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- The "problem of evil" is a philosophical question regarding how the following three ideas can coexist: God is almighty, God is perfectly good, and evil exists. Saint Basil the Great, an influential Christian of the 4th century, offers an answer to the "problem of evil", saying "No one who is in this world will deny that evils exist.
www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/the-problem-of-evil-why-does-god-allow-evil-to-exist.html
Jan 4, 2022 · Forgiveness is the Christian answer to the problem of evil. Forgiveness is different from condemnation—it releases the condemned from punishment. Forgiveness is also different from excusing evil—it acknowledges that there is wrong to be made right.
- Omnibenevolent
The problem of evil is a complex one. However, we do know...
- Love
Answer. Let’s look at how the Bible describes love, and then...
- Book of Job
Job 1:1, "In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was...
- What is The Difference Between Natural Evil and Moral Evil
Our site has several articles that address theodicy and the...
- Omnibenevolent
Jun 10, 2009 · The most common answer to the problem of evil through the centuries has been the free-will defense. This states that God is indeed all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good; that there are certain things that even such a Being cannot do; and that one of those things is to create a morally good world in which no evil occurs.
- What Is The Problem of Evil?
- Responding to The Problem of Evil
- The Way of Theodicy
- Licensing The GGT: God’s Sovereignty Over All Evil
- Limiting The GGT: The Inscrutability of God’s Purposes
The so-called “problem of evil” is an argument against the existence of God that reasons along these lines: 1. A perfectly powerful being canprevent any evil. 2. A perfectly good being willprevent evil as far as he can. 3. God is perfectly powerful and good. 4. So, if a perfectly powerful and good God exists, there will be no evil. 5. There is evil...
Nonstarters
A Christian must be truthful and face the question honestly. It will not do to deny that evil exists (#5 above), for evil is the very presumption of the gospel. Nor can we deny that God could prevent evil (#1 above) or that he is perfect in power and goodness (#3). However, we can (and should) question the second premise above – that a perfectly good God must prevent all evil – for it doesn’t necessarily follow from God’s perfect goodness that he will prevent every evil he can prevent. Perhap...
The Ways of Theodicy and Inscrutability
Our response the problem of evil, then, may take either of two approaches. We may argue that the second premise above is false and seek to demonstrate that it is false by showing God’s reasons for permitting evil – the way of “theodicy.” Or we could argue that the second premise is unproven because unbelievers can’t rule outGod’s having a good reason for permitting evil – the way of “inscrutability.” The way of theodicy (from the Greek theos, “God,” and dikaios, “just”; hence, a justification...
Two popular theodicies that have no biblical basis.
Some theodicies that have been offered lack solid biblical grounding. The free will theodicy, for example, argues that moral evil is due to human abuse of free will. The value of free will is a great good: the possibility of morally good choice and of human beings imaging God by way of these choices. But free will has the unfortunate consequence of allowing for the possibility of moral evil. In response to this we might ask, if free will of this sort is so valuable then why doesn’t God have i...
Four popular theodicies have some biblical basis
By contrast, at least four theodicies have been offered that have some biblical basis. The punishment theodicy argues that suffering is a result of God’s just punishment of evildoers (Gen 3:14-19; Rom 1:24-32, 5:12, 6:23, 8:20-21; Isa 29:5-6; Ezek 38:19; Rev 6:12; 11:13; 16:18). In punishment God aims at the good of displaying his judgment against sin. The soul-building theodicy argues that suffering leads us from self-centeredness to other-centeredness (Heb 12:5-11; Rom 5:3-5; 2Cor 4:17; Jas...
These theodicies fall under the umbrella of the “greater good theodicy.”
A “greater good theodicy” (GGT) argues that the pain and suffering in God’s world play a necessary role in bringing about greater goods that could not be brought about otherwise. The question that remains, then, is just this: does the Bible really teach that God aims at great goods by way of various evils?
