Thursday, April 20, 2006
Why does bad stuff happen?
I mentioned other week, I'm thinking of doing some sessions on tricky questions such as Why does bad stuff happen. While I don't want this to be an academic debate, I thought I'd try and come up with all arguments and some of the counter arguments. Here are some that I've come across so far:
Maybe God is not in control - he may of created the universe, but he's cleared and left us to it For reasons we don't understand, God chooses to out work his purpose though us...fallible human beings...we are Gods 'instruments'. In other words, we are here to do God's work, and if we don't do it, we add to the suffering. To what extent are the problems of this world the result of our own actions? Did God create evil? Maybe he just created the possibility for evil to exist. If you believe in evolution, then the process its self includes "pain" or "suffering", i.e., for the "survival of the fittest" to become a reality, some must fall. Where is God when things go wrong? suggests something similar on page 14 - if God did not create the universe...and mankind is "just a bit of slime of a planet, why should we be remotely concerned at the systematic slaughter of six million Jews or half a million Rwandans?". It goes on to say "If human beings are simply the result of countless chemical and biological accidents, how can they have any personal value...." I heard Steve Chalk talk about evil a few years ago at Spring Harvest. He suggested that God is not all powerful, but has all the power. This is because his love for us restricts him. I think the talk was called Evil Uncovered. Maybe God's power is limited In a world that favours Moral relativism how can the concept of evil exist? The Bible teaches absolute moral truths, i.e., the ten commandments apply regardless of the situation. Note the paradox within Moral relativism - is this theory an absolute truth or relative? For it to be true, it must be absolute! I've heard some humanists say that moral values are based on the human experience of pain - i.e., if it causes pain, then it's morally wrong. Calvinism vs. Arminianism, i.e., total depravity etc. From what I understand, the idea that only the "elect" are chosen to be "saved" and others aren't. This would suggest that our choices are limited or fated. See The Problem of Evil Romans 8:28
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
James 4:1-5
"Wars and murders come from yourselves because you are greedy and lust for power"
Jesus tells us to pray in Matthew 6:10 "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven".
Where is God when things go wrong? This booklet takes a fairly realistic look at this problem and tries to come up with some answers. Where are some quotes:
Where do sciences live Behaviourism fit into this?
Pain is a warning sign
As we suffer, Christ has suffered too...for you...us...
Psalm 23
Technorati tags: youth talks, youth ideas, Suffering
- A God of love will not force you to do something...he will allow you to make your own choices
- God teaches us through suffering
- Bill Hybels in Finding God in the Storms of Life talks about "rouge winds", suggesting that when they strike it causes us to focus on what is really important. It also results in some people coming to faith.
- God tests us though trials
- God may allow certain things to happen for the greater good - we are not in possession of all the facts.
- Look at the story of Joseph in
- See Matthew 7:7-12
- Rob Bell Nooma "Kick ball" DVD uses this analogy
- James Sire "A transcendent God, as a First Cause, created the universe but then left it to run on its own? ...To the deist, then, God is distant, foreign, alien."
- Bill Hybels in Finding God in the Storms of Life..."God took a risk of unimaginable proportions by giving human beings free will...it's like giving a fifteen-year-old kid the keys to a Ferrari...". He also quotes Jeremiah 17:9 and suggests that sometimes we deceive ourselves. There's an example of some guy who smokes 3 packs of cigarettes every day...he gets lung cancer. Who's fault is this? I guess the same principle would apply to things like drink, stress, work or the way we deal with anger, problems etc.
- Genesis 2:15 - 17 "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
- Romans 3:10 - 18
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
"Wars and murders come from yourselves because you are greedy and lust for power"
- "1) Evil and suffering exist in the world 2) If God were all-powerful, he could prevent evil and suffering 3) If he were all-loving, he would want to prevent these 4) If there were an all-powerful, all-loving God, there would be no evil and suffering in the world 5) God is therefore powerless, loveless or non-existent"
- "If all living things on the earth were created by God, and he was a loving God who made man in his image, how do you explain the fact that he must have created the tapeworm, the malaria parasite, the tetanus germ, polio, ticks, mosquitoes, cockroaches and fleas?"
- "When people respond to tragedy by asking, 'how can there be a just God?' their question is logically flawed, as without him words like 'just' and 'unjust' are purely matters of personal opinion"
- "Far from moral problems ruling out the existence of God, our sense of things being right and wrong, fair or unfair, just or unjust is a strong clue that there is some transcendent standard that affects us all"
- "...suffering reminds us of our physical frailty and of our dependence upon God"
- There is an interesting challenge on page 18. Some guy who wants to know why there was "so much evil in the world" is challenged to say "what you have done about the evil you see within you"
- 1 Peter 2:21
- 1 Peter 4:1
- The Death of Lazarus John 11:1 - 44
Labels: Apologetics, Spring Harvest
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