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THE PROBLEM OF EVIL & SUFFERING

GRATUITOUS EVIL

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The Evidential / Probabilistic Problem of Evil and Gratuitious Evil

  • God desires love more than anything.
  • Love demands free will.
  • Free will demands an option for evil.

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  • BUT…Does the evil really need to be SO horrible, and seemingly pointless (gratuitous)? What lesson was even learned? Was character built?

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  • Bambi and Sue illustrations

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Skeptical Theism

  • Human knowledge is limited, and since we don’t, and can’t, see the whole picture, we should be skeptical about our ability to judge whether God has morally sufficient reasons for allowing evil and suffering in the world.
  • Our inability to see a reason doesn’t mean that one does not exist.
  • To call suffering pointless or gratuitous may be arrogance.
  • Bear in a trap illustration.

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GOD’S ANSWER TO JOB

  • 38:1-3

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  • 38:4-40:2 – God’s first challenge
    • 38:4-38 – Inanimate creation
    • 38:39-39:30 – Animate creation
    • 40:1-2 – Closing challenge
    • 40:3-5 – Job’s first response

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  • 40:6-14 – God’s second challenge (God’s control over forces of evil)
    • 40:15-24 – Behemoth
    • 41:1-34 – Leviathan
    • 42:1-6 – Job’s second response

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ROMANS 9

  • vv. 1-5 – Israel was God’s chosen people
  • v. 6 – So, does this mean that God’s word has failed?
      • vv. 6-13 – No. Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.
  • v. 14 – So, is there injustice with God, since he chooses the path?
      • vv. 14-18 – No. He is God, and he will show mercy to whom he will and harden whom he will.
  • v. 19 – Well, then how can people be held responsible since God’s will is what happened?
      • vv. 20-21 – “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?”

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“The best of all possible worlds”

God exists and has three perfect attributes:

      • Omnipotence – He can create any logically possible world.
      • Omniscience – He knows every possible world in infinite detail.
      • Omnibenevolence – He always chooses what is best and good.

There are infinitely many possible worlds (i.e. libertarian free will).

Among these, there must be one that is the best overall. This is the world with the greatest balance of good over evil (at least in the end).

A perfectly good God would choose the best possible world.