First this is just a scenario
First it is difficult to understand and comprehend the presence of evil in this world today. Evil is everywhere you look, and it gets worse every day. We just simply do not understand the concept of evil, or why such awful things happen. The problem with evil regarding mankind is no respect or love for God anymore. We’ve taken God out of every situation, and thus the reason for the insanity in the world today. Without God there is going to be evil and more of it, the world cannot live a righteous life without God and without morals. It all stems back to Adam & Eve and the fall of the human race. Had Eve not believed the lies that Satan had said, where would the world be? God gave us the free will to choose, and that free will does cause us to sin. God allows evil in order to achieve the ultimately greater good of free will.
Moral evil is an act of mankind such as murder; natural evil would be something that is not caused by any specific agent but has victims an example would be earthquakes.
Why do bad things happen? First we must understand God doesn’t make bad things happen or cause evil in our society. He may allow it to happen for the purpose of helping us grow, or so we can help others go thru difficult circumstances. Natural evil happens because of moral evil as stated by Elwell (pg. 42). Natural evil exists because of the fall of mankind; they go hand in hand according to the Bible. It is a form of punishment and reflection of what we do to ourselves, Romans 6:23 states this very well: “For the wages of sin (moral) is death (natural); but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
Leibniz’s theodicy- states that God did not choose the best in creating the world, so God would be lacking in power, knowledge and goodness.
Augustinian theodicy- argues that God created the world and it was perfect, without any evil or suffering. Free will of the angels and humans caused evil.
Irenaean theodicy-states God is partially responsible for evil and suffering.
Free will theodicy-states that God is not the cause of evil but the abuse of human free will is.
Theodicy must be internally consistent because nothing can be contractive. It must be relevant to the specific theology that it addresses (pg.1184). The best way that I can explain theodicy of evil would be the free will theodicy, because God did not create evil, man created evil because of the free will to choose. In Genesis 3 the woman chose by free will to listen to the serpent and she took the fruit and gave to her husband. Mankind chose to disobey God and listen to the desires of their lusts. Satan worked on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and man’s pride to make then fall from grace.
A personal experience of evil can affect our relation with God because it makes us question the existence of God along with questioning why this evil is happening to oneself. We need to trust God in all things regardless of the circumstances that we are in. This is very difficult to say the least when you don’t feel you deserve the suffering that you are going through. Look at Job and all the suffering he went through but in the end he repented of his thoughts and knew that God was a just God and he would bring him through this awful situation that he was in.
I believe that one can indeed dispute a certain belief and not actually attack God himself. We have that right to question, but at the same time, we also need to understand that God is a just God, and whatever we are going through he will give us the way out. We may not understand sometimes the things that happen, but it can either make you stronger, or you can decide to walk away from the God that loves you. Sometimes it’s just hard to except what is being put on you at the time, but one day we will understand the reasoning of what has happened in our lifetimes. God is a God of mercy, and understanding, his grace abounds to all who choose to accept it. We need to go to God in prayer for all things and this includes all the evil in the world that is so prevalent in our society today. We must stand up for Jesus and let the world know that there is another way. God never promised us a rose garden, but through all the trials and tribulations we have, it causes us to rethink and reflect on our own personal relationship with God.
First it is difficult to understand and comprehend the presence of evil in this world today. Evil is everywhere you look, and it gets worse every day. We just simply do not understand the concept of evil, or why such awful things happen. The problem with evil regarding mankind is no respect or love for God anymore. We’ve taken God out of every situation, and thus the reason for the insanity in the world today. Without God there is going to be evil and more of it, the world cannot live a righteous life without God and without morals. It all stems back to Adam & Eve and the fall of the human race. Had Eve not believed the lies that Satan had said, where would the world be? God gave us the free will to choose, and that free will does cause us to sin. God allows evil in order to achieve the ultimately greater good of free will.
Moral evil is an act of mankind such as murder; natural evil would be something that is not caused by any specific agent but has victims an example would be earthquakes.
Why do bad things happen? First we must understand God doesn’t make bad things happen or cause evil in our society. He may allow it to happen for the purpose of helping us grow, or so we can help others go thru difficult circumstances. Natural evil happens because of moral evil as stated by Elwell (pg. 42). Natural evil exists because of the fall of mankind; they go hand in hand according to the Bible. It is a form of punishment and reflection of what we do to ourselves, Romans 6:23 states this very well: “For the wages of sin (moral) is death (natural); but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
Leibniz’s theodicy- states that God did not choose the best in creating the world, so God would be lacking in power, knowledge and goodness.
Augustinian theodicy- argues that God created the world and it was perfect, without any evil or suffering. Free will of the angels and humans caused evil.
Irenaean theodicy-states God is partially responsible for evil and suffering.
Free will theodicy-states that God is not the cause of evil but the abuse of human free will is.
Theodicy must be internally consistent because nothing can be contractive. It must be relevant to the specific theology that it addresses (pg.1184). The best way that I can explain theodicy of evil would be the free will theodicy, because God did not create evil, man created evil because of the free will to choose. In Genesis 3 the woman chose by free will to listen to the serpent and she took the fruit and gave to her husband. Mankind chose to disobey God and listen to the desires of their lusts. Satan worked on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and man’s pride to make then fall from grace.
A personal experience of evil can affect our relation with God because it makes us question the existence of God along with questioning why this evil is happening to oneself. We need to trust God in all things regardless of the circumstances that we are in. This is very difficult to say the least when you don’t feel you deserve the suffering that you are going through. Look at Job and all the suffering he went through but in the end he repented of his thoughts and knew that God was a just God and he would bring him through this awful situation that he was in.
I believe that one can indeed dispute a certain belief and not actually attack God himself. We have that right to question, but at the same time, we also need to understand that God is a just God, and whatever we are going through he will give us the way out. We may not understand sometimes the things that happen, but it can either make you stronger, or you can decide to walk away from the God that loves you. Sometimes it’s just hard to except what is being put on you at the time, but one day we will understand the reasoning of what has happened in our lifetimes. God is a God of mercy, and understanding, his grace abounds to all who choose to accept it. We need to go to God in prayer for all things and this includes all the evil in the world that is so prevalent in our society today. We must stand up for Jesus and let the world know that there is another way. God never promised us a rose garden, but through all the trials and tribulations we have, it causes us to rethink and reflect on our own personal relationship with God.