The existence-of-evil dodge (NEXT! #44)

by Dan Phillips

Challenge: I see so much evil in the world, I just can't be a Christian.

Response: Did you mean to say that's why you can't be a Christian Scientist? Only Biblical Christianity can make sense of the evil in the world.

NEXT!

(Proverbs 21:22)

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"Problem of evil" syllogism, reworked

by Dan Phillips

I'm sure you're all familiar with some form of this:

1. If God is all-powerful, He can prevent evil.
2. If God is good, He would want to prevent evil.
3. Evil exists.
4. Therefore, there is no God. (Or: God is either not all-powerful, or He is not good.)

But it's a loaded syllogism — well, both loaded and unloaded, if you follow my meaning. It snips a couple of Biblical truths, but holds them in isolation from everything else the Bible teaches.

A more honest version would be:

1. If God can do anything He wishes, He could prevent evil if He wished.
2. If God is good... I can't think of a reason why he would not prevent evil.
3. Evil exists.
4. Therefore... um, I don't know why God might choose to permit evil.

That's a lot more truthful, and it leaves the problem where it belongs: not on God, but on the arguer. Here's another:

1. If God can do anything He wishes, He could prevent evil.
2. If God is good, He would want to prevent evil.
3. But I don't believe in God anyway, so I can't have an opinion on what "evil" is or whether it exists.
4. Therefore, what's for dinner?

Or this:

1. If God can do anything He wishes, He could prevent evil if He wished.
2. If God is good, He would want to prevent evil.
3. I have the vague feeling that the Bible says more about God than that He's almighty and good, but I just really haven't cared enough to study it out for myself.
4. Therefore... well, nothing about the God of the Bible. But the God I made up might have issues.

Here's the best of the lot:

1. If God can do anything He wishes, He could prevent evil if He wished.
2. If God is good, He will not allow evil to go unpunished or reign forever.
3. Evil exists, will be punished, and it both has been and will be dealt with permanently.
4. Therefore, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, or be part of that evil that will be judged and dealt with.

(I give more on the subject, here. You must admit: it's nothing if not red.)

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The "God and evil" dodge (NEXT! #30)

by Dan Phillips

Challenge Version A: Why does God permit evil?

Response: Good thing He does, eh?

Challenge Version B: Can God be good and all-powerful, and permit evil?

Response: [Eyeing challenger.] Evidently.

NEXT!

(Proverbs 21:22)

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The Japan/God dilemma (NEXT! #26)

by Dan Phillips

Challenge: So, does the earthquake in Japan prove that God is benevolent and impotent, omnipotent and malevolent, or imaginary?

Response: Sorry — you are...? 

NEXT!

(Proverbs 21:22)

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The problem-of-evil dodge (NEXT! #25)

by Dan Phillips

Challenge: You're a Christian? How do you handle the problem of evil?

Response: Me? Mainly, by switching sides, by God's grace.

NEXT!

(Proverbs 21:22)

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The suffering dodge (NEXT! #22)

by Dan Phillips

Challenge: You're a Christian? Aren't you troubled by the suffering in the world?

Response: Well, it does seem strange that there is so relatively little of it.

NEXT!

(Proverbs 21:22)

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The Golden Age

by Frank Turk

I dunno about you, but I have had a Hard. Week.

And that, for about three weeks now. God bless us to be busy rather than not (because I have also been unemployed for 18 months, and I wouldn't wish that on anybody), but "busy" will wear you out -- especially when it takes you off your spiritual gain.

It's weeks like this which make me think about the Golden Age of the church -- because, as many of you will testify, the local church is not in a golden age. It's probably not even in a plastic disposable age at this point. And as such, it often falls short of meeting our spiritual needs -- unlike the church of the Golden Age.

The church of the Golden Age would be full of the love of Christ, right? And full of people who have overcome sin. It would be lead by Christ and by men just like Him. And when I have a lousy day that lasts for weeks (or months), that church would be there for me all the time.

And wow: would the church of the Golden Age have good doctrine. The teaching there would be from like one who has authority -- not just lip service, not just translations from the Greek and Hebrew, not just lessons about how to live our lives. The doctrine of the church of the Golden Age would both humble us and lift us up so that we could be both servants of Christ and also his brothers and sisters all gaining the inheritance of the Father in eternal life.

