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The cross and resurrection of Jesus
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- The cross and resurrection of Jesus become God’s own response to evil in this world. God works in mysterious ways to work out His good purpose, but there is one thing He wants us to understand clearly. The struggle with evil and suffering in this fallen world is only temporary.
www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/why-would-a-good-god-allow-so-much-suffering/
People also ask
What is the biblical solution to the problem of evil?
What does the Bible say about evil?
Do You Believe in God because of the evil in the world?
What is the problem of evil?
Does the reality of evil and suffering disprove the existence of God?
How do Christians solve the problem of evil and suffering?
Experiencing bad things is all part of God’s plan and humans should respond positively. Many Christians believe that balance is important – humans need evil close evil Immoral, or wicked ...
- Overview
- The problem
- Theistic responses
problem of evil, problem in theology and the philosophy of religion that arises for any view that affirms the following three propositions: God is almighty, God is perfectly good, and evil exists.
An important statement of the problem of evil, attributed to Epicurus, was cited by the Scottish philosopher David Hume in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779): “Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?” Since well before Hume’s time, the problem has been the basis of a positive argument for atheism: If God exists, then he is omnipotent and perfectly good; a perfectly good being would eliminate evil as far as it could; there is no limit to what an omnipotent being can do; therefore, if God exists, there would be no evil in the world; there is evil in the world; therefore, God does not exist. In this argument and in the problem of evil itself, evil is understood to encompass both moral evil (caused by free human actions) and natural evil (caused by natural phenomena such as disease, earthquakes, and floods).
Most thinkers, however, have found this argument too simple, since it does not recognize cases in which eliminating one evil causes another to arise or in which the existence of a particular evil entails some good state of affairs that morally outweighs it. Moreover, there may be logical limits to what an omnipotent being can or cannot do. Most skeptics, therefore, have taken the reality of evil as evidence that God’s existence is unlikely rather than impossible. Often the reality of evil is treated as canceling out whatever evidence there may be that God exists—e.g., as set forth in the argument from design, which is based on an analogy between the apparent design discerned in the cosmos and the design involved in human artifacts. Thus, Hume devotes much of the earlier parts of his Dialogues to attacking the argument from design, which was popular in the 18th century. In later parts of the work, he discusses the problem of evil and concludes by arguing after all that the mixed evidence available supports the existence of a divine designer of the world, but only one who is morally neutral and not the God of traditional theistic religions.
Religious believers have had recourse to two main strategies. One approach is to offer a theodicy, an account of why God chooses to permit evil in the world (and why he is morally justified in so choosing)—e.g., that it is a necessary consequence of sin or that, as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz claimed, this is the “best of all possible worlds.” The other approach is to attempt a more limited “defense,” which does not aim to explain God’s purposes but merely to show that the existence of at least some evil in the world is logically compatible with God’s goodness, power, and wisdom. Many philosophers and theologians have rejected accounts of the first kind as inherently implausible or as foolhardy attempts to go beyond the bounds of human knowledge to discern God’s inscrutable purposes.
A variety of arguments have been offered in response to the problem of evil, and some of them have been used in both theodicies and defenses. One argument, known as the free will defense, claims that evil is caused not by God but by human beings, who must be allowed to choose evil if they are to have free will. This response presupposes that humans are indeed free, and it fails to reckon with natural evil, except insofar as the latter is increased by human factors such as greed or thoughtlessness. Another argument, developed by the English philosopher Richard Swinburne, is that natural evils can be the means of learning and maturing. Natural evils, in other words, can help cultivate virtues such as courage and generosity by forcing humans to confront danger, hardship, and need. Such arguments are commonly supplemented by appeals to belief in a life after death, not just as reward or compensation but as the state in which the point of human suffering and the way in which God brings good out of evil will be made clear. Since many theodicies seem limited (because one can easily imagine a better world), and since many thinkers have not been convinced by the argument that the reality of evil establishes atheism, it is likely that future discussions will attempt to balance the reality of evil against evidence in favour of the existence of God.
Sep 11, 2023 · Here are sixteen Bible passages that help us understand why God allows the presence of evil and suffering in the world: God has a purpose in everything he allows. 1. The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. (Prov. 16:4) God’s wrath is righteous. 2. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven ...
- Habakkuk 1:2–4, “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice?
- Ecclesiastes 4:1–3, “Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors—and they have no comforter.
- Psalm 10:1, “Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”
- Psalm 22:1–2, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.”
Our argument here is that Scripture combines the ways of theodicy and inscrutability. The biblical accounts of Job, Joseph, and Jesus reveal the goodness of God in the midst of evil, weaving together these three themes: God aims at great goods (either for mankind, or for himself, or both).
Feb 12, 2017 · In our text, Paul shows that God is sovereign even over evil rulers and evil events. At the climax of history, the most powerful, hideously evil ruler ever will gain a worldwide following. Paul shows that this is all part of God’s prophetic plan. His point here is not to give us a timetable of end times events to satisfy our curiosity.
Mar 12, 2020 · In this article, we look at four questions related to the problem of evil and suffering: 1) Does the reality of evil and suffering disprove God’s existence? 2) Why do bad things happen to good people? 3) What are God’s answers to evil and suffering? 4) How are we to respond to the evil and suffering in our world?