God’s Sovereignty over Natural Evil
It is one thing to acknowledge God’s sovereign and purposeful providence over the moral and natural evils mentioned in the Job, Joseph, and Jesus narratives. It is quite another to claim that God is sovereign over all moral and natural evils. But this is what the Bible repeatedly teaches. This takes us a considerable way towards licensing the GGT as a generalapproach to the problem of evil. The Bible presents multitudes of examples of God intentionally bringing about natural evils – famine, d...
God’s Sovereignty over Moral Evil
In addition, and perhaps surprisingly, the Bible presents God as having such meticulous control over the course of human history that a wide range of moral evils – murder, adultery, disobedience to parents, rejecting wise counsel, even human hatred – can be regarded as “of the Lord.” Without erasing or suppressing the intentionality of creatures – and this includes their deliberations, their reasoning, their choosing between alternatives they consider and reflect upon – God’s own intentionali...
God’s Sovereignty over All Evil
So the Job, Joseph, and Jesus passages are not anomalies, but part and parcel of a more general view the Bible takes on the subject, with respect to both natural and moral evil. Indeed, in addition to this large swath of ‘particular’ texts about individual cases of evil, there are quite a few “universal” texts which seem to trace all calamities, all human decision-making, all events whatsoever, back to the will of God. 1. God’s sovereignty over all calamity (Ecc 7:13-14; Isa 45:7; Lam 3:37-38...
Establishing the Burden of Proof
Of course, each specific theodicy mentioned earlier has significant limitations. For instance, the Bible frequently discourages the idea that the punishment theodicy can explain all evils in the world (Job 1:1, 1:8, 2:3, 42:7-8; John 9:1-3; Acts 28:1-6). More generally, Christians can never know enough about a person’s situation, or about God’s purposes, to rule in a specific theodicy as being God’s reason for permitting evil in a particular case. In fact, it would be entirely presumptuous to...
Analogies for our Cognitive Limitations
It is widely recognized that we have cognitive limitations with respect to discerning goods and connections, at least in territories where we lack the relevant expertise, experience, or vantage point. Some examples: 1. It doesn’t seem to me that there is a perfectly spherical rock on the dark side of the moon right now, but that’s no reason to conclude that such a rock isn’tthere. 2. It didn’t seem to any medievals that the theories of special relativity or quantum mechanics were true, but th...
Biblical Argument for Divine Inscrutability
The theme of divine inscrutability is not only exceedingly defensible common sense. It also looms large in the Bible, having both pastoral and apologetic implications. It closes the mouths of Christians who would insensitively offer “God’s reasons” to those who suffer (when they don’t know such reasons). And it closes the mouths of critics who would irrationally preclude divine reasons for the suffering. Imagine we were on the scene in the cases of Job (as his friend), Joseph (as his brother)...
- The Sadotheistic response: Premise 3: Suffering and Evil Exist. Conclusion: God enjoys to bring about suffering and pain for no reason at all.
- Open Theistic Response: Premise 3: Suffering and evil exist. Conclusion: God has self-limited his abilities so that he can truly relate to mankind.
- The Pantheistic Response: Premise 3: Suffering and evil exist. Conclusion: Suffering and Evil are illusions we create with our own mind.
- The Atheistic Response. Premise 3: Suffering and evil exist. Conclusion: An all-good, all-powerful God could not exist since there is so much suffering and evil in the world.
May 13, 2022 · Saint Basil the Great, an influential Christian of the 4th century, offers an answer to the "problem of evil", saying "No one who is in this world will deny that evils exist. What, then, do we say?
Dec 15, 2012 · The Incarnation is God’s definitive answer to the emotional problem of evil. The living God is not a detached observer or absentee landlord. He doesn’t stand aloof from the suffering and pain and evil that forms the central tension of his epic.
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Mar 11, 2007 · How do the other world views deal with the problem of evil? What is the answer to the problem? B. The Logical Answer. For many years, the problem of evil was seen as a way to show that Christianity was logically inconsistent. If Christianity could be seen to be logically contradictory, then it had to be false.
