) and evil god (darkness) are coeternal and coequal in power. There has always been and always will be a battle between the two of them. ii. Examples: Iranian Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism (Augustine converted from this), Ying and Yang in Chinese philosophy. iii. Note: this is not the Christian worldview/teaching regarding the relationship between God and Satan since they are not coequal. Satan is created and is the lesser of the two, and he can only wreak havoc by God s leave. iv. How to address 1. How do we know which God is the good one versus the bad one? What are the grounds for knowing this? We can appeal to a higher standard than just light but The Light. a. John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. 2

2. What is the content of the absolute standard? What does Absolute Goodness and Absolute Evil look like? Is there some way to tip the scales in one way or another? CS Lewis argues that the ultimate standard has to be Good. He argues that evil is always parasitic upon the good. Think of robbers or other criminals; we always say they prey on people, so they are, by de inition, parasitic. Lewis says that the Good is primary and Evil is always (note the concept of being absolute) a corruption of some prior good. The standard to judge against is Good and not bad. As Christians, we believe that good we referred to has its de inition in Jesus Christ a. John 1:14 And the Word became lesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 3. Summary: dualism requires us to appeal to one monistic principle, that is, ultimate principle, without which we would not know which god is good. We learn that the ultimate principle has to be Good. Dualism is a logical inconsistency. c. Pantheism (many gods/all are god) i. The idea of evil in Pantheism causes dif iculty. If there are multiple gods, and they have contradictory views of good and evil, which is the correct view of it? Pretty soon, this devolves into everything being good or everything being evil or everything being neither good nor evil. All ideas of good and evil are illusions. ii. Evil is an illusion. Natural questions arise from this. Why does everyone suffer from this illusion? How has the same illusion existed for so long? iii. Evil is (a) god. This seems wrong to most people. Some might prefer to view it as a force instead of god (a la dualism). d. Naturalism/materialism i. De inition: Nothing exists outside of the material, mechanistic natural order. This was espoused by Watson and Crick (DNA) and Jaques Monod in his 1971 book Chance and Necessity. Carl Sagan said that the universe is all that is or ever was or ever will be. ii. Key to Naturalism: everything within the box is explained by everything in the box ( Darwin s Black Box by Michael Behee addresses this issue). Nothing comes from outside the box to the inside. iii. Do Naturalists believe in good and evil? Yes and no. No: everyone is really mechanistic. Yes: it is a subjective preference. The challenge for them is that they really cannot believe in objective good. However, while many objectively would like to claim there is no good or evil, few would be willing to go to the logical extreme of I don t like it, but I can t say it s wrong. 6. Evil and the Christian Worldview a. God is not the originator of evil; humans are. i. Genesis 1:31 has God seeing all that he had made, and it was very good. ii. Evil was the result of humans abusing their free will. iii. A human hand with a sharp metal instrument can stab someone and rob them, or it can cut out a tumor that saves a life. Good or evil is a matter of choice. b. God can use suffering to accomplish good i. This is not to say that suffering is good, but that it can be used by God to accomplish good. 3

ii. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. iii. Joseph with his brothers, You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good to save many lives iv. God hasn t accomplished any good in my situation. Maybe we never get to see how it works out, but we need to trust Him that He accomplishes good by it. v. Many people come to Christ during times of suffering. CS Lewis, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. vi. God accomplishes good through pain by developing our character. Romans 5:3 4, Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Character development is not fun, or happy, but it is bene icial. As we re lect on our lives, it is usually during the tough times that we grow the most. c. God will eventually end all suffering and evil i. A day is coming when God will judge all evil. ii. Why hasn t God judged the world already? In a way, waiting to return is a way of showing mercy to those who have yet to come to faith in Him. 2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. d. God will more than compensate us in eternity i. Even though God owes us nothing, we will be more than compensated for whatever sufferings we have put up with while on earth. ii. 2 Corinthians 4:17, For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. iii. Paul s momentary troubles: 39 lashes 5 times, beaten with rods 3 times, shipwrecked, stoned and left for dead as well. We need to keep our eyes on the eternal glory that awaits us. e. God gives us peace and courage to endure i. When we are faced with trials and suffering, we can choose to run from God or to run to God. ii. God gives us peace in our suffering and courage for the future. iii. Where is God when we hurt? He is with us in the person of Jesus Christ. iv. Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit f. Does the existence of evil prove that God doesn t exist? i. The basic argument presented is the following: Some religious people are violent. Therefore, religion itself is evil. Some religions teach evil. Therefore, all religions are evil. Some religious people do evil, and some religions teach evil; therefore, God doesn t exist. ii. When someone acts against the clear teachings of the belief system, should the belief system be held accountable? iii. A religion should not be held hostage by its heretics. g. If God was all powerful and all loving, He would not allow evil. i. One approach is the following. Is it possible that God could have a purpose for evil that escapes us? If that seems unlikely, consider the following approach: do 4

