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THE PROBLEM OF EVIL & SUFFERING

OBJECTIVES:

DISCIPLINE

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“Punishment theodicy argues that God employs suffering to punish sin. Pain functions as divine discipline, God’s cosmic belt that serves multiple purposes: ‘Defenders of the punishment theodicy have argued that pain can be good for one (or more) of four things: rehabilitation, deterrence, societal protection, and retribution.’”

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Mark Scott, Pathways in Theodicy

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“DISCIPLINE”

  • Heb. 12:3-11 / Prov. 3:11-12
  • Eph. 6:4; 2 Tim. 3:16
  • BDAG
    • The act of providing guidance for responsible living.
    • The state of being brought up properly.
  • L/N – To punish for the purpose of improved behavior.

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Kindness vs Love�CS Lewis. The Problem of Pain. Ch. 3

  • Kindness desires only the removal of suffering. It is indifferent to the moral goodness of the recipient. It just wants them to feel comfortable. This is happiness on any terms.
  • Love is exacting. It is defined by its desire for the beloved's perfection. (Prov. 13:24; 23:13-14)

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Kindness vs Love�CS Lewis. The Problem of Pain.

“But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. A bad man, happy, is a man without the least inkling that his actions do not ‘answer’, that they are not in accord with the laws of the universe.”

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God’s Discipline in the Bible

  • Curses (Lev. 26:14ff., 40-41ff.)
  • Judges Cycle
  • Hos. 6:1-2
  • Amos 4:6-12
  • 1 Cor. 5:4-5
  • 1 Cor. 11:29-32
  • Rev. 3:19