Evil, Pain

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Faith
R e a s o n a b l e
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Evil, Pain the Cross
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• Is God 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?
• David Hume, Dialogues concerning Natural
  Religion, Pt. X.

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Understanding Pain, Evil, Suffering

• Pain is a neutral element that can be positive or
  negative
  
• Evil is the absence of (or abuse of or neglect
  of) something good
  
• Two kinds of evil
• Moral evil (humanity)
• Natural evil (cosmic disasters)

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Historical Positions

• God is not willing
• God is not able
• God is both willing and able, but has chosen a
  course of action which includes the possibility
  of pain and evil currently.
  
• But if so, WHY?

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• How can a GOOD God allow EVIL in the world?

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The Biblical Story

• There are some things God CANNOT do
• He cannot lie and be TRUTH at the same time
• There are some things God WANTS to do that, if
  done at the same time, would cause a conflict in
  His nature
  
• Example Cancel the debt of sin without
  sacrifice
  
• When God chose to enter into a RELATIONSHIP with
  humanity, CHOICE automatically entered the picture

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Why Choice Matters

• Which would you choose for a relationshipa robot
  or a human?
  
• How can one be loved, surprised, dazzled,
  spellbound, or overwhelmed by something
  pre-programmed?
  
• However, the ability to choose good carries with
  it the ability to choose evil
  
• Our choices necessarily have consequences

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The Biblical Story

• God made autonomous creatures and made them
  co-collaborators in His Creation
  
• Our choice to sin led to
• A distorted view of God
• A blurred vision of ourselves
• A self-interested view of nature
• Thus SOME evil in the world is a consequence of
  humanitys rebellion against God

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Evil due to

• Humanitys rebellion against God
• Sometimes, we reap what we sow
• Sometimes, God allows us to taste our own
  medicine
  
• The consequences of evil which, if stopped too
  soon, would fail to serve Gods ultimate
  purposes
  

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How can EVIL be part of Gods purposes?

• Some pain and suffering is desired
• Some pain and suffering is unwanted but helpful
• Some pain is horrible and tragic, yet God can
  work all things together for God, according to
  His purposes
  
• Only God can bring beauty out of ashes

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Gods in the Redeeming business

• He brought SALVATIONthrough the Flood (1 Peter
  318-21)
  
• He molded a nationfrom vagabonds in the
  wilderness (Exodus)
  
• He Raised Jesusfrom the dead

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Beautyfrom Ashes

• China 20 million died from Maos cultural
  revolution.
  
• Since 1977, the growth of the church in China has
  no known parallel in history! (30-75 million!)
  
• El Salvador 12-year civil war and drop in coffee
  price led to 80 in dire poverty
  
• Evangelicals rose from 2.3 to 20 in 50 years.
• America Massacre of Amish children in 1-room
  school house, Nickel Mines, VA. October 2, 2006
  
• Amish offers comfort to family of the shooter
  hours after the event, and set up a charitable
  fund for that family noted on CNN and Canadas
  National Post.

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Some Positive Outcomes from Pain

• Inspire and Encourage faith (Ps 11971 2 Cor
  416-18 127 1 Peter 17). Even Jesus learned
  obedience by the things he suffered (Heb 58)
  
• God can reveal his glory (Jn 91-3)
• Opportunity to conform to Jesus sufferings
  (Phil. 3)
  
• To bear with one anothers burdens and fulfill
  the royal law of love (1 Cor 1226 Gal 62)
  
• Comforted by God, we are able to comfort others
  (2 Cor 14).
  
• Provides a vehicle for hope

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Consider the Alternatives

• Humanism This life of pain and sorrow is all we
  can ever hope for.
  
• Totalitarianism Trust us. We can impose a
  perfect system on the world.
  
• Eastern religions There is no pain, evil, or
  suffering. Its a figment of our imagination.
  

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• God is the only solution to the problem of evil!

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Into the World He Came

• In the Incarnation, God declared (fallen)
  humanity to be valuable
  
• In the Cross, God chose to partner with us and
  experience the suffering of the world, ultimately
  to bear it, and offer justification
  
• In the Resurrection, God declares victory over
  evil and suffering, offering hope for that final
  day when His plan is complete.