Welcome back to the Friday Post everyone!
This week we will be discussing three attributes of God and how they relate to the existence of evil and suffering. (Again this comes from the book: The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel.)
Attribute #1 God is All-Powerful
To say that God is all-powerful is to say that he can do everything that is meaningful, everything that is possible, everything that makes any sense at all. Strobel then asks Kreeft a question: "So there are some things he can't do even though he's all-powerful?" Kreeft answers "Precisely because he is all powerful, he can't make mistakes." When we examine the all-powerful God agains the problem of evil, the question always arises: "If God is all-powerful then why doesn't he stop evil and suffering?" Well first of all we have to examine where evil and suffering began. Evil and suffering wasn't created by God but God created the possiblity for evil and suffering because he created humans with free-will. Logically you can't have free will and no possiblity of evil! When God created humans he gave them the free-will to make their own choices. That is when sin entered the world and why there is evil and suffering all over the world. All because Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, by their own free-will, and thus chose not God but the world and with it sin.
So then, why didn't God create a world without human freedom? Kreeft says because then there wouldn't be any humans. Kreeft argues that that kind of world would be one without hate, without suffering, but it would also have been a world without love, which is the highest value in the universe. The highest good could have never been experienced. Real love must have a choice involved.
If I might go off track here for a minute, this is Brad speaking, and take a look at this concept: God didn't want robots he wanted people! That is why he created a world where people would choose whether or not they would love Him even though He loves us before we know Him! The Word of God says in 1 John 4:8 and 4:16 that God is love. So if love is the highest value in the universe and God is love, then God himself is what people long for! Each of us was made with a God shaped hole in our heart designed to be filled with God and His love. He values each of us more than we can know. He is our creator. We are made in His image. Therefore, the thing that we desire the most is the love of God and His direction in our life. You may not know it yet but God wants to lead you through your life so that you can experience exactly what God has for you. Even though sometimes the path leads through pain and suffering, ultimately good comes form those things! We will examine this more throughout next week! I am going to be posting attributes two and three throughout the week next week so that you can chew on attribute one now!
For Christ's Cause,
Brad
PS... In Case you didn't notice, this is going to take us a little longer than 8 weeks. I hope that this is beneficial information to you and that you will use it for God's glory and to learn to defend your faith in Jesus Christ! We will finish when we finish!
This week we will be discussing three attributes of God and how they relate to the existence of evil and suffering. (Again this comes from the book: The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel.)
Attribute #1 God is All-Powerful
To say that God is all-powerful is to say that he can do everything that is meaningful, everything that is possible, everything that makes any sense at all. Strobel then asks Kreeft a question: "So there are some things he can't do even though he's all-powerful?" Kreeft answers "Precisely because he is all powerful, he can't make mistakes." When we examine the all-powerful God agains the problem of evil, the question always arises: "If God is all-powerful then why doesn't he stop evil and suffering?" Well first of all we have to examine where evil and suffering began. Evil and suffering wasn't created by God but God created the possiblity for evil and suffering because he created humans with free-will. Logically you can't have free will and no possiblity of evil! When God created humans he gave them the free-will to make their own choices. That is when sin entered the world and why there is evil and suffering all over the world. All because Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, by their own free-will, and thus chose not God but the world and with it sin.
So then, why didn't God create a world without human freedom? Kreeft says because then there wouldn't be any humans. Kreeft argues that that kind of world would be one without hate, without suffering, but it would also have been a world without love, which is the highest value in the universe. The highest good could have never been experienced. Real love must have a choice involved.
If I might go off track here for a minute, this is Brad speaking, and take a look at this concept: God didn't want robots he wanted people! That is why he created a world where people would choose whether or not they would love Him even though He loves us before we know Him! The Word of God says in 1 John 4:8 and 4:16 that God is love. So if love is the highest value in the universe and God is love, then God himself is what people long for! Each of us was made with a God shaped hole in our heart designed to be filled with God and His love. He values each of us more than we can know. He is our creator. We are made in His image. Therefore, the thing that we desire the most is the love of God and His direction in our life. You may not know it yet but God wants to lead you through your life so that you can experience exactly what God has for you. Even though sometimes the path leads through pain and suffering, ultimately good comes form those things! We will examine this more throughout next week! I am going to be posting attributes two and three throughout the week next week so that you can chew on attribute one now!
For Christ's Cause,
Brad
PS... In Case you didn't notice, this is going to take us a little longer than 8 weeks. I hope that this is beneficial information to you and that you will use it for God's glory and to learn to defend your faith in Jesus Christ! We will finish when we finish!
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