Reason For Hope

www.roomfordoubt.com

Dealing with Doubts because of Evil & Suffering

Rich Knopp, Ph.D. Prof. of Philosophy & Christian Apologetics

Project Coordinator, Room for Doubt Lincoln Christian Universityrknopp@lincolnchristian.edu

Event Web Page: www.worldvieweyes.org/retreat2015.html

The Reality of Evil

Forms of Evil

Natural evil

2004 Tsunami - Indian Ocean Hurricane Katrina2005

Moral evil

Sandy Hook Elementary School Dec. 14, 2012

Boston Marathon Bombings Apr. 15, 2013

Forms of Evil

Moral evil

ISIS Beheadings

Forms of Evil

Mixed evil

My great-nephew’s car

Forms of Evil

God

Evil

Evil: A Problem for Christians AND for Atheists

Atheism? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?“Suffering” and “Pain”

but why “Evil”?

“If evil does exist, such a fact would point us in the direction of

God’s existence” (Paul Copan, Loving Wisdom, 127)??

Buddhism and Suffering

Four Noble Truths

• All is suffering.$

• Suffering is caused by desire.$

• Cease all desire to cease suffering.$

• Follow the 8-fold path to cease desire.

Christianity and Suffering

1 Pet 2:21 21For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps”

The Problem for Christianity

1. Evil exists. $

2. If God were all-GOOD, He would WANT to eliminate evil.$

3. If God were all-KNOWING, He would KNOW HOW to eliminate evil.$

4. If God were all-POWERFUL, He would be ABLE to eliminate evil.$

5. Since evil exists, God must either not exist at all or not be all-good, all-knowing, or all-powerful.

Stephen Fry

Prominent Responses to Evil

Free Will

Natural Law

Soul-Making

Prominent Responses to Evil (“Theodicies”)

Free Will • Human free will$• Can an omnipotent God do absolutely EVERYTHING?$• Even God, with omnipotence, cannot literally do

EVERYTHING.

A “round square”?

Free Will Theodicy § Hab 1:13 “Thou cannot look on wickedness with favor”$§ 2 Tim 2:13 {God cannot deny Himself}$§ Titus 1:2; Heb 6:18 {God cannot lie}$§ James 1:13 {God cannot be tempted to sin}

A. God can do anything He desires (Is 46:10-11).$B. But God cannot do anything contrary to His nature (which includes metaphysical or logical impossibilities).$

C. Even God cannot create “free” creatures and guarantee that they would not sin.

Prominent Responses to Evil (“Theodicies”)

Main Apologetic Responses (“Theodicies”)

Free Will Theodicy

God

Se l f

O t h e r s

Na t u r e

Natural Law Theodicy ✦Natural order$

✦Natural order allows predictable consequences and rational decisions.$

✦Natural order makes moral “accountability” possible.$

✦Natural order is necessary for moral good and moral evil.$

✦Natural order invariably allows suffering and death.$

✦Natural Law Theodicy helps explain “natural evil.”

Prominent Responses to Evil (“Theodicies”)

Soul-Making Theodicy ✦Virtues take time.$

✦Humanity “learns” righteousness.$

✦Humanity experiences FINITENESS with suffering and evil. $

✦Suffering/Death make us face finiteness and serve as incentives for repentance.

Prominent Responses to Evil (“Theodicies”)

1 Pet 2:21-23 21For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;

1 Pet 4:19 19Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

Soul-Making

1 Pet 5:6-10 6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. 10After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Soul-Making

✦ Moral evil$✦ Natural evil$✦ Suffering/Death >

Warnings for repentance

Luke 13:1-5 Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? 3I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Soul-Making

“Pain plants the flag of truth within a rebel

fortress” (C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 120).

Soul-Making

Additional Biblical Responses

A. More focus on the BIBLICAL God

B. More appeal to Christian theology

C. More emphasis on what God HAS DONE.

“The God in whom the nineteenth and twentieth centuries came to disbelieve had been invented only in the seventeenth century” (Alasdair MacIntyre).

1. Sin is REAL and has CONSEQUENCES. 2. God HAS ACTED to eliminate evil!

• Forgiveness for moral evil.$• Grace to overcome evil temptation.

Matt 26:9 “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”

Additional Biblical Responses

“... more important than a logical answer to the problem of evil theoretically is a personal answer to the problem of evil practically” (Kreeft & Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics, 143)

D. All suffering must be understood in the context of eternal, righteous, and merciful JUDGMENT.

Rom 8:18 “The sufferings of this present time are not

worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Additional Biblical Responses

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.”

Job 19:25

Another Consideration

Why?

The Purpose for God’s Creation

A. An ongoing “COSMIC STRUGGLE” began before the creation of the physical universe.

• Isa 14 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning ...”$

• 2 Pet 2:4 [angels sinned]$• Jude 6 [angels did not keep their own

domain have been kept for judgment]$• Eph 6:12 [our struggle is not against flesh

and blood]$• 1 Jn 3:8 “... the devil has sinned from the

beginning. The Son of God appeared forthis purpose, to destroy the works of the devil”

B. A “Cosmic DEMONSTRATION.” • Rom 1:17 “In it the righteousness of God is revealed ...”$• Rom 3:24-26 “... to demonstrate His righteousness ...”$• Rom 5:8 “God demonstrates His own love toward us ...”$• Eph 3:8-10 [the mystery] “... in order that the manifold

wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places....”

• Isa 26:9 “When the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”

The Purpose for God’s Creation

Dealing with Doubts because of Evil & Suffering

Rich Knopp, Ph.D. Prof. of Philosophy & Christian Apologetics

Project Coordinator, Room for Doubt Lincoln Christian Universityrknopp@lincolnchristian.edu

Event Web Page: www.worldvieweyes.org/retreat2015.html