God and the existence of evil...
Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:33 pm
Part 1
The number one objection to existence of God is the existence of evil and suffering. http://atheism.about.com/od/argumentsag ... fering.htm Atheists/agnostics usually will say something along these lines:
Evil and suffering exists therefore an all-good, all-powerful god cannot exist. A super-natural being likely does not exist. If a super-natural being does exist either he is incapable of getting rid of evil and suffering or he is unwilling to get rid of evil and suffering. If he is incapable, he is not all-powerful therefore cannot be called a god and is unworthy of worship. If he is unwilling, he is an unloving or perhaps evil therefore he is not worthy of worship.
There are religious people who answer the problem by affirming the existence of God but denying his omnipotence. A Jewish rabbi, Harold Kushner, who lost his son due a degenerative condition, wrote a famous book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." He believes that God is not all powerful because God chose to limit his own power to give us free-will. Due to the fact that God has limited his own power he cannot stop evil and suffering from occuring but helps us to get through it. http://content.time.com/time/arts/artic ... 82,00.html Another answer to the problem is to suggest that god(s) due to exist however he (they) are not all-good and in fact can be bribed. This is the answer that many ancient religions came up with. They believed that if the gods were displeased bad things would happen and many of their rituals involved paying tribute to make the gods happy. The gods were not concerned about whether or not something was good or evil but whether or not their mortals gave them gifts.
Since the problem is complex, the existance of suffering will be discussed another time. Here the existence of evil will be discussed.
God is omnipotent and all-good. He has the power to destroy evil and he hates evil. However God is also loving, compassionate, and merciful. He hates evil but is compassionate towards evil-doers. When evil occurs it happens because of the actions of a wicked person. God could eliminate evil right this second by wiping out all wicked people. However God tells his prophet Ezekiel over and over again that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked:
“But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? (Ezekiel 18:21-23)
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18: 30-32)
Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11)
In his second letter, Peter writes about why God's judgment on the world has not come yet: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9
God temporarily allows evildoers to continue to live in the hopes that the evildoers will turn from their ways. God is ready to forgive and have mercy on them. God is a loving God who wants to restore not to destroy. Two examples (there are many others) in Scriptures where this is made clear.
God sent Jonah to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. http://www.ancient.eu/Neo-Assyrian_Empire/ "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”" (Jonah 1:1-2). The Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn them of the coming judgement of God. After trying to escape going to Nineveh, he was shallowed up by a giant fish and arrives at Nineveh. He went to Nineveh and warns them. "So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes." (Jonah 3:5-6). Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. (Jonah 3:10). Jonah was unhappy that God did not pour out his wrath on the Ninevehites. "So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm." (Jonah 4:2). The Lord answers "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11). The Ninevehites learn about God's moral law while Jonah learns about the compassion of God.
When Jesus appears before Saul and tells him to stop persecuting his followers.
As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. (Acts 8:3-4)
Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 9:1-5) Jesus has compassion against Saul who was persecuting the early church and appoints him to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles.
God's light is often most visible when his followers choose to forgive people who have transgressed against them. This causes the transgressors have their hearts softened and turn from their ways.
Corrie ten Boom, came from a family that was active in the Dutch Underground after the Nazis invaded Netherlands. Her family would hide and shelter Jews. After someone tipped off the Nazis, here whole family was punished. Her cousin Christaan died at the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp. Her father, Casper, and sister, Betsie, died at the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. Her brother brother Willem contracted spinal tuberculosis in a Nazi prison at Scheveningen and died in 1946 from it. Corrie ten Boom was released from the Ravensbruck Concentration by a clerical error in late 1944. In 1947, after speaking about forgiveness in a church in Munich, she comes face to face with one of the Nazi guards:
"And that's when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones...this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent. ...'You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,' he was saying. 'I was a guard in there.'
No, he did not remember me.
'But since that time,' he went on, 'I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein, ...' his hand came out, ... 'will you forgive me?'
