APOLOGETICS

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APOLOGETICS

• THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

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The Problem of Evil, or Why Do Bad Things Happen
to Good People?

• The Problem How can these three statements all
  be true?
• God is all good
• God is all powerful
• Evil exists, but why?
• Either God isnt all good, or
• God isnt all powerful
• Why should I believe in a being who either isnt
  strong enough or good enough to put an end to
  evil?

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How Humans Have Tackled the Problem of Evil

• Atheism (there is no such being as God)
• Agnosticism (if there is a God, he cant be
  known, and is irrelevant)
• Evil undeniably exists
• Humans must find answers to reduce the effects of
  bad moral choices
• Quit blaming a devil!
• Quit waiting for help from a non-existent (or
  nonchalant) god!
• Ultimately, either Lifes a b_ _ _ _, and then
  you die, or Life is what you make of it

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How Humans Have Tackled the Problem of Evil

• Manicheanism (and Zoroastrianism, Greek paganism,
  and Eastern paganism)
• Deity isnt all good
• multiplicity of gods, or dual nature within one
  god
• constant struggle between good and evil

• Process Theology (influences present in Social
  Gospel Movement, Liberation Theology,
  Amillennialism)
• God isnt all powerful
• Believers pool their moral resources
• with Gods finite goodness
• Together, evil eventually will be defeated

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How Humans Have Tackled the Problem of Evil

• Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism,
• New Age Religions
• Evil doesnt exist
• Moral dualism is an illusion
• Merge with the One, or
• Awake in Nirvana, or
• Find peace in the Yin and the Yang
• All will be well when you
• Cease to believe in good vs. evil and
• Find the god within

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How Humans Have Solved the Problem of Evil

• Christianity, Judaism, Islam
• God is all good and all powerful, and evil does
  exist
• Moral evil (sin and its direct consequences) is a
  necessary condition of humans having free will
  (the free-will defense)
• Non-moral evil (natural disasters, etc.) exists
  to perfect us (the vale of soul-making defense)

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A Closer Look at Evil

• Augustine let the problem of evil keep him from
  God, so after his conversion he studies the
  undeniable reality called evil (Confessions
  includes some of humanitys deepest thoughts on
  the subject)
• All Gods creations were good
• Some goods were higher than other goods
• Angels and humans have the ability to choose
• This ability was corrupted when they chose lower
  goods instead of higher goods

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More about Evil

• Augustine taught that evils existence is not
  independent
• Evil is the privation of Good
• Evil/Good Darkness/Light
• Evil/Good Death/Life

• Evil parasitizes the Good
• The parasites existence is never of a higher
  order than its hosts existence

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Still More about Evil

• Augustine taught that evils existence is not
  necessary
• God existed first, and God is good
• Evil entered creation when will (a good faculty)
  was misused
• Humanitys main problem is the perverted will
• Good can be appreciated without there being evil
• The City of God is inhabited by humans with
  converted wills
• The City of God will never go away, even though
  Rome goes away (this is why Augustine wrote The
  City of God)

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Suffering

• Does the presence of suffering indicate the
  absence of God?
• If so, does the absence of suffering indicate the
  presence of God?

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Suffering

• If neither, then . . .
• Suffering and
• God being here (or not here)
• . . . are not necessarily related causally

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Suffering and Eternity

• Should all who die painfully go to heaven?

Should all who die painlessly go to hell?
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Pain

• The Gift Nobody Wants
• Nightmares of Painlessness
• How much pain is too much?
• How much pain is enough?
• Would a morally fallen world
• without suffering be
• Heaven?
• Hell?

Pain is Gods megaphone. C.S. Lewis
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The Vale of Soul-Making Defense

• Is God a
• Zookeeper?
• Loving Parent?

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Does God Feel Pain?

• If He does not, then there is an element of
  experience that we have that God does not have.
• This is absurd.
• If He does, then His ability to feel pain is not
  limited like ours is.
• This boggles the mind, and vexes the heart.
• If God feels pain, and sin pains God, then why
  did He create us?
• Study of the character and attributes of God can
  be the most rewarding and enriching experience in
  learning that you will ever encounter.

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Love Creates Possibility of Evil

• A Creators Options
• 1 create nothing
• 2 create an amoral world no evil, no good
• 3 create only automatons, no free choice
• 4 create free will to choose right or wrong, to
  love or not to love
• Love must not be coerced to be true love
• no love possible in options 1-3, only possible in
  4
• love requires loving enough to give the freedom
  to reject the love
• love without pain is superficial love
• Evil is mans choice, not Gods
• take responsibility for own actions
• dont blame God for mans evil
• natural pain is not evil but Gods Megaphone
  (C.S. Lewis)

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Philosophical Doom

• How do we know which creation option is best?
• Requires ultimate knowledge ourselves
• Any choice but 4 annihilates ourselves
• Assume we exist (self-evident, Descarte)
• 1 create nothing poof -- were gone
• 2 create amoral poof -- were gone
• 3 create automatons poof -- were gone
• Self-annihilation to limit pain is only logical
  recourse
• Atheists may not be willing to pursue this logic
• But many have!

