(Transcript from Dr. Kip Wehrman 02/11/2024)
If there is a God, and there is, would He not want to get our attention to correct our lives. Suffering, especially the kind that results from natural disasters, often brings people to their knees in search of God.
The atheist will again assess this as if there is an “Omnipotent, Perfectly Loving, Omniscient God, then why would He not eliminate all evil.” The theist answer is, are you willing for God to start with you. If our definition is too broad, then all of us have done and do evil. So, if God eliminated all evil then that would include you and me.
Okay we just don’t think bad things should happen to us. We are followers of Jesus, the bride of Christ. Surely bad things should not happen to us. What is the point? Right?
Well what about the apostles. According to Catholic tradition. James the brother of John was killed by Herod, James the brother of Jesus was stoned. Peter was crucified upside-down, Paul was beheaded. John is said he was boiled and did not die then exiled to Patmos. Philp was crucified, Thomas was killed, and so on. These are Jesus’ friends. God did not protect them from harm. They died gruesome deaths in almost all cases. There is Stephen in the bible as the first martyr. ,
Or what about the early Christians in Rome. Burnt as lamp posts, crucified by the hundreds, feed to wild animals for sport. God loved each and every one of these, yet they faced torture and death.
Or read these books. Foxe’s book of Martyrs or the Voice of the Martyrs. These Christians faced pain, evil. God did not protect their physical earthly bodies but He did protect their eternity. We in the west need to stop thinking we are so special that we should not have to face trouble. These amazing Christians all did.
Oh and don’t forget our Lord faced torture and death for us. So, protection from harm is not promised. Pain is very likely. This is NOT a problem. We might have a problem but the bad thing is NOT the problem.
Evil proves God exists, God uses suffering to get our attention, and the remedy for evil is Jesus. Jesus and His church are the cure for evil in our world. Jesus gave us a commission to go into all the world and show them cure for all the evil in this world. The cure is Jesus. God so loved the world that He came and died, so that we can have eternal life with Him. That is love.
Blaise Pascal, a seventeenth century mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, writer and theologian, wrote this, “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.” What he means is God loves us so much he is not going to overpower our will. We have the free will to choose him or not. Pain and suffering are often needed to get our attention.
The reason the problem of evil does not disprove God. Is without God’s standard of goodness there is no evil. The naturalist perspective provides no higher enlightenment. For if there is no God, then there is no goodness either.
Here is a quote, French Dominican monk from the 19th century Jacques-Marie-Louis Monsabre say. “If God would concede me His omnipotence for 24 hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world. But if He gave me His wisdom too, I would leave things as they are.”
Now would an atheist be convinced by our answers. Probably not. But the fact they believe there is evil which is contrary to what they say their worldview is. They show by their protest that God must be real.
Sam Harris is another of the infamous “new Atheists” who have been on the attack against Christianity for the last decade or so.
Sam wrote this is his book “The Science of Values: The Moral Landscape.”
“facts that can be scientifically understood: regarding positive and negative social emotions, retributive impulses, the effects of specific laws and social institutions on human relationships, the neurophysiology of happiness and suffering, etc…..human well-being entirely depends on events in the world and on states of the human brain. Consequently, there must be scientific truths known about it.….Apparent morals are explained by what is best for human flourishing.“
but what Sam seems to not understand is Who decides what human flourishing looks like?
I doubt any of us want Hitler’s or Stalin’s version of human flourishing. But be sure they thought they were aiding human flourishing with their butchery.
Do you want Mother Theresa’s version. I’m sure she was nice but would her version be good for you and me. Probably not.
Okay, Jesus is probably the one most of us would choose. In fact, most non-Christians would choose Jesus to defined it as well. In fact, most do.
I don’t blame God for the disease that killed Eden. I cannot possibly see that as evil, no matter how much it pains my heart that she is gone. As Christians we know that death is not the end. Looking at all the evidence for God, including the fact of evil, it comes down to a choice. Statistically, there is overwhelming evidence God exists. However, we are still free to choose. Regardless of whether you can identify reasons for suffering and pain, it still exists in our world. Regardless of whether you can identify reasons to believe there is a God, there is more evidence for God than to the contrary.
Don’t forget if you do have questions you would like discussed email me at questions@punla.org.
Quick sneak peek at next session, Can you trust the Bible.
Let’s close and pray.
Let’s close with the Mercy Me song “Even If.”
God you are able and God you are good. I trust you even if you don’t.
Thank you and God’s Blessing my friends.
This is the end of How to Defend your Faith Session 6 (Next Session 7 Can U Trust the Bible)