And I stood there — I whose sins had every day to be forgiven — and could not. Betsie had died in that place — could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do...
And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion — I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. 'Jesus, help me!' I prayed silently. 'I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling.'
And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
'I forgive you, brother!' I cried. 'With all my heart!'
For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then." (The Hiding Place) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/voices/boom.html
On January 8, 1956 five missionaries were murdered by the Huaorani tribe in Ecuador.
http://books.google.com/books?id=gT8EAA ... &q&f=false (pg. 10-19) The tribe was known as an extremely violent group of people. They had killed several employees of the Shell Oil company. They were also violent towards their own group, over half of the adult deaths in that tribe was by spearing from a fellow tribesman. http://www.amyfound.org/amy_writing_awa ... Rummo.html While the tribe was considered savage by the outside world, the missionaries believed them to be a group beloved by God. The five missionaries, Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, and Roger Youdarian wanted to tell them about the Gospel. They would fly a small plane over the area and drop gifts to the tribe for several months. Eventually they landed the plane and interacted with the people. Their encounters were friendly however a couple of days later the Huaorani people attacked and killed all five missionaries. Two years after the murders, the wife of Jim Elliot, Elisabeth Elliot, and the sister of Nate Saint, Rachel Saint, went to meet the tribe. The tribe was moved by Elisabeth and Rachel's forgiveness that they started to forgive their fellow tribesman. Violence among the tribesman dropped dramatically. Later on Steve Saint, son of Nate Saint, moved to the area. He established a friendship with the person who killed his father. The man, Mincayne, adopted Steve Saint as a tribal son. Today Mincayne considers Steve Saint's children as his grandchildren and the children consider him as their grandfather. http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/ ... rgive.aspx
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, South Africa seemed to be on the verge of a civil war. For over a century non-whites had to endure humiliation of being considered inferior to the whites. They could not use the same water fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, and housing. In desperation to defeat the apartheid system the main liberation group, the African National Congress, had turned from a stance of non-violence to a stance of violent opposition. The ANC had even sought the aid of the Soviet Union. In the 1960s when they first started becoming violent, the ANC, had been careful to minimize civilian deaths. However by the 1980s the ANC had embraced full-on terrorism. Members of the ANC attacked nightclubs, bombs were set-off at restaurants, and people were executed by necklace (a tire was put on the necks of people and set on fire). These acts of terrorism, re-enforced the view of many whites had of blacks as savages and increased fear of a communist take-over. The apartheid Nationalist Party declared a state of emergency. Under the state of emergency the police could detain a suspect indefinitely without due process. Suspects were tortured and in many instances killed. The increased oppression resulted in more blacks engaging in terrorism. When the Nationalist Party finally saw the need to dismantle the apartheid system, violence was rampant. By a miracle, South Africa avoided a civil war. This was due to Nelson Mandela's emphasis on forgiveness and peace. There was also the work of Christian ministers who worked towards reconciliation. One of the reconciliation processes was through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The main goal of the commission was to get the victimizers to tell the truth about their deeds and get resorative justice for the victims. Several members of TRC were Christian clergymen. http://repository.berkleycenter.georget ... ission.pdf
http://www.academia.edu/8298089/Religio ... Commission
In the TRC this was a chance for the victims and victimizers to see each other face-to-face and forgiveness to occur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQqbwOI0e2M Not only did the members of the apartheid government appear before the commission but only also people of the ANC who had committed the terrrorism. While South Africa has several issues right now, things would have been worse without the peace-making process.
