Cave To The Cross Apologetics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mzl2RIOuj0

And now comes the end. The Great-Glory Theodicy showcases the greater glory effect. It is seen in the forgiving nature of the Christian as it reflects the forgiving nature of God. Even the worse of humanity, the most painful, the most destructive nature of man is no match for the grace that is unmerited but much needed.

We provide an overview of the book that we just read with you to hit those points of the theodicy that Scott Christensen believes not only best explains evil but is also the most biblical explanation. We wrap up with a personal review and a hope that you came away at least challenged but at best moved to greater knowledge and glorifying nature of who God is and what He has done.

Thank you to Scott Christensen for his book and thank you for joining us in reading What About Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory. We hope to see you for our next book that we swore we would read one day – and in it – give God the glory.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep179/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

The Hiding Place DVD

The Case For Faith – A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity by Lee Strobel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P017RCrICho

We live in a world infested with evil. We live in a world held in the sovereign hand of God. How should we then live?

The Christian life is one led in a moment of three simultaneous instances of sight. We look back on our lives that were in rebellion against God. That life heaped evil onto the world as it was led in direct opposition to who God is and His Will. We look at our current lives that are justified by Christ’s work on the Cross and walk in the sanctification path to conform our lives to God’s Will. We look forward to the time of the end when every tear will be wiped away and where death and evil will have their final defeat.

How should we then live? We should live as those who forgive much because we were forgiven much. We should live as those who show mercy because we were shown mercy. We should live as those who face the horrors of this world we stand up and willingly give of ourselves because Jesus Christ was the main example. And as we took part in His suffering, we now take part in bestowing mercy upon others – even if those that suffer are victims of the Holocaust; even if those that suffer in the Holocaust are there because of their Christian act of mercy.

How should we then live? We should live like Christ lived and overcome evil.

00:00 – Introduction

03:17 – How To Be An Atheist Playlist

07:20 – Tactics Playlist

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep178/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis Schaeffer

How to Be an Atheist: Why Many Skeptics Aren’t Skeptical Enough by Mitch Stokes

Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

The Hiding Place DVD

“As an Amazon Associate, we earn income to support us from qualifying purchases.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBJS-xVBUWw

No, we’re not doing The Return Of The King, but we are looking forward to the end of this book as we are looking forward to the end of The Book of the Coming Redeemer. These books will have a single ending unlike a certain 3rd movie you might be thinking about.

In this section we look at Christ coming back and what He brings with respect to dealing with evil. The redemption that takes place is the result of the King returning and glorifying everything more than it has ever been – even before the Fall. We also look at why salvation isn’t most people or no people at all. A strong theodicy should be able to account for that. Finally, we cover the question of why things like God’s Law and Satan were allowed into the world and continue to exist till the end.

There are no eagles in this book but we are coming to the end.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep177/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

“As an Amazon Associate, we earn income to support us from qualifying purchases.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcAHiCf5QQg

Why was the end of the Incarnation of Jesus on Earth important? What does it mean to people before, during, and after the Cross? How does the Resurrection ensure a believer’s redemption? Well, this is the first part of the Resurrection explained! What does it all mean? Everything!

With the Resurrection of Jesus, His ascension into Heaven puts a pin in His coming again. Where He was first the lamb slain as the suffering servant His next appearance will be as the conquering King. But before we get to the end, we need to look at what’s next after the empty tomb.

We have to see what the Resurrection does in context of Satan and sin. Are they defeated or is there a future end? What are the benefits of the Resurrection? Well, we see the benefits in areas of a Christian’s justification, sanctification, and glorification. These are shared experiences between believers across the gulf of history. These experiences are for those who surround us right now and are a part of what we build as being fellow heirs in the Kingdom of God.

Aslan is coming and the sons and daughters of men must make ready for the final battle.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep176/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

“As an Amazon Associate, we earn income to support us from qualifying purchases.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVX-ALgP-Y8

The Christian story emphasizes a focus on the suffering of Jesus Christ. He is our suffering Redeemer. Being born, living in the ancient Near East, being hungry and poor, and ultimately being nailed on a cross illegally as the most innocent person ever involves suffering. Not only does this not seem to surprise Jesus but it seems to be a necessary component God uses to bring about the defeat of evil.

Suffering serves a function in the Incarnation and that suffering was a necessity in the life of the Messiah. Showing the need of truly understanding the seriousness of sin shows just how important, serious, and terror-inducing having the divine wrath of God poured out on sin is. We also look at if suffering happens in the Trinity as a result of the Incarnation. All this leads up to the completion point of why the Suffering Redeemer had to come in the manner He did for the purpose He did and in a way that makes our theodicy matter.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep175/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

“As an Amazon Associate, we earn income to support us from qualifying purchases.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5m_Ejb_jbE

When we talk about Jesus as God and as the Suffering Servant the question of, “Does God have emotions?” is to be asked. Is God able to have emotions like us humans? Is He surprised at the evil He sees in the world? Is prophecy, then, just a lucky guess by God?

