How can God exist with all the evil in the world

A student project re-creating the interview between Lee Strobel and Peter Kreeft

Category:

Education

Tags:

• faith
• christianity
• strobel
• philosophy

[TheHonestTheist]

Why God allows man-made suffering is pretty obvious and easily explain. If God allows free-will to choose between good and evil, we shouldn't be surprised to see some evil and as a result, suffering. So man-made sufferring is easily explained.

But what about natural disasters? Why does God allow that? And don't answer with theories, I want answers.

What does scripture say for example?

And what about disease? The majority is also caused by man's sin. But I'm pretty sure some are not.

[parhambigdog]

Dear Honest Theist, great questions and thoughts.

One Biblical answer is that our world is fallen world. Somehow sin has even infected the natural order. In Romans 8 Paul talks about creation groaning as it awaits the redemption of all things.

Another approach to this problem is that God has created a world with natural laws and processes and that disasters and diseases are just a part of the natural proccess. Sometimes God interveens miraculously to suspend these processes.

[parhambigdog]

Honest Theist.

An interesting thing to ponder is if you could create a world how would you design it? How would you make it work?

Could you design in sunsets, waterfalls, snow, a warm day at the beach, mountains, children, and other beautiful things that take our breath away without some of the corresponding negatives like death, storms, & sadness?

When Job questioned God's managment of the world God asked him to explain how everything came to be and works. Job couldn't answer. It's tough!

[nate12387]

Where was this done at?

[parhambigdog]

Lipscomb high school

[fergskin]

fuck off!

[parhambigdog]

Why the anger? What were you looking for when you clicked on the video?

Peace.

[BesACB]

There is no evil. There are things which do not please us. Sub specie aeternitatis all is well.

[TheBigThoughful]

@siirf siirf for president

[TheBigThoughful]

uhh those are all horrible points, i didnt watch the whoel thing but the argument that we have been evolving a long time and we still aren't perfect is ridiculous. perfection is a christian belief. evolutionists know that we will always change as the environment changes because there is not a perfect organism. the octopus is perfect for where it lives, the ant for where it lives and so on, and if you drained the ocean, the octopus would not be perfect anymore. go read some Darwin

[TheHonestTheist]

That really doesn't answer the question

parhambigdog

And I wish people who don't know the answer would be humble enough not to try and answer, especially when I asked for a proper answer before-hand. If you don't know, just say you don't know. Theories aren't answers, it just frustrates me. I am no where closer to getting the answer to these questions after that.

[TheHonestTheist]

"How would you make it work?"

If I were God, I would forget about free-will, it's just not worth it. I would make everyone sinlessly perfect, so there would be nothing but love, joy, happiness and peace. I wouldn't make them have physical bodies so they can get tired, I would allow them much more freedom then our current existence allows. I would abolish night and dark and cold, people wouldn't sleep and it would always be bright and warm. It would make earth look like hell.

[TheHonestTheist]

"One Biblical answer is that our world is fallen world"

People seem to pull out "the fall card" for a lot of things these days

"Somehow sin has even infected the natural order"

That's your excuse and you're sticking to it? I said "don't answer with theories, I want answers" but that sounds like a theory to me.

"disasters and diseases are just a part of the natural proccess"

part of the original design!?!? So God looked and saw the disasters and disease and said "It is good"?

[TheHonestTheist]

I think the initial argument is an interesting "add-on" but it doesn't actually answer her question. I think people should first answer the question "directly" then add-on anything additional.

Suffering exists because we exist and we have free-will. If it wasn't for us and the amount of selfishness, greed, hate and bombs we buy, there would be no poverty or hunger. The world would be almost perfect if it were free from sin.

But there is also disease and natural disasters.