Title: Out of the Whirlwind Is God asleep at the wheel? Talk 3 The Christian Response
1Out of the WhirlwindIs God asleep at the
wheel?Talk 3The Christian Response
2The Christian Response?
3Summary
- Atheists acknowledge evil but deny God
- Pantheists acknowledge God(s) but deny evil
- Theists acknowledge both God and evil
4- A wholly good, all powerful, personal and moral
God exists who cares deeply about the people he
has created - Yet, evil also exists and is the source of all
pain and suffering - God and evil can exist at the same time!
5A) The existence of evil
- On what basis do we decide something is evil? Or
good?
6How would you define..?
7A) The existence of evil
- We cannot define evil without first defining its
opposite good - Evil is not a first cause it is good that has
gone wrong or been corrupted - The reality of evil actually requires the
existence of God rather than disproves it.
8Moral law from the moral law Giver?
9B) The Avoidibility of Evil
- Could God have created a world without evil?
- What would that look like?
10Democracy or Dictatorship?
11B) The Avoidibility of evil ..
12B) The Avoidibility of evil ..
- Some things are impossible for God
- God cannot give humans free will and at the same
time with hold free will from them
13B) The Avoidibility of evil ..
- Free choice risks wrong choice .
14B) The Avoidibility of evil ..
- What have I done to deserve this?
- God must really have it in for me
15B) The Avoidibility of evil ..
16B) The Avoidibility of evil ..
- God provided a solution to sin and evil without
destroying our freedom
17C) The Purposelessness of Evil
- Q If God existed he would not allow the
purposeless suffering we see, right? - A 1) We are not God!
- 2) What am I here for?
18C) The Purposelessness of Evil
- A 3) Is all pain bad?
- Eg. Leprosy
- God whispers to us in our pleasures but shouts
to us in our pain. Pain is Gods megaphone to
rouse a deaf world. - C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain
19D) The Persistence of Evil
- Q Why does bad stuff keep on happening?
- A 1) If God wiped out all evil tonight ..
- ... Who would be left?
- 2) not yet does not mean never
- He God will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying
or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away. Revelation 214
20D) The Persistence of Evil.
- D-day landings
- 6th June 1944
- End of WWII
- 8th May 1945
21- No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who
love him.. 1 Corinthians 29