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Religious Evils Nullify Religion

• Copernicus, Galileo, Crusades, Inquisition,
  Slavery, Bosnia, Rwanda, Ireland
• None of these injustices supported by Christs
  teachings
• Christs teachings clearly stand against such
• After all -- that is the critics point the
  hypocrisy
• What about the greater injustices of Atheism?
• Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Pol-Pot, Idi Amin
• All such actions consistent with tenets of
  atheism
• Self-destruction is not hypocritical to an
  atheist

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Where is God when it hurts?

• Atheism has no moral basis to even ask this
  question
• Hurting is merely physics and chemistry in an
  atheistic worldview
• Certainly not an evil that anyone must be
  compelled to fix
• God does address hurting and evil
• in His way
• in His time
• effectively
• Response Where is Atheism when it hurts?
• This pain isnt really bad because its only
  amoral chemistry and physics.
• This injustice is okay because there is no
  injustice.

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Solution to Problem of Pain/Evil

• Jesus Christ
• Pain and Evil
• Exposed Gods Love to Man Cross
• Love requires self-sacrifice to another trust
• Love and Justice married through Mercy and
  Grace
• a world without love is no world we would have
• a world without justice against evil is likewise
  intolerable
• Demonstrates His Power over Evil Resurrection
• Requires ability to create Life from Death
  Demonstrated
• Cross shows mans inhumanity IS Evil
• Cross shows Gods humanity IS Good
• Without Jesus Christ, nothing makes sense
• Requires a great deal of trust on our part as
  well as Gods

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Show me an atheistic ...

• Joan of Arc
• Florence Nightingale
• Mother Teresa
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Martin Luther King
• Jesus of Nazareth
• Why were they what they were?
• They knew truth of Gods reality

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10. Scriptural
Apologetics to the Glory of God
Ch67 Defense Problem of Evil

• Romans teaches what we see elsewhere in
  Scripture
• We have no right to complain against God, and
  when we do, we expose ourselves as disobedient.
• God is under no obligation to give us an
  intellectually satisfying answer to the problem
  of evil. He expects us to trust him in spite of
  that.
• Gods sovereignty is not to be questioned in
  connection with the problem of evil
• Gods word, his truth, is entirely reliable.
• God is not unjust. He is holy, just, and good.

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10. Scriptural (continued)
Apologetics to the Glory of God
Ch67 Defense Problem of Evil

• God vindicates his justice by helping us see
  history through his eyes
• mystery of time
• God enters in judgment, but each time he
  preserves the people in grace.
• CHRIST IS THE THEODICY (Romans 326 he did it to
  demonstrate his justice at the present time, so
  as to be just and the one who justifies those who
  have faith in Jesus. Rom 58 He demonstrate
  his love..)
• 1 John 19 faithful and JUST to forgive

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10. Scriptural Greater-Good Defense
Apologetics to the Glory of God
Ch67 Defense Problem of Evil

• Clarifications/Foundation
• Theocentric (not anthropocentric) Gods
  ultimate purpose is to glorify himself (mans
  chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him
  forever.)
• Obedience to God is a way of life and happiness
  (John 1010 Dt 533 83 1113-15Ps 1 Ps
  1197) Suffering is for a while glory is for
  eternity.

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10. Scriptural Greater-Good
Apologetics to the Glory of God
Ch67 Defense Problem of Evil

• Ways God uses evil to bring about greater good
• Displaying his grace and justice (Rom 326
  58,20-21917)
• Judgment of evil (Mt 2335 John 514), now and
  in the future.
• Redemption Christs sufferings are redemptive (1
  Pt 318) and in a way so may ours (Col 124)

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10. Scriptural Greater-Good
Apologetics to the Glory of God
Ch67 Defense Problem of Evil

• Shock value to unbelievers, intended to gain
  their attention and promote a change of heart
  (Zech 137-9 Luke 131-5 John 9 healing the man
  born blind. Why blind?)
• Fatherly disciple of believers (Heb 12)
• Vindication of God (Rom 326)
• We know that God has a reason for everything he
  does. Everything he does reflects wisdom.

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Conclusion
Apologetics to the Glory of God
Ch67 Defense Problem of Evil

• Why can it be called a so-called problem of pain?
• It isnt so much that evil pain is an illusion
• It isnt a philosophical problem that argues
  against Gods existence.
• Pain testifies to the veracity, the truthfulness,
  of God and of Scripture.
• The answer to the problem of pain is that in
  reality it is a problem of sin.
• A good, just, omnipotent, sovereign God has to
  make the sinner (the rebel against God) suffer.

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For further study

• Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain
• Yancey, Philip. Where is God When it Hurts?
• Brand, Paul and Philip Yancey. PAIN The Gift
  Nobody Wants. (on library reserve)
• Allen, Diogenes. The Traces of God. (on library
  reserve)
• Taylor, Larry. The Relationship of Free Will to
  the Concept of Soul Making in the Theodicy of
  John Hick.
• Leibniz, Gottfried. Theodicy.