(Transcript from Dr. Kip Wehrman 02/11/2024)
Let’s start with a song. Hills and Valleys by Tauren Wells (4 min Video)
When we are on the mountain. Remember God put you there.
And when we are in the Valley God’s see us there. That is comfort and assurance.
Let’s Pray.
the Problem of Evil. Our objective today is to develop a philosophical response to Atheism’s best case, the problem of Evil.
Before I go further, I have to say. If you are struggling with grief or suffering from disease or sorrow for loved ones. What I’m going to say is not going to give you much comfort. I’m not a pastor or counselor. What we are going to talk about is philosophical and logical. It is Biblical, but that does not mean it will feel good. It does not mean it will help you get over hurt from your past. Our objective is to share how you can address the concerns about evil in a way that point to Jesus, not away from Him. There will be images and topics which may make you uncomfortable. Stick with me and hopefully we will be able to talk you through your concerns.
Looking at our worldview puzzle. Today we will talk about Evil. This is the atheist best case against the idea of God. They say there cannot possibly be a god because there is so much evil in the world.
William Rowe was an atheist philosopher. He taught at Purdue University and specialized in the philosophy of religion. He began as a Christian fundamentalist and became an outspoken atheist. He said, “he lacked the experiences and evidence to believe in God.”
Rowe describes the best atheist argument this way,
(1) There exist instances of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse.
(2) An omniscient, wholly good being would prevent the occurrence of any intense suffering it could, unless it could not do so without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse.
(3) There does not exist and omnipotent, omniscient, wholly good being.
Willaim Rowe was the author of “the friendly atheist” and other books. He was a Christian, went to seminary, and has master’s and doctorate degrees in divinity but sadly abandoned his faith and became an outspoken atheist. He said he lacked evidence for his religious convictions. I would not want anyone to have this experience.
Dr. Nicola Salvatore is another professor of Philosophy of religion and he wrote what he titled “a defense of skeptical theism”. He says, “the existence of disproportionate, prima facie gratuitous evil and suffering in the world is enough evidence against the existence of the Omnipotent, Perfectly Loving, Omniscient God of Classical Theism.”
This is what the atheists claim?
We have all had grief and sorrow. We have seen loved ones die; children, parents, siblings. Accidents, diseases like cancer, war and famine. How can a Loving God allow this? Is God loving? Some Shake their fist at God, “how dare you God”. We question God, we blame God.
Okay I know this has been a cheery start to our talk. But we are talking about evil. Bad things that hurt. You hurt, I hurt. Everyone hurts. What does that say about the God we say we believe in? What does this say about our all-powerful, perfect, loving God.?
Now we know from our previous sessions, the evidence for God is overwhelming. But what about evil and what does this say about God.
But What exactly is Evil?
OBJECT LESSON Artillery Shells (see video)
What is evil? To say the least it’s complicated. As you can see from our whiteboard, people see a lot of things as evil. But what is evil? As a Christian we need to be able to answer three questions about evil.
First, Does Evil Disprove God? We have said there is evidence God exists, so now what. If there is evil then how can God be loving and all powerful.
Second, is there a Purpose of Evil? As a Christian we have to wrap our head around this in order to help those who are suffering.
and lastly, does God have a Remedy for the evil of this world.
Oxford professor of Biology and famed atheist Richard Dawkins, wrote in his book “the God Delusion”, (DISCLAIMER: some of you will have a strong reaction to the words he wrote, just a warning it’s hard to hear)
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Dawkins is accusing God of being immoral or evil. Evil is so real, so how can you possibly believe in God.
But Dawkins also describes his version of reality in another book titled River Out of Eden: Darwin’s Life View.
He says, “In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”
This is the end of How to Defend your Faith Session 6: the Problem of Evil (Part 1 of 4)
