Cave To The Cross Apologetics

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

Free Will, Gratuitous Evil, & Natural Law are all topics that are related in the free-will theodicy.

Free will must deal with the same implications that compatibilists deal with and that’s the appearance of evil without purpose. We look at the different theories free will theists put out to explain those evils and also the troubles those explanations run into.

A close relationship between the free will defense and the natural law defense helps with the other side of evil – evils that occur in nature apart from moral actors (people). This idea that the world must be the way it is in order for humans to be humans seems to run into not just one big, real-world example – but two!

For your sci-fi reference this week we turn to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Don’t worry, there’s no Vogon poetry. No promises on bad (good) dad jokes.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep149/

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

What About Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God’s Sovereignty by Scott Christensen

God, Freedom, And Evil by Alvin Plantinga

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis

Excusing Sinners and Blaming God: A Calvinist Assessment of Determinism, Moral Responsibility, and Divine Involvement in Evil by Guillaume Bignon

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riXA0yl4b54

The concept of free will & God’s foreknowledge can be a heady concept. We attempt to accurately cover three different answers free will advocates attempt to allow God to have foreknowledge (or not have it). We do our best to break it down while attempting to be accurate to supporters and the issues seen with the concepts.

Covering concepts of Arminian simple foreknowledge, open theism, and Molinism & middle knowledge as some of the big attempts to save human freedom; there are still issues with allowing God to be the God revealed in Scripture.

The sci-fi reference this week is Quantum Leap! Oh, boy.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep148/

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

What About Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God’s Sovereignty by Scott Christensen

Excusing Sinners and Blaming God: A Calvinist Assessment of Determinism, Moral Responsibility, and Divine Involvement in Evil by Guillaume Bignon

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8cWnzyKxU

We continue to look at problems with free will in light of the explanation it supposedly gives Christians when it comes to answering the problem of evil.

We see why the Reformed position rejects parts of libertarian free will in exchange for soft determinism. Libertarian free will undermines the doctrine of depravity, who God is, what Heaven is, who Satan is, and actually seems to undermine the Trinity. On top of that, the presentation of free will in that form seems to make all decisions arbitrary – which seems like a problem.

And of course, there’s a Star Trek V reference. But we don’t answer why God would need a spaceship.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep147/

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

What About Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God’s Sovereignty by Scott Christensen

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcF-TanIR8M

The free will defense has done a lot in answering the logical problems of evil. While determinism has become more popular in the past decade among academics; the culture at large still has the embracement of free will. But do we have free will?

We want to ask, “By what standard can we say that we have a will and it is free to do what we wish without interference?” And since we are Christian we want to ultimately appeal to our standard, God’s Word. Do we have the ability to have made alternative choices given the same circumstances? Is man autonomous in his choosing and in his actions?

We want to look at some of the issues of free will and why appealing to an idea that appears to have biblical and logical issues is not the best explanation for why evil exists. We want to be consistent and grounded in an objective truth and reason down from our ultimate standard. Is there a better answer to evil than man just chooses and God has to live with those choices?

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep146/

04:06 – Ep.17 What About Free Will? Interview

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

What About Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God’s Sovereignty by Scott Christensen

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBaQvo-ACKk

Can God answer evil and the problems caused by suffering? That is what a theodicy attempts to do. It provides a justification for why suffering and evil exist and that God exists as presented. This is a reason why one has to stake a claim in a specific God like the biblical, Christian God rather than some generic deity. The consistent worldview that comes from the God of the Bible has a larger set of implications and is more than just a thought experiment dreamed up by a philosopher.

There isn’t just one problem of evil but many including the logical problem, the evidential problem, and the emotional problem. And like we mentioned last episode, it’s not that these problems mean that it defeats the idea of God but that they are issues in need of a solution.

