Answering Biblical Questions Apologetically Without Being Sorry 1 Peter 3:15

INTRODUCTION TO QUESTIONS 6 & 7

Questions 6 & 7 If God is so good and just and Jesus is the only way to that goodness through salvation, what about those who have never heard and/or been taught to be faithful to other moral religions since childhood? If God is good and sovereign, how can pain and suffering exist? (Addition: How do we go from recognizing that God is in control to accepting it?)

GOD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL THEODICY Basic Principle

Line of Reasoning How can God be all-loving, all powerful, and all-holy, when there is evil in the world?  Premise 1: If God were all-powerful, He would be able to prevent evil.  Premise 2: If God were all-good, He would desire to prevent evil.  Conclusion 1: So, if God were both all-powerful and all-good, there would be no evil.  Premise 3: But there is evil  Conclusion 2: Therefore, there is no all-powerful, all-good God.

ANY EXPERIENCE HANDLING THIS PROBLEM? How about You?

Any Scriptural Support for the Problem? 1 Kings 22: Thessalonians 2:11 Isaiah 45:7 Romans 9:18

The Real line of reasoning God is Creator  He alone creates  He made everything (Rom. 11:36, Col. 1:16)  He uphold everything (Col 1:17) God is Sovereign  Sovereignty presupposes Omnipotence (Heb. 11:3; Eph. 3:20)  Sovereignty must be singular (Isaiah 46:9) God is Good  He is Light, in Him there is no darkness. (Mark 10:18; 1 John 1:5)  He works all things for good for His elect (Romans 8:28)

Any Scriptural Support for the Solution? Romans 3:3-18 Romans 9:14-24 Job 38-42* James 1:12-18

ANY EXPERIENCE THINKING THROUGH THIS PROBLEM? How about You?

“HOLY PLACES ARE DARK PLACES” C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces

Temptations in this Issue We must maintain an equal balance of God’s Sovereignty and man’s free will Our experiences drive our thoughts and conclusions The text only makes Him more aloof, transcendent “You just don’t understand!” False theological views OOpen Theism WWider-Hope UUniversalism TTheistic Existentialism

Whattayathink?

Did Lewis agree?..

To Summarize... God gave mankind Free Will For without it, one could not choose to be good To have the freedom to choose good, one must also have the freedom to choose evil A world without the potential for evil is not a good world at all, it is a world of cold robotics Love without choice is not love worth having God willed that His creatures could go against His will God thought this was worth the risk

Some problems with these approaches What about Heaven?  No moral choice  Absolute moral good and love Free Will doesn’t exist  Defined as the ability to do anything you want, anytime you want to do it – that’s a FREE will  Libertarian freedom requires self-existent, self-sufficient autonomy – yea, sovereignty... Hmm... Mankind cannot choose moral goodness on their own  Romans 8:5-7; 1 Cor. 2:14-16 Slavery is our lot – Romans 6:15-18

Don’t do this…

Or this…

Do this…

And this…

Questions 6 & 7 If God is so good and just and Jesus is the only way to that goodness through salvation, what about those who have never heard and/or been taught to be faithful to other moral religions since childhood? If God is good and sovereign, how can pain and suffering exist? (Addition: How do we go from recognizing that God is in control to accepting it?)

Line of Reasoning for Evil How can God be all-loving, all powerful, and all-holy, when there is evil in the world?  Premise 1: If God were all-powerful, He would be able to prevent evil.  Premise 2: If God were all-good, He would desire to prevent evil.  Conclusion 1: So, if God were both all-powerful and all-good, there would be no evil.  Premise 3: But there is evil  Conclusion 2: Therefore, there is no all-powerful, all-good God.

Line of Reasoning for the Heathen If Jesus is the only way to heaven, what about those who have never heard?  Premise 1: If God were all-powerful, He would be able to provide the Gospel.  Premise 2: If God were all-good, He would desire to provide the Gospel.  Conclusion 1: So, if God were both all-powerful and all-good, there would be no one who has never heard.  Premise 3: But there is people who have never heard.  Conclusion 2: Therefore, there is no all-powerful, all-good God.

The Real line of reasoning God is Creator  He alone creates  He made everything (Rom. 11:36, Col. 1:16)  He upholds everything (Col 1:17) God is Sovereign  Sovereignty presupposes Omnipotence (Heb. 11:3; Eph. 3:20)  Sovereignty must be singular (Isaiah 46:9) God is Good  He is Light, in Him there is no darkness. (Mark 10:18; 1 John 1:5)  He works all things for good for His elect (Romans 8:28)

So, what is… Evil?  A savoring in sinful behavior as a lifestyle. Sin?  Any act or thought in antithesis to the Person and character of God. Disobeying God. Saying “No” to God Man?

Any Scriptural Support for the Solution? Romans 3:3-18  None righteous – not even one  Throat is an open grave  No fear of God.. Romans 9:14-24  Clay pot (See also 2 Cor. 4:7) Job 38-42*  Man has no place to talk back to God James 1:12-18  God does not tempt, He is the gift Giver

RAVI ZACHARIAS Let’s get to the point…

Ravi...

In brief… Evil requires the existence of Good Good and Evil together require a Moral Law for existence A Moral Law requires a Moral Law Giver, namely God The Apex of the discussion on God and Evil is the Cross

THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE SON OF GOD What is the greatest Evil?

ACTS 2:22-23 ACTS 4:27-28 Who did it?

JOHN PIPER Let’s go bit deeper…

John...

THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE SON OF GOD What is the greatest act of Love?

So, to fly over from very far up… Evil is sinful life that is in essence disobeying God Evil is only in relation to God God does not disobey Himself A seemingly sinful act by God can never be that by definition Joseph as a type – Gen 50:20

PARENTHETICAL PUGILISM Now for something completely different…

What I am NOT saying I am not saying that God sins I am not saying that God get’s away with a double standard I am not saying that God is somehow unfair I AM SAYING that when God does something, whatever it is, it is not sin

So what about the Heathen? See Daniel 3:28-30 and 4:1-3 Constantine Deut 6:1-2 Rom 1:18-20 C.S. Lewis says, “I am talking about you…”

So, what about…. War? Rape? Suffering? Genocide Suicide? Starvation? Hatred?

GOD

Answering Biblical Questions Apologetically Without Being Sorry 1 Peter 3:15