How to answer apologetic questions?

[Mchristian]

I’ve begun my study in apologetics to evangelize, but was asked a tough theological question that I was unsure of how to respond.

The question was How does God allow evil and atrocities to exist?

My initial response was that God infinite goodness granted humans the gift of free will and some men choose to do evil, the person replied how is that fair to the victims.

I told the person this was an old theological question and an important one and that I would get back to him with the complete answer.

Thanks for your assistance and God bless you!

 

[Maranatha]

From Peter Kreeft:

The Problem if Evil

The problem of evil is the most serious problem in the world. It is also the one serious objection to the existence of God.

When Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote his great Summa Theologica, he could find only two objections to the existence of God, even though he tried to list at least three objections to every one of the thousands of theses he tried to prove in that great work. One of the two objections is the apparent ability of natural science to explain everything in our experience without God; and the other is the problem of evil.

peterkreeft.com/topics/evil.htm

 

[Mchristian]

Thanks for your response, that was a good article ! I would appreciate more (name removed by moderator)ut from any members.

I llike your user name: Maranatha . I believe it means
" come Lord Jesus" or depending on the syllable break down " our Lord is here" . I use it as a short ejaculatory prayer.

 

[Malcolm_McLean]

I’ve begun my study in apologetics to evangelize, but was asked a tough theological question that I was unsure of how to respond.

The question was How does God allow evil and atrocities to exist?

My initial response was that God infinite goodness granted humans the gift of free will and some men choose to do evil, the person replied how is that fair to the victims.

I told the person this was an old theological question and an important one and that I would get back to him with the complete answer.

Thanks for your assistance and God bless you!

Do you know any teenaged boys? What would you say if they went off mountain-climbing?

The fact is that humans deliberately and willingly seek out a certain low level of exposure to danger. That is part of your answer.

However mountains are a natural danger. What about the vastly greater amount of suffering caused by other humans? We could all live in our own little world with us, God, and a video feed to keep us entertained. However there are probably good reasons why life isn’t like that and we can interact with each other. Only children tend to be less happy than those with siblings, and you are asking for a much more radical form of loneliness.

 

[thistle]

I’ve begun my study in apologetics to evangelize, but was asked a tough theological question that I was unsure of how to respond.

The question was How does God allow evil and atrocities to exist?

My initial response was that God infinite goodness granted humans the gift of free will and some men choose to do evil, the person replied how is that fair to the victims.

I told the person this was an old theological question and an important one and that I would get back to him with the complete answer.

Thanks for your assistance and God bless you!

I recommend a good book called Why Does God Permit Evil by Dom Bruno Webb.

 

[dranzal]

This is similar to another thread right now. I have posted on it and will post more here if you like.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=133118

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

If God were to wipe out evil, then all of mankind will cease to exist. God allows evil that we may have an opportunity to repent.

 

[mchale]

Well at least you didn’t start your study of apologetics with a difficult question or anything .

The problem of evil is probably the most question that theistic Philosophers and Theologians face. Of course when many people ask why God allows Evil in the world, they are not asking why does God allow Evil, they are asking why does God allow suffering. Few, at least in the modern world, have few problems with much of the everyday evil we see in the world (for example, how many people see nothing wrong with pre-marital sex?).

So the first problem, at least as far as I am concerned, is why do we consider suffering evil? Naturally few of us desire suffering, and as a result many of us consider suffering evil. Yet, if we are Christian, we have to agree that some suffering is in fact good. Jesus’s suffering on the cross is the very price of our salvation. Thus if some suffering is good, then, to me at least, it seems that all suffering might also be good. It might, in some way serve to unite us to the suffering of Christ. We can offer up that suffering to God as a prayer for our salvation and the salvation of others.

The remaining question is why does God allow people to do evil? The answer is simple, because God desires us to choose him freely, not be forced to choose him.

–
Bill

 

[Allan1972]

I recommend a good book called Why Does God Permit Evil by Dom Bruno Webb.

You can not blame God for sin or evil because he does not sin. He does not allow people to commit evil. He gives them the choice to decide for themselves. The Bible says that adam and eve were told not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan showed up and decieved them. They ignored God and did it anyway. They went from being innocent and not knowing evil to knowing it. Everyone else has the same choice also.

Evil exsisted because of Satan’s desire to be greater than God and he was cast out of heaven.

 

[mchale]

He does not allow people to commit evil. He gives them the choice to decide for themselves.

With respect, but that appears to be a distinction without a difference. If God gives people the choice to do evil, then he allows evil to happen. This does not mean that God wills the evil, nor does it mean that the evil will not be turned to good in the end, but if we accept that God has both perfect power and is omnipotent then there are only two possible explinations for evil in the world. The first of course is that God causes evil which as Christians we must reject as it runs contrary to what it means to be God (by definition God’s will is good). the second is that evil is allowed to happen. Of course likewise, allowing evil to happen is in fact a greater good than would be the result of stopping evil. Heck, as bad as the fall was, it brought us Jesus which is a higher good than an evil.

–
Bill

 

[Della]

God created us good and we chose evil. He could have wiped out early humanity and started over again with another species, but he wanted to redeem us and imbue us with his divine life. So, he lets us decide if we will be good or bad.

If he did not give us the freedom to be either evil or good (it goes both ways, after all) we would not truly be free. As to victims, it is up to us, collectively and individually to defend those who might be victimized by the evil of others. It is why we have churches, and government, armies, and police, etc.

People who ask why God doesn’t stop evil people from committing atrocities, would be very unhappy to wake up one morning to find God judging them for all their sins and instantly applying justice to their bodies and souls. What these people really mean is I can do what I want and excuse my own sins because God doesn’t appear to punish those I consider truly evil.