Evildoers deserve to be punished. Sometimes we might wish for God to wipe out the wicked immediately. However God's love and mercy does not just apply to us but also the people we consider wicked. God has not yet wiped out the wicked because he wants to give them a chance to repent. The best way to deal with evil is through forgiveness and mercy. As much as it depends on us, we should forgive those who have wronged us and try reconciliation. We can also rested assured that God will one day eliminate evil... (see part 2)
The number one objection to existence of God is the existence of evil and suffering. http://atheism.about.com/od/argumentsag ... fering.htm Atheists/agnostics usually will say something along these lines:
Evil and suffering exists therefore an all-good, all-powerful god cannot exist. A super-natural being likely does not exist. If a super-natural being does exist either he is incapable of getting rid of evil and suffering or he is unwilling to get rid of evil and suffering. If he is incapable, he is not all-powerful therefore cannot be called a god and is unworthy of worship. If he is unwilling, he is an unloving or perhaps evil therefore he is not worthy of worship.
There are religious people who answer the problem by affirming the existence of God but denying his omnipotence. A Jewish rabbi, Harold Kushner, who lost his son due a degenerative condition, wrote a famous book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." He believes that God is not all powerful because God chose to limit his own power to give us free-will. Due to the fact that God has limited his own power he cannot stop evil and suffering from occuring but helps us to get through it. http://content.time.com/time/arts/artic ... 82,00.html Another answer to the problem is to suggest that god(s) due to exist however he (they) are not all-good and in fact can be bribed. This is the answer that many ancient religions came up with. They believed that if the gods were displeased bad things would happen and many of their rituals involved paying tribute to make the gods happy. The gods were not concerned about whether or not something was good or evil but whether or not their mortals gave them gifts.
Since the problem is complex, the existance of suffering will be discussed another time. Here the existence of evil will be discussed.
God is omnipotent and all-good. He has the power to destroy evil and he hates evil. However God is also loving, compassionate, and merciful. He hates evil but is compassionate towards evil-doers. When evil occurs it happens because of the actions of a wicked person. God could eliminate evil right this second by wiping out all wicked people. However God tells his prophet Ezekiel over and over again that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked:
“But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? (Ezekiel 18:21-23)
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18: 30-32)
Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11)
In his second letter, Peter writes about why God's judgment on the world has not come yet: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9
God temporarily allows evildoers to continue to live in the hopes that the evildoers will turn from their ways. God is ready to forgive and have mercy on them. God is a loving God who wants to restore not to destroy. Two examples (there are many others) in Scriptures where this is made clear.
God sent Jonah to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. http://www.ancient.eu/Neo-Assyrian_Empire/ "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”" (Jonah 1:1-2). The Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn them of the coming judgement of God. After trying to escape going to Nineveh, he was shallowed up by a giant fish and arrives at Nineveh. He went to Nineveh and warns them. "So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes." (Jonah 3:5-6). Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. (Jonah 3:10). Jonah was unhappy that God did not pour out his wrath on the Ninevehites. "So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm." (Jonah 4:2). The Lord answers "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11). The Ninevehites learn about God's moral law while Jonah learns about the compassion of God.
When Jesus appears before Saul and tells him to stop persecuting his followers.
As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. (Acts 8:3-4)
Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 9:1-5) Jesus has compassion against Saul who was persecuting the early church and appoints him to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles.
God's light is often most visible when his followers choose to forgive people who have transgressed against them. This causes the transgressors have their hearts softened and turn from their ways.
Corrie ten Boom, came from a family that was active in the Dutch Underground after the Nazis invaded Netherlands. Her family would hide and shelter Jews. After someone tipped off the Nazis, here whole family was punished. Her cousin Christaan died at the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp. Her father, Casper, and sister, Betsie, died at the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. Her brother brother Willem contracted spinal tuberculosis in a Nazi prison at Scheveningen and died in 1946 from it. Corrie ten Boom was released from the Ravensbruck Concentration by a clerical error in late 1944. In 1947, after speaking about forgiveness in a church in Munich, she comes face to face with one of the Nazi guards:
"And that's when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones...this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent. ...'You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,' he was saying. 'I was a guard in there.'
No, he did not remember me.
'But since that time,' he went on, 'I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein, ...' his hand came out, ... 'will you forgive me?'
