The Enigma of Evil: Reconciling Suffering with God's Sovereign Design

Why does a loving, omnipotent deity allow a world riddled with pain and suffering? This haunting question is at the heart of our latest podcast, where we confront the theological and pastoral concerns it raises. As your host, I dismantle the common argument against God's existence due to the presence of evil, presenting seven robust objections that highlight the nature of God as described in the Bible. We venture beyond the surface of this profound enigma, approaching it with the sensitivity it deserves and offering a fresh perspective that reconciles the existence of evil with God's all-good, all-powerful character.

In our earnest exploration, I propose a thought-provoking viewpoint: Could the existence of evil actually serve a purpose in God's grand design? We examine how the darkness of sin and suffering ultimately casts light on God's attributes of justice, wrath, and righteousness. There's no guest needed as we tackle the complexities of this issue, navigating the waters of God's sovereignty and the human condition. Join us for a session that's not just about intellectual musings, but one that provides solace and reaffirms faith amidst life's tribulations. Your participation and input are not only welcomed but also essential, as we build a community dedicated to understanding and living out the divine mysteries for His glory.

If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe, follow, share the episode, like, or check us out in YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtvAv52Ldvfjf4CgYhYTZig

As always, thank you for watching Gospel Grit, where we seek to apply the Word of God, to the people of God, to the glory of God.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome everybody to Gospel Grit. My name, as always, is Taylor Windham. In this episode I'm going to go ahead and say it. You clicked on it, you saw it, you know it from the thumbnail, this topic if you're aware of philosophy or Christian ethics, theodicy, the defense of the problem of pain, you know that this is a monumental task here and I want to go ahead and say at the outset this is one that, because it's so monumental, I'm going to break this down into so many different videos. I may have to just to fully flesh this out.

Speaker 1: 0:45

So, to make sure we understand what this episode episode 18, is about today, I'm going to start by saying this this is the problem of pain, summed up this way, typically. Premise one if God is all-powerful, he's omnipotent and all-loving, or he's omnibenevolent, then he has the power and desire to stop evil and pain. We would all grant that. That's true. Premise number two how the argument goes Evil and pain are not stopped and are very present and pervasive in our world, everywhere that we look. The conclusion, the atheist would say, or the agnostic, or someone who grants that a God or some gods exist, but certainly not the God of the Bible, would say. The conclusion, therefore is inescapable, that because evil and pain are not stopped and they are rampant everywhere that we look, then God must not be all-powerful, he must not be all-loving or all-good. He may not be either one or he just doesn't exist. My argument today is that that line of thinking, that view of the problem of pain, is not only wrong, but it falls short to even make a cogent argument about the existence of the God we believe in from the scriptures. So today is going to be all about jumping into the seven objections that I wrote before we even tackle the argument, which can be at some video session episode subsequent to this. So, as always, put your thinking cap on. We hope to apply the Word of God to the people of God for the glory of God.

Speaker 1: 2:26

Now let me also say that this is not a philosophical issue. Yes, of course it's a philosophical problem. Yes, of course it's a metaphysical issue. Yes, of course it's an ethical dilemma, and all of those are great and they have their places, but this is pastoral. It is meant to be soothing, as a soothing balm or a defense of the truly all-good and all-powerful God of the Bible, the only one that is uniquely present in all of history and reality.

Speaker 1: 2:57

I also understand as a former atheist, that this is one of those things probably at the top of the list If not it's in the top two or three of the reason why people commit suicide and the reason why people give up hope in their life at all and stop believing in God, especially the God of the scriptures. So I'm aware that this is not only a Gospel Grit episode, but it may be a last-ditch hope for someone watching this as a defense of why that God is not only real, but the conclusion of the inescapable reality of evil and the fact that we have an all-powerful and all-good God are not mutually exclusive. In fact, he has made provision for that. He is totally in charge and in control and therefore we have nothing to fear. In fact, we run to him in our pain, not from him. So these are the seven basic premises or sort of objections. As I wrote this out, I've got 11 pages, but we're just going to tackle about two pages here in the next 10 or 11 minutes.

Speaker 1: 4:03

So the first thing to address if somebody brings this argument up to you from a biblical perspective, from a reason perspective, from philosophy or ethics or metaphysics, whatever it may be. Number one is that this is an emotional problem, right? People normally formulate this with tears in their eyes. They normally are going through maybe the darkest moment of their entire life, and so to make this argument in some way that is heartless, that is thoughtless, that is not with discernment and love and kindness, is not only cruel but I believe it to be evil. So we must be careful about how we talk about this, and there are people who say things, maybe that they don't mean and we need to be understanding. But it is one thing to question what's going on. It's another thing to question the integrity, character and holy nature of God. That is absolutely unacceptable and I want to make sure we understand that. So this oftentimes is meant to rile people up.