While some of those answers seem obvious, we should make sure we are communicating them thoroughly enough to present the orthodox response that is accurate to the revealed Scriptures and that covers the questions we should expect as a follow-up.

In the Incarnation we see Jesus suffer. It’s a main part of the story. Can God suffer? How about this question – can God die? The knee-jerk responses are there but are they good enough to stand up to a Muslim apologist or an open theist? Do we know the God we claim to know well enough to understand this very important part and how important it is in our theodicy?

We cover this shorter chapter in two parts to make sure we (mostly Patrick) get a better grasp on it.

00:00 – Introduction

03:48 – The Forbidden Chapter: Isaiah 53 in the Hebrew Bible

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep174/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

“As an Amazon Associate, we earn income to support us from qualifying purchases.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reRrDxxjvOM

Jesus not only is fully man & fully God but He must be both in that full capacity to accomplish everything He must for our salvation. To deny His humanity is to not have a stand-in for humanity. To deny His Godhood is to not have the ability to pay the penalty for all His Sheep and to be able to take on the wrath of God.

In The Bible, we see the regular way that Jesus operates. Yes, with signs and miracles and wonders but as a man. And yet, the universe still operates, and all things that were made by Him and held together by Him still go round and round. In His Earthly work, He is obedient to the Law, He fully justifies, and He is fully righteous. He is tempted in a way that others would fail and in that temptation God experiences the direct knowledge of suffering and temptation. And yet, He does not sin. He redeems us but He is our sympathetic Redeemer!

00:00 – Introduction

01:29 – Revived Thoughts Sermon – John Gill – Christ the Savior from the Storm

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep173/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

“As an Amazon Associate, we earn income to support us from qualifying purchases.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Yvpfjs6uk

The Greater-Glory Theodicy centers on the character of who God is and the reasons He has in glorifying Himself in a world of evil. With that in mind, why the incarnation had to happen was to uniquely and completely deal with all the evil in full.

Once Christians were able to sit down amongst themselves they worked on clarifying and systematizing what The Bible says about the Incarnation. At the Council of Chalcedon, orthodoxy was recognized. The Incarnation is a difficult concept to grasp because it is a unique event and the information we are provided is found in the consistent words of Scripture and what is known about who God is.

God deals with sin in a mysterious, paradoxical, and unusual way – just the way we would expect a transcendent God to do! Even the nihilist Albert Camus sees the importance and benefit that Incarnation provides.

If the ending seems very abrupt it’s because we so much enjoyed this chapter that we kept going and forgot to split it into two parts. Check back next week for an abrupt beginning and the completion of this amazing chapter.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep172/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

Christianity At The Crossroads – How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church by Michael J. Kruger

The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture’s Fascination with Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early Christianity by Andreas J. Köstenberger & Michael J. Kruger

“As an Amazon Associate, we earn income to support us from qualifying purchases.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8qR1UBozXc

The promised chapter on how Romans 9 answers why evil exists is here! Continuing from our look at the Old Testament we look at Paul’s answer to why there exists evil and how God uses it for His glory.

We are unable to divorce ourselves from the Old Testament and Paul engages with a question of what is God’s purpose in choosing some and not others especially if some not chosen are not the “chosen people of God”. We actually do see God’s chosen people but they are made up of both Jew & Gentile. But is there something special about those God chosen for salvation and/or something badly special about those God doesn’t choose. Romans 9 says that the exact answer of why evil exists. For God’s redemptive glory as seen in Scripture.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep171/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

“As an Amazon Associate, we earn income to support us from qualifying purchases.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuS4AlJH4uU

One of the goals of the Greater-Glory Theodicy is to find not just the best logical explanation for why evil exists. It is also to see if the special revelation of God details its reason. In this episode we look at how is God redeeming evil in the Old Testament.

Evil is not a whispered result of sin. From chapter 3 of Genesis and moving forward throughout the entirety of the Old Testament you couldn’t swing a donkey’s jawbone without running into a story of evil. Why? In those stories, God is redeeming that evil for His purposes, for future redemption, for ultimate removal, and for the pinnacle of human history – the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Let us look at the Old Testament and see the glory that God receives becomes greater and manifested to His creation because evil is present – and being dealt with.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep170/

What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory by Scott Christensen

Providence by John Piper

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