Equipping University

The Bible declares that the man who hears Christ's words and rejects them for the superior value of his own - or other men's words - is a fool. A fool does not make God and His revelation the starting point of his thinking and will not submit to the Word of God or base his life upon its teachings and principles. The fool must be answered by revealing his foolishness. In an interaction with an atheist or agnostic, there is a method of apologetics that enables the believer to do such a task while also fully obeying the mandate given to all Christians in Peter's first letter. While atheists and even many Christians teach that we must put the Bible on the shelf when debating the atheist, it is foolishness to relinquish the most powerful weapon that we have in an attempt to pander to the unbeliever under the false assumption that he is entering the fray on neutral ground that we sully with our theistic biases. Instead, it must be acknowledged that there is no such thing as neutrality in the thinking of a believer and a non-believer. What one takes to be factual and how one interprets those facts is governed by one's underlying philosophy of fact ��������� one's presuppositions. The debate over the veracity of a fact will eventually work itself down to the level of one's ultimate authority. Once this point is reached, the real argument can begin ��������� which presupposition best explains reality, the ability to reason, the existence of morals, and our common experiences?

If you begin your theodicy with the assumption about the centrality of man, you will never answer the problem of evil in a way that lines up with teachings and themes of Scripture. Scripture is not based upon nor does it proceed on this assumption. The Bible is not ultimately about man; it is obsessively concerned with God. Indeed, it is not overstatement to say that the "entire universe exists to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God." Indeed, it is quite a simple task to see that God often and usually is said to act for the glory of His own name and according to his own pleasure. God's first love is for his glory, honor, reputation, and name. The Bible teaches us that God ordains and allows evil to exist because the temporary presence of evil in this universe will result in the greatest glory to His name. God planned a universe in which evil exists and that is a good thing because all evil will be used by God to bring greater glory to Himself. God allows and ordains evil for the greater good of the display of his glory in the revelation of his myriad perfections.

D.A. Carson says that the distance between the biblical writers understanding of the problem of evil and our modern understanding is a good indication that "we have given ourselves to thinking great thoughts about human beings and small thoughts about God." Carson's response is correct and it is important. Our response to the problem of evil as we see it today is a good test of our knowledge and understanding of God and His ways. Are our understanding, faith, and trust sufficient to withstand adversity? For many people, including Christians who should know better, the desire to make perfect sense of the entire issue of the coexistence of evil and an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God has led to entirely deficient solutions. In their attempt to cut the Gordian knot, four common but inadequate solutions have been and continue to be offered. Additional theories to the problem of evil are better than the four above but still are lacking in some vital area. Finally, there are two other defenses (free will, greater good), that have been offered and both of them do a much better job. However, do they truly work as a definitive answer?

Whatever the reason, all Christians must come face to face with the difficult question: "Where was/is God in all evil?" The act of providing an answer to that question is called a theodicy. This strange word comes from the Greek: theos (God) and dike (justice). A theodicy, in its attempts to offer the reason God has for allowing evil to exist in the world, defends the righteousness or justice of God in light of accusations of unrighteousness or injustice. The question is famously phrased thusly: "Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence, then is evil?" Most people do not like to ponder such troublesome issues. It is for that reason that we change the channel with certain images appear (the starving child, the politician from the opposing party that "gets under your skin," the images of actual abortions). However, Christians must ponder such issues.