”Why Believe in God Despite the Evil in the World?” - Chapter 9 of Know Why You Believe

Know Why You Believe
By K. Scott Oliphint

“Why Believe in God Despite the Evil in the World?” – Chapter 9

Introduction

• The Pervasiveness of Evil
• The Root of Evil
• The Problem of Evil for the Christian Faith
  
  • Is there a God?
  • Is He good?
  • Is He powerful?
  • Then, why is there evil and suffering?

The Problem

• Christians should be “ready to give an answer” regarding the problem of evil, because it directly relates to our belief in God and to the character of our God.
• Secularists also have a “problem of evil.” They have no way of explaining what evil is.
  
  • If everything is chance, then shouldn’t we expect “accidents” and “tragedy”?
  • If everything is chance, then how can there be moral categories of good and evil?
• The character of our God and the presence of evil.
  
  • God is omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good.
  • There is a vast amount of evil in the world.
  • How do we reconcile these truths?
• The problem of evil is not only philosophical; it is also personal.
• What are the solutions to the philosophical and personal dilemma of the presence of evil in the world?
• Potential solutions cannot create bigger problems.
  
  • We can’t deny one of God’s attributes.
• Atheists suggest we give up our belief in God because they attempt to show the direct conflict between our belief in God and the presence of evil in the world.
• But, is there another way? Is there a way to maintain faith in the God of Scripture while holding to a compelling explanation for the presence of evil in the world?

Reasons

• We can’t deny the existence of God or one of his core attributes; so, the challenge is put to Christians to come up with a “God-justifying” reason for evil.
  
  • Theodicy – what reasons or justification God could have in creating a world that contains so much evil.
    
    • “Greater Good Defense”
    • The “non-existence” of evil – Augustine
    • The “Free Will” Defense

Biblical Reasons

• The ultimate explanation for why evil is in the world must come from Scripture.
• Three central teachings of Scripture that provide clarity on this issue:
  
  • God
    
    • The Creator and Sustainer of Creation
    • God’s Eternal Decree – Evil was not a “surprise” to God. It was all a part of his all-inclusive, eternal, sovereign decree.
  • Image of God
    
    • Human beings are created in the image of God with dignity and dominion.
    • Humanity had a responsible relationship to God, with responsibility that included dominion over what God had made.
    • Their dominion was not exhaustive; there were limitations. God is still sovereign.
    • Adam and Eve sought to extend their dominion beyond God’s boundaries.
    • These actions had consequences for humanity and all of creation.
    • God and Image of God
      
      • Everything that happens in the world was initiated by God in eternity past.
      • Even the remedy for the problem was guaranteed before creation ever was.
      • It was planned by God that those made in his image would be responsible agents in God’s world.
      • When Adam and Eve sinned, God judged them for their disobedience.
      • Their sin brought real consequences, both to themselves and to all creation.
  • God with Us
    
    • God himself sees the incompatibility of his character and evil as a serious problem.
    • God determined to deal with it in a way that deeply involves him.
    • God is not “outside” the problem of evil.
    • God involves himself in dealing with the problem of evil in the Garden in Gen. 3.
    • “Theodicy” is solved by “Theophany.”
    • God comes down to his creation to solve the problem of evil.
    • The ultimate and permanent “theophany” of God is Jesus Christ, who is God with us.
    • Jesus Christ, as fully God and fully man as one person, came into this world to set right what we ruined.
    • The cost that Christ paid to deal with our problem of sin was high – it involved death and taking on himself the wrath of God against evil.
    • The problem of evil could be conquered only if the penalty we should pay was paid by him, the innocent one.
    • God, in the person of his Son, comes to us to solve the horrendous problem that we started and that only he could finish.
    • No greater concern for the “problem of evil” could God show than the sending of his only Son to be forsaken by him and to die.
    • The problem of evil, which is our fault, finds its solution only when God solves it.

Responses

• Why did God create then, knowing that sin and evil would follow?
  
  • We don’t have all the answers; we can’t see all things as God sees them. We must not “condemn God in order to justify ourselves.” (Job 40:8)
  • God didn’t provide answers to Job, but he did remind him of his character.
• But that still doesn’t answer the question! Why would God plan this kind of a world?
  
  • This is the wrong focus.
  • A better question would be: “Why would God, from eternity past, plan and create a world where he himself, in the person of his Son, would come and suffer and die, being forsaken by his Father on the cross, to bring rebellious human creatures to himself?”
  • His plan, from all eternity, included suffering in it—the suffering and death of his Son.
• And this is where the Bible requires that we stop asking the question.
  
  • God has given us all we need to know about the solution to the problem of evil.
  • We stop asking because of the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. He is God and we are not.
  • God has solved the problem of evil. The solution is working itself out in history until the most obvious indication of the problem—death itself—will finally be destroyed.
  • In the meantime, the proper response to the problem of evil is to trust him.
  • Since God is God, we can place ourselves in the hands of the one who knows the end from the beginning, who through Christ has provided our deliverance from evil for eternity.

Questions

• Why is God’s solution to the problem of evil not satisfactory for some people?
• What do you know of how other religions deal with the problem of evil?
• Why do you think Paul calls death the “last enemy” (1 Cor. 15:26)?