Speaker 1: 5:10

The problem would really be and I would say it this way, on counterpoint number one the problem would really be if God is all-powerful and he can stop evil, but he likes evil and wants it to continue and sadistically enjoys the suffering of moral agents. That is not at all what the Bible teaches. That is not at all the God of the Bible. God does not enjoy suffering. We see over and over verses like he takes no delight in the death of the wicked. So we need to be clear, because if we grant some of these premises and not others, we can end up with a tyrannical, dictatorial, adolf Hitler-like God that they are accusing him of being, and that is the furthest thing from the truth. It's not the case. It would mean that God is some again psychotic despot who's a terribly horrific tyrant, and because he has unlimited power, he demands to be worshiped and he enjoys your suffering through his unlimited power. That is not the God of the Bible and we must be adamant in defending his character and nature.

Speaker 1: 6:22

It would also be a problem if God is not capable which is the other horn of this dilemma that God is not capable, excuse me, of stopping evil, and he's not even capable of allowing it. This would be the extreme other option, where God wants desperately to stop evil and he's doing everything he can, but he's just impotent to do so. So both of these are absolutely unacceptable on biblical grounds and on Christian theological grounds. This is that God is impotent and he wants to stop all the evil in the world, including your suffering, but he just can't bring himself to do it. He doesn't have the power, and so therefore he's wringing his hands, hoping one of us or some holy angel steps in and kind of nudges things towards the correct direction. Number two this is the second counterpoint.

Speaker 1: 7:16

This argument, the argument for the problem of evil, the fact that God is either not all loving or not all powerful, or neither, assumes that there are good people. Right, romans 1, 2, and especially 3 make very clear there is no one righteous. No, not one. There is no one who seeks God, there is no one who does good. They have altogether become worthless. Right, romans 3 makes that abundantly clear. Romans 3 makes also very clear that there are no such thing as good people. So the objection of good people receiving wickedness at the hand of God, the blasphemous assumption, is absolutely nonsensical, because there are no good people. Every person who's ever lived should enjoy nothing but the unbridled holy wrath of God. Everyone deserves hell, no one deserves salvation, no one deserves mercy, grace, kindness or forgiveness, and certainly not love. So that takes some of the sting out of the argument.

Speaker 1: 8:22

Again, we're not making philosophical deductions just to reason through philosophy. We're trying to give a defense of why the world is ordered, the way it is based upon the God that we know is revealed from Scripture and we personally relate to that, we fellowship with that, we worship, that we adore and that we obey. So that's number two. Number three keep moving, we've got seven. Number three this argument assumes that pain now hear me, pain is necessarily bad and that evil and pain are one and the same, that there is no fundamental distinction between pain and evil.

Speaker 1: 9:01

And my argument is that pain is not always bad in and of itself. The immediate example that pops to mind is a woman giving birth to a child. Jesus even talks about this in the Gospels. Giving birth to a child Jesus even talks about this in the Gospels. There is unbelievable, inexplicable joy that comes after childbirth. But please hear me, there is pain and suffering and anguish that happens before the child is born and after. So just because someone's in pain doesn't mean evil is causing it. Although evil always causes suffering, suffering is not always caused by moral evil, which is the objection here with the problem of pain. So I use the example of a tornado. It's not evil.

Speaker 1: 9:52

We talk about natural evil. We speak about calamities and things that are happening in our world that seem evil and wicked and sent by the devil and all of that, and sometimes that certainly is true, but it's also very true that moral evil is the only true kind of evil there is. There's not a pile of sin that I walk outside and trip over and get up and look and go well, what is that? Is that sin? The idea that sin is something that is outside of moral agents is absolutely false. There's no such thing as sin apart from moral agents, whether it be fallen angels, whether it be fallen mankind. Of course, animals do not commit sin. Nature does not commit sin. Nature is not evil Fallen. Yes, animals are not evil Fallen.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Yes, when a lion rips a gazelle to shreds, it's not evil, it's eating. It's lunch, it's a Tuesday. It is an amoral action, meaning it's not moral, not immoral, it is amoral, it's eating. In fact, it's doing what it was created to do and designed to do. Right, one animal forcibly reproducing with another animal is not rape. Instead, it's just copulation, it's just reproduction. In fact, you could argue again it is built to do that. Therefore, as it does it, it is doing what it is created to do. It's, in some sense, the opposite of evil. Okay, so animals are not evil. Nature is agents. Meaning a dog biting someone is not evil. I don't throw cuffs on the dog and drag it down to the police station. The dog is just responding in an amoral manner. It may result in suffering, but it is not evil in and of itself.

Speaker 1: 11:55

Okay, number four this argument assumes that God has no purpose for evil, and this cuts right to the heart of what will eventually become the argument. If this is the case and God is all-powerful, why does he not annihilate Satan? I'm asking you this question to think about. Why does he not annihilate Satan the moment he fell? Why didn't he smite Adam and Eve the moment they fell? Why does he allow all of the calamity that's continually pouring into your life? Why did he Himself ordain and carry out the substitutionary death of His own Son, whom he sent and loved more than the entire universe itself a billion times over? The answer is because God obviously has a plan for evil, right?