you know the mind of God? That s impossible. Thus, how can we say that God doesn t have a good reason for evil. If we don t know the mind of God, then we can t know He doesn t have a good reason. ii. A bear is caught in a trap and a hunter wants to free him. The bear doesn t trust the hunter and growls at him. The hunter then aims a ri le with a tranquilizer at the bear, further convincing the bear the hunter is out to kill him. With the bear semi conscious, the hunter pushes the bear s foot deeper into the trap to release it, but the bear again interprets it as harm. Finally, through the efforts of the hunter, the bear is free and runs off. iii. In this case, the bear was unable to interpret the hunter s motives, and ran off thinking the hunter was evil. iv. God has also revealed much of himself through creation, the Bible, and His Son Jesus Christ, and thus it is not as if he has been silent on the issue of our suffering in this world. 7. Gratuitous Evil a. Does completely pointless evil exist? This is evil that serves no purpose, that is not intentional and nothing is gained from it. b. First, we cannot know everything, and thus we cannot de initively answer that question. However, in a crazy, sinful world there is a possibility of it. c. Yes: due to our sin, there are things about the world that are irrevocably evil, and nothing can be done about it until Christ returns and sets up a new heaven and new earth. d. No: all evil can have the impact of causing someone to rely more fully on God to sustain them, can cause someone to trust in Christ for salvation, etc. 8. Potential Conversation/Approach a. God cannot exist because there is too much evil in life. Evil exists; therefore, the Creator does not. b. Response: if evil exists, then good must exist in order for us to know the difference. If good exists, then there must be some moral law/objective basis for a moral law to distinguish between good and evil. This is something that is true regardless of our belief in it (transcendently true). 9. Moral Argument for the Existence of God a. Although objective morality may not be scienti ic, there are certain things which are universally accepted as innately good or evil b. The logic is as follows: i. If God does not exist, then objective moral values do not exist ii. Objective moral values do exist iii. God exists c. This refers back to the examples from earlier of things that are universally accepted as evil or good. The existence of common standards worldwide indicate the necessity of an absolute standard giver. 10. 4 Wrong Answers to the Question Why Me? (Tim Keller) a. 4 Wrong Answers i. This makes no sense I guess this proves there is no God 5

1. If there is no God, then why have a sense of outrage and horror when suffering and tragedy occur? 2. Nietzsche: Two hundred thousand wiped out at a stroke how magni icent! 3. If there is no God, all value judgments are arbitrary. ii. If there is a God, senseless suffering proves that God is not completely in control of everything. He couldn t stop this. 1. This doesn t really it our de inition of God. 2. If God isn t powerful enough to create and sustain the whole world, then violence is just natural. 3. If violence is natural, you cannot be outraged by it. iii. God saves some people and lets others die because He favors and rewards good people. 1. Read the book of Job 2. Look around the world many good people suffer iv. God knows what he s doing, so be quiet and trust Him 1. Partially correct 2. We can do better the Bible gives us some more ideas on why evil and pain exist b. Some right answers i. It can t be that God doesn t love us! ii. He was committed to our eternal pleasure/happiness that he plunged into the greatest depths of suffering iii. Ann Voskamp in One Thousand Gifts: [God] gave us Jesus If God didn t withhold from us His very own Son, will God withhold anything we need? If trust must be earned, hasn t God unequivocally earned our trust with the bark on the raw wounds, the thorns pressed into the brow, your name on the cracked lips? How will he not also graciously give us all things He deems best and right? He s already given us the incomprehensible. 11. Supremacy of God in All Things (John Piper) a. There are no exceptions: war, calamities, cancer, etc. God is supreme in the world of suffering, evil, and death. b. Christians are to be sorrowful, yet rejoicing (2 Cor 6:10). Suffering and death are only for a while. We must weep with the weeping, rejoice with the rejoicing (Romans 12:15). c. Absolute evil indicates an absolute standard d. Two wrong reasons the world is evil i. God is not in control 1. Matthew 10:29, Matthew 8:27, Proverbs 16:33, Proverbs 21:1, Lamentations 3:37, Amos 3:6, Mark 1:27, Isaiah 46:9 10 2. Nothing is outside the control of God 3. Satan is under God s control ii. God is evil or unjust 1. 1 John 1:5, Psalm 25:8, Isaiah 6:3, Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28 2. God is Holy, and he works all things together for good for those who love Him e. Reasons why this world exists 6

i. The world was subjected to futility in Romans 8:18 21. It serves as a picture of how horrible sin is. ii. Sin was permitted to enter the world through Adam and Eve, that God may save us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ iii. Through all of this suffering, God made a display of His love for the world through the torture that His Son underwent. Romans 5:8 and Acts 4:27 28. Through this, there is forgiveness and everlasting joy. 12. Final Points on Evil a. We are re ined in suffering: Hebrews 2:10 b. Transcendent and non transcendent good the latter is sending a birthday card to someone. The former is eternal fellowship with God. c. Transcendent and non transcendent evil the latter is not being as kind as I should towards someone. The former is eternal hell (for a very graphic description see Dante s Divine Comedy ). d. Romans 8.28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. i. We need to be careful how we apply this as in this life we may not understand all of suffering and in eternity we may not fully understand as we are inite beings there. e. See Romans 11.33 36 for our limitations before God 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? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. f. Our sufferings in the midst of evil in the perspective of eternity. Romans 8.18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Resources: The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message by Ravi Zacharias 4 Wrong Answers to the Question Why Me Tim Keller http://redeemercitytocity.com/blog/view.jsp?blog_param=446 Where is God: The Supremacy of God in an Age of Terror John Piper http://www.desiringgod.org/resource library/sermons/where is god 5.8.2011 Talk on Problem of Pain at FBC Biblical Worldview Academy: God s Plan for Evil and Suffering (parts 1 10 are all good) http://biblicalworldviewacademy.org/1260/god%e2%80%99s plan for evil and sufferingpart 1/ The Moral argument for the Existence of God: http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=12&article=4101 Scan the QR Code to access a copy of this handout online. located at: http://bit.ly/apologeticsweek4 7