If you could ask God only one question and you

knew He would give you an answer…

…what would you ask?

“A loving God could not possibly be the author of the horrors we have been describing—horrors that continue every day, have continued since time began, and will continue as long as life exists.

It is an inconceivable tale of suffering and death, and because the tale is fact—is, in truth, the history of the world—it is obvious that there cannot be a loving God.”

-Charles Templeton

EXPLANATION #1

FREE-WILL DEFENSE

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

Matt. 23:37 NIV

“To create creatures capable of moral good, therefore, He must create creatures capable of moral evil; and He can’t give these creatures the freedom to perform evil and at the same time prevent them from doing so…

…The fact that free creatures sometimes go wrong, however, counts neither against God’s omnipotence nor against His goodness…”

-Alvin C. Plantinga, God, Freedom, and Evil

“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right.

Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had

no possibility of going wrong, but I can't. If a

thing is free to be good it's also free to be bad.

And free will is what has made evil possible.

Why, then, did God give them free will? Because

free will, though it makes evil possible, is

also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth

having.

A world of automata -of creatures that worked like machines- would

hardly be worth creating.

-C.S. Lewis The Case for Christianity

EXPLANATION #2

SOUL-MAKING DEFENSE

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. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son

Romans 8:28,29 NIV

“Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?”

-John Keats

WHY COULDN’T GOD CREATE A WORLD WITHOUT EVIL?

…HE CAN’T MAKE ROUND SQUARE

…HE CAN’T MAKE A ROCK SO BIG THAT HE CAN’T MOVE IT

…HE CAN’T PREVENT SOMEONE WHO HAS THE POWER OF FREE CHOICE TO ALWAYS DO WHAT HE WANTS THEM TO DO….

UNLESS YOU WISH TO DESTROY THE VERY ESSENCE OF “FREE WILL”!

“If you choose to say ‘God can give a creature free-will and at the same time withhold free-will from it,’ you have not succeeded in saying anything about God:

…meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire a meaning because we prefix to them the two other words: ‘God can’…

...It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of his creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives, not because his power meets an obstacle,

…but because nonsense remains nonsense, even when we talk it about God.

-C.S. Lewis

"....it may not be possible without

tampering with human freedom, to produce a free world where men

never choose to sin. If a man decides to sit

on the back porch but is chased by hornets

to the front porch, did he freely choose to

go?

Not really. He was coerced by physical

threat against his real choice. And in this

sense, it would be less than perfectly loving for God to coerce someone against his real choice. Love is persuasive but

not coercive."-Dr. Norman Geisler

WHY DOESN’T GOD STOP EVIL?

Why doesn’t God stop the terrorist before he blows up something?

Why doesn’t God stop the murderer before callously takes the innocent life of someone?

Why doesn’t God stop the drunk driver before his car takes the life of another motorist?

SCENARIO #1

If God was to stop evil—would He prevent the thought or simply freeze a person

before they act?

If God had to freeze someone evil…how long? When would they snap out of it?

Would they remember?

Would He freeze all those people who were watching?

IF HE DID, LIFE WOULD BE CRAZY!

SCENARIO #1

Imagine how crazy this would make our world…mad men would try to do things knowing or thinking that God

might intervene—people jumping off buildings to kill themselves or trying to get their name in the paper by

trying something horrific!

IF HE DID, LIFE WOULD BE CRAZY!

SCENARIO #2

No way to create a world where people are free to love God but are also not free to reject His loveNo way to create a world where people have the freedom to do good and not have the freedom to do evil

People want God to selectively remove evil!

IF HE DID, LIFE WOULD BE SCARY!

SCENARIO #2

Imagine how crazy this would make our world…mad men would try to do things knowing or thinking that God

might intervene—people jumping off buildings to kill themselves or trying to get their name in the paper by

trying something horrific!

IF HE DID, LIFE WOULD BE SCARY!

"If God were to stamp out evil today, he would do a complete job. His action would have to include our lies and personal impurities, our lack of love, and our failure to do good.

Suppose God were to decree that at midnight tonight all evil would be removed from the universe -- who of us would still be here after midnight?"

Paul Little

WHY CAN’T GOD IMMEDIATELY PLACE PEOPLE

IN HEAVEN?

Present Evil World

Best Possible World

Freedomof

Choice

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ’Thy will be done.’.”

-C.S. Lewis

WHAT ABOUT NATURAL DISASTERS &

OTHER TRAGEDIES?

“because of the fall there are negative consequences for the natural order…in a fallen world people die as God said they would, and if they are going to die, they must die of something.

One of the causes of death is disease. Some of these

diseases may be contracted early in life and others may arise

only later. Some diseases may kill

slowly while others kill quickly.

Some diseases are genetically based, while other result from germs in our

world. -John FeinbergThe Many Faces of

Evil,

INSIGHT #1

SUFFERING IS NOT A JUDGMENT ON

THE GUILTY

4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Luke 13:4,5 NIV

INSIGHT #2

DON’T LECTURE; DIALOGUE

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ….The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

John 4:7-10 NIV

INSIGHT #3

DON’T IGNORE THE EMOTIONAL PROBLEM

OF EVIL

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his

feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her

also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

John 11:32-33 NIV