Speaker 1: 12:42

So could it be said, and could it possibly be true, that while evil is not good and far be it from us Isaiah 5, to call evil good and good evil that while evil is not good, god has a good plan for evil? Is that possible? Yes, it's absolutely possible. It is good that evil exists for now. It has a place for now Also, that evil provides God an opportunity to show parts of His character and His nature and His being that he otherwise would not be able to show. Why? Because how is he going to be wrathful, how is he going to be seen as just and righteous and holy if there is no such thing as pain, suffering and evil, if there's no such thing as sin? How is God going to throw people into eternal perdition, where they belong, if God is not just, if God does not have the opportunity to demonstrate that he is righteous and we are not. And, by the way, for you guys who cringe at that hell statement I just made, if God was not willing to be just, if God did not act just and righteous, therefore, if that was the case, we would not have any hope and God would not be good. So the argument would also break down. Okay, now I'm going fast.

Speaker 1: 14:03

Number five, don't have long here. This argument assumes that God is merely rerouting or reacting to evil. The argument built into the assumptions assumes that God is juggling pins, that Satan chunks into the air and God is running around trying to catch everything that's falling and hoping to make sure that he keeps the plates, so to say from shattering on the ground, and that is not true. God is not reactionary. We are not open theists. The Bible doesn't teach that. We don't believe in process theology, and we'll talk about that later on in another video. God is not merely rerouting or reacting to evil, he is ordaining all things that come to pass. So these five and these last two should take the sting out of the blasphemous claims of the problem of evil.

Speaker 1: 14:51

Number six this argument assumes that the chief goal of man and God's highest aim for us is to be happy. Now, this one right here is exactly what most people do with the problem of pain. They assume in the argument, as they raise the objection, that God is just simply trying to make us happy and evil stands in that way. And if God, because God's highest goal and calling for us is for us to be happy that God would want to stop things that make us suffer and are therefore not making us happy, or he would have the ability to do so. So it's violating the very reason why we exist.

Speaker 1: 15:30

But the reason why we exist is to enjoy God and glorify Him forever. It's not simply to carry out our greatest happiness. In fact, I would argue our greatest happiness is nothing but vanity, ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities. We don't have true meaning, we don't have true joy, or true morality, or an anchor point in suffering, or a reference point in joy and rapturous enjoyment, aside from God himself. So there is no such thing as this, violating the fundamental reason why we exist. We exist for God, point blank, period, and we find our greatest joy and contentment in Him. Nothing else Very important.

Speaker 1: 16:17

It begs the question, though what is the purpose for our lives, and I want to submit to you as you think about this issue before we go to our final counterpoint is that it is to enjoy God and glorify Him forever, and it's not pertinent to this video as we start to come to a close, but it is pertinent to your life to ask yourself if the goal of the universe is to enjoy God and glorify Him forever, then what's acting counter to that? What's happening in my life that's counter to that goal, and, as a Christian, the answer is absolutely nothing. Romans 8.28 makes that very clear. There's nothing going on in your life that is not ordained by God and also bringing about your greater enjoyment in Him through His greater glory in you. John Piper is the best at explaining this. I wholly recommend a lot of those books. He wrote Number seven.

Speaker 1: 17:14

The argument that they're posing here, the last counterpoint objection before we break it down next time that's been raised is for another God. That's the objection should be placed at the feet of another God, because the God that we worship, the God of the Bible, he is the only one that this can really be leveled at, because he's the only one that doesn't behave like some cosmically superpowered human being, like the Greek and Roman gods and the Hindu gods and Allah and his capricious nonsense. On and on and on it goes. Every god is just made in our image. Therefore, the only reason that the gun is pointed at our god is because he's the only one that is claimed to be all powerful and all good and all loving, that he controls and ordains all things and he's doing it out of love for his creation, specifically for his children. Most gods are either one or the other, and most of them, to be quite frank, are not either.

Speaker 1: 18:18

This means that this question gets posed to our God because the world, the flesh and the devil. This means that this question gets posed to our God because the world, the flesh and the devil hate our God. I hope that's very, very clear. He is claimed to be holy and he became a man, and that is the crux of answering this question. In fact, I would argue, far from this being the biggest stumbling block to Christianity, we are the only ones who have the answer, including the world and world religions. We are the only ones who have an answer to the problem of pain, and it is the cross, and we will dig into that next time, probably next week at some point.

Speaker 1: 18:50

I know it's been 19 minutes. I'll bring it to a close. Thank you guys for joining me today. Please like, comment and share. Please subscribe to this channel if it benefits you and if this channel is helping you to apply the word of God to your life. The people of God, for the glory of God, please consider subscribing and sharing with others. Love to hear from you guys in the comments. See you guys on episode 19.