And I stood there — I whose sins had every day to be forgiven — and could not. Betsie had died in that place — could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do...
And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion — I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. 'Jesus, help me!' I prayed silently. 'I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling.'
And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
'I forgive you, brother!' I cried. 'With all my heart!'
For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then." (The Hiding Place) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/voices/boom.html
On January 8, 1956 five missionaries were murdered by the Huaorani tribe in Ecuador.
http://books.google.com/books?id=gT8EAA ... &q&f=false (pg. 10-19) The tribe was known as an extremely violent group of people. They had killed several employees of the Shell Oil company. They were also violent towards their own group, over half of the adult deaths in that tribe was by spearing from a fellow tribesman. http://www.amyfound.org/amy_writing_awa ... Rummo.html While the tribe was considered savage by the outside world, the missionaries believed them to be a group beloved by God. The five missionaries, Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, and Roger Youdarian wanted to tell them about the Gospel. They would fly a small plane over the area and drop gifts to the tribe for several months. Eventually they landed the plane and interacted with the people. Their encounters were friendly however a couple of days later the Huaorani people attacked and killed all five missionaries. Two years after the murders, the wife of Jim Elliot, Elisabeth Elliot, and the sister of Nate Saint, Rachel Saint, went to meet the tribe. The tribe was moved by Elisabeth and Rachel's forgiveness that they started to forgive their fellow tribesman. Violence among the tribesman dropped dramatically. Later on Steve Saint, son of Nate Saint, moved to the area. He established a friendship with the person who killed his father. The man, Mincayne, adopted Steve Saint as a tribal son. Today Mincayne considers Steve Saint's children as his grandchildren and the children consider him as their grandfather. http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/ ... rgive.aspx
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, South Africa seemed to be on the verge of a civil war. For over a century non-whites had to endure humiliation of being considered inferior to the whites. They could not use the same water fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, and housing. In desperation to defeat the apartheid system the main liberation group, the African National Congress, had turned from a stance of non-violence to a stance of violent opposition. The ANC had even sought the aid of the Soviet Union. In the 1960s when they first started becoming violent, the ANC, had been careful to minimize civilian deaths. However by the 1980s the ANC had embraced full-on terrorism. Members of the ANC attacked nightclubs, bombs were set-off at restaurants, and people were executed by necklace (a tire was put on the necks of people and set on fire). These acts of terrorism, re-enforced the view of many whites had of blacks as savages and increased fear of a communist take-over. The apartheid Nationalist Party declared a state of emergency. Under the state of emergency the police could detain a suspect indefinitely without due process. Suspects were tortured and in many instances killed. The increased oppression resulted in more blacks engaging in terrorism. When the Nationalist Party finally saw the need to dismantle the apartheid system, violence was rampant. By a miracle, South Africa avoided a civil war. This was due to Nelson Mandela's emphasis on forgiveness and peace. There was also the work of Christian ministers who worked towards reconciliation. One of the reconciliation processes was through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The main goal of the commission was to get the victimizers to tell the truth about their deeds and get resorative justice for the victims. Several members of TRC were Christian clergymen. http://repository.berkleycenter.georget ... ission.pdf
http://www.academia.edu/8298089/Religio ... Commission
In the TRC this was a chance for the victims and victimizers to see each other face-to-face and forgiveness to occur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQqbwOI0e2M Not only did the members of the apartheid government appear before the commission but only also people of the ANC who had committed the terrrorism. While South Africa has several issues right now, things would have been worse without the peace-making process.
Evildoers deserve to be punished. Sometimes we might wish for God to wipe out the wicked immediately. However God's love and mercy does not just apply to us but also the people we consider wicked. God has not yet wiped out the wicked because he wants to give them a chance to repent. The best way to deal with evil is through forgiveness and mercy. As much as it depends on us, we should forgive those who have wronged us and try reconciliation. We can also rested assured that God will one day eliminate evil... (see part 2)