Here we look at how some in the past have found solutions to a problem. We also look at what an answer to the problem of evil, a theodicy, must have in order for the answer to satisfy the questions. And like all good math questions, we must stay in the confines of a specific nature such as the character and revealed nature of who God is.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep145/

20:00 – Dr. James Anderson On The Metaphysical Proof Of God From Morality

36:34 – Ep.17 What About Free Will? Interview

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

God and Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God by Alvin Plantinga

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duJgdEJl_6Y

After finishing with defining our terms we look at ways in which those definitions play out in our worldviews. Here’s where the battle of two moral standards starts to interact and separate. Each side has a burden of proof since each side has a problem of evil.

Where the secular side wants to tout a focus on human flourishing, we look at a standard which isn’t grounded and a hard target to hit. We also look at the two strings of conclusions that stem from the secular worldview when it comes to morality. Either, morals are an illusion (moral nihilism) or there are objective moral standards in the world (moral realism). Which version has the better accounting of reality? And which side has the ability to ground their ideas in an objective way – if that is even possible?

We didn’t cover everything in this chapter and it’s why you should pick up the book and check out the ideas presented. Links below.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep144/

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=Vg06ePK7aYU

Definitions are one of the most important parts of having any conversation. A lot of times people use different definitions as a result of their worldview. So when it comes to the topic of evil, defining evil is vital.

In this chapter, we look at a secular version as well as the Christian definition of evil. This highlights the divide between the different worldviews and shows the need for proper grounding in an objective, transcendent standard.

We also take a look at the importance of God as that standard and why things could be designated as one of two types of evil we see in the world – and seen by both the secularist and the Christian alike.

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep143/

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=v_nX4MFNkcg

Picking up where we left off last time; now that the world has shirked off God because of the evil all we are left now with is us and evil. Ut oh. We are in a crisis of secularism.

The second part of the modern worldview is the advancing of secularism leading to the unavoidable cliff of Niechzte’s nihilism. Since we have not advanced in a further explanation of life’s meaning other than personal desires we are now running up against the borrowed benefits of the Christian worldview results.

Today, we have it much easier than people did in 1755 and yet we find ourselves some of the most volatile, self-medicated, and unbalanced people. When it comes to things like death, violence, and suffering our self-actualized reality and saving devices don’t seem to be doing us any good.

However, there is still a source for an explanation of a theodicy – for the problem of evil.

00:00 – Crisis Of Secularism

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep142/

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

The Problem Of Pain by C.S. Lewis

Try Audible For Free – https://amzn.to/3cN0giE

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpSNI3zqfjo

We ended up going long on this chapter and so we split it up into two episodes so there is a hard cut and no outro at the end of this episode. There’s a lot to cover with the Enlightenment and evil.

Where did the problem of evil really become a problem? Scott Christensen does a marvelous job in this chapter (one of my favorites) in presenting the Enlightenment era kickoff of questioning evil’s place in God’s world and traces it forward to the modern worldview.

Evil just didn’t spring into existence in 1755, but the events of the day and the psyche of the Western world presented the best melting pot to not just ask the questions but throw off the conventions of dealing with evil in theory and in practice. The next episode will show the ramifications of such decisions.

We don’t cover everything in this chapter but it is a great read. We do get some alternative history and space talk in here so the nerdy streak is kept alive.

00:00 – Introduction

02:37 – John Gill Sermon – Christ The Savior From The Storm

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep141/

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

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon by Todd Zwillich

Audible – https://amzn.to/3hftvwq

Try Audible For Free – https://amzn.to/3cN0giE

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTOoxVNE3Gk

Along with the answer to the question, “What about evil?”, at the beginning of the book; Scott Christensen also gives us a What About Evil summary of the book too. Here is the chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the book with just a small take on what’s included.

Within the book, we get a history lesson is why and when humanity really started to ask the question, “What about evil?”. From there we will be drilling into defining our terms and establishing the parameters for an answer. We’ll take a look at the six common solutions Christians give to explain evil as well as Christensen’s answer. We of course will be delving into Scripture to see who is God, who is Jesus is, why redemption and meta-narratives are important in the discussion, and the implications of everything.

And now you see the reason for the length of the book!

00:00 – Introduction

The episode link is cavetothecross.com/ep140/

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.”