It's weeks like this which I really long for the church of the Golden Age. But this week I wanted to remind all of you -- because I myself needed reminding -- that the church of the Golden Age is not past.

The church of the Golden Age is still coming. It has never yet been here, but in it our hope lies.

It's on days like today, in weeks like my last three weeks, that I look to that church, and all I can say is, "Please, Lord Jesus: come quickly."

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"Horrible stories" and the Whole Story

by Dan Phillips

What would you think of a literary critic who reviewed a certain work of literature thus?

The Lord of the Rings is a dank and depressing tale of despair, pointlessness and woe. The story begins in a happy community of prosperous, jolly souls, and ends in defeat and ruin. Frodo bears "The One Ring" through countless toils and trials, only to lose it to the evil Gollum at the end. The Quest comes to nothing, the Dark Lord Sauron enslaves all free peoples, the lives lost are sacrifices on the altar of meaninglessness, and the author's sole intent apparently is to crush out and mock all that is happy and hopeful and purposeful. It is a gloomy and miserable threnody that only a dark and sadistic heart could have begotten, or enjoy.

Or how about this in a film reviewer?

One watches The Sixth Sense in growing puzzlement. Though blessed with capable actors and a very poignant mood, the movie seems to go nowhere. A little boy is afflicted with terrifying visions, for which he suffers cruelly. A psychologist tries to help him, but seems equally lost and confused himself, drowning in his own growingly troubled and distant marriage. In the end, the erstwhile counselor simply comes to an impasse as one "case" is solved — leaving the wretched tot in the same dilemma, pathetic and unhelped. It is an aimless, pointless, purposeless, depressing movie. Watch it if you feel yourself to be too jolly and happy. Otherwise? No point!

If you actually knew either work, wouldn't you immediately conclude that the writers were burbling idiots, and disgraces to their craft? Wouldn't they completely lose all credibility to you?

Why? Because they hadn't considered the whole story. They'd lifted out one part, judged the whole on the basis of that part, and blamed their misunderstanding on the creators.

I actually read a review like that, decades ago. This professional critic, writing for a major daily newspaper, started off her review of the movie Cujo saying something like, "For no apparent reason, a sweet-natured St. Bernard becomes rabid, and...." Immediately, everyone who had either read the book or seen the movie knew that the reviewer had somehow missed the beginning of the movie! It colored and skewed her view of the whole.

This major gaffe discredited both her review, and the writer herself. She tried, afterward, but never was able to recover her credibility with the readership.

The point is obvious: you can't really assess a story if you get the beginning wrong, or ignore the end — much less both.

Given our sharp readership, I'm sure my point is obvious. But let's consider further together.

When you hear anti-Christians spitting out their venom about the God of the Bible, don't you often see exactly the same gaffe? They ignore (or are completely unaware of) both the beginning of the story and the end. They ignore Creation, they ignore the Fall, they ignore Redemption, and they ignore Final Judgment. They see evil in its ascendancy, and slander God as either immoral, uninvolved, or impotent. So on the basis of their misunderstanding, God is condemned. It's a bad Story — with an inept Storyteller, they scoff.

And in so doing, they discredit — not God, but — themselves.

This particularly struck me from my Bible reading for 12/24/08:

"Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." (Revelation 15:3b-4)

"Revealed," the saints sing. God's righteous acts are revealed. John actually uses the verb φανερόω (phaneroō), meaning to make plain, obvious, apparent. They were there all along, but they were hidden from popular view. Only at this penultimate point, at the Eschaton, at the final judgments that sweep the planet and humanity on to their date with the Judgment Throne of God — only then are those judgments revealed. Now all can plainly see God's awesome justice, truth, holiness and worth, shining in the light of His righteous acts that are to be made public.

At the end of the story.

Remember this when skeptics, atheists, and mockers in and out of the professing church lift a snippet out and make light of the judgment of God. Ask them if it'd be fair to judge them by short selected clips of their talks and writings.

Nor should they — or we — make the same mistake regarding God and His Story.

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