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Conversational Apologetics
The Problem of Evil – Part 2
Conversational Apologetics
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Open Questions
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Pointed Questions
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To remove the “roof” of their irrational
assumptions
Explain the Gospel
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To understand and know them
Only when asked
Nurture The Relationship
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Help unbelievers grow towards Christ
Help believers to grow IN Christ
The Problem of Evil
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If God is all powerful, He can prevent
evil.
If God is all loving, He abhors evil and
wishes to prevent it.
Evil Exists
Therefore, God cannot be all powerful
or all loving.
Review
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Who is Evil a Problem for?
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The unbeliever
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Has no universal, absolute morality
Must argue some form of moral relativism
But as soon as he believes, speaks, or acts as though
some activity is evil in itself, he has contradicted his
set of beliefs.
The Christian’s belief of universal, absolute
morality is rationally based on the Transcendent,
Creator who has revealed Himself in human
history
The Challenge for Christians
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The atheist may say:
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“Even if I cannot account for evil in my
worldview, how do you account for it in
yours?”
Christians believe in an all-powerful,
all-loving God.
Christians know there is evil
How do we resolve the paradox?
Greg Bahnsen’s Theodicy
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1948 - 1995
Student of Cornelius
Van Til, the ‘father’ of
presuppositional
apologetics
M.A. and Th.M from
Westminster
Theological seminary
PhD in Philosophy
from the University of
Southern California
Presuppositional Apologetics =
The non-believer is on trial
Christian Presuppositions
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As Christians, we believe the Bible when it
tells us that God is perfectly and completely
good.
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The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways
are just; a God of faithfulness and without
injustice, righteous and upright is He. (Deu 32:4)
Thus, we can and should evaluate
everything in our experience in light of this
presupposition.
Consistent with our Worldview
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Christians are being perfectly logical
and consistent with our worldview to
infer that God has a morally sufficient
(though perhaps undisclosed) reason
for the evil that He allows.
This is to say that God allows evil
events for reasons which are morally
commendable and good.
The Fourth Premise
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God is all powerful
God is all pood
God has a morally sufficient reason for
the Evil He allows
Evil Exists
Biblical Examples
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Joseph
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"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God
meant it for good in order to bring about this
present result, to preserve many people alive.”
(Gen 50:20)
Abraham
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"Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the
righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous
and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from
You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal
justly?" (Gen 18:25)
The Greatest Evil
Wishing to satisfy the crowd,
Pilate released Barabbas for
them, and after having Jesus
scourged, he handed Him over
to be crucified. (Mar 15:15)
Why Did God…
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…Allow His Son to suffer the greatest
evil?
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He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
on our behalf, so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him. (2Co
5:21)
If God had a morally sufficient reason
for allowing the greatest evil, can He
not have one for all evil?
The Heart of the Problem
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God does not always give us the
reason He allows evil in the world.
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Christians and unbelievers alike
instinctively think to ourselves, “Why did
such a terrible thing happen?”
The Bible calls on us to trust that God
has a morally sufficient reason for evil.
The Believer…
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…often struggles with this situation
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We are called to walk by faith and not by sight
And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to
those who are called according to His purpose.
(Rom 8:28)
But we can take solace in knowing that God,
through Christ, participated in the evil that
men do and suffered at their hands. We
have a sympathetic High Priest (Heb 4:15).
The Unbeliever…
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… finds the situation intolerable.
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He refuses to trust God.
He demands that God subject His
reasons to the unbeliever for analysis
and approval.
In other words, he wants to be his own
God!
The Problem of Evil…
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…comes down to the question:
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Will I place my faith in God and His Word,
or
Will I trust my own human thinking and
values?
Who is the ultimate authority in my
life?
Where was this very question played
out for the first time?
Evil Enters…
Now the serpent was
more crafty than any
beast of the field
which the LORD God
had made. And he
said to the woman,
"Indeed, has God said,
'You shall not eat from
any tree of the
garden'?" (Gen 3:1)
The Temptation
"For God knows that in
the day you eat from it
your eyes will be
opened, and you will
be like God, knowing
good and evil.” (Gen
3:5)
Human History…
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…depended upon whether Adam and Eve
would trust and presuppose the Goodness
of God.
Since they did not, the human race has
been visited with evil and suffering ever
since.
When unbelievers refuse to accept the
goodness of God on the basis of his Word,
they simply perpetuate the source of all our
human woes.
The Problem of Evil really…
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…is a personal expression of a lack of
faith.
The unbeliever argues in circles:
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Because they lack faith, they begin
arguing that evil is logically contradictory
to the goodness and power of God.
When they are presented with a logically
adequate and Biblically supported
solution to the Problem of Evil…
Full Circle
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They refuse to accept it, again
because of their lack of faith in God!
They would rather be left unable to
give an account of any moral judgment
whatsoever than to submit to the
ultimate moral authority of God.