November 2010
41 posts
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Me: Mom, is that a Chinese magazine you’re reading?
Mom: Yes, it is.
Me: Can you read Chinese?
Mom: No, I’m just looking at the pictures.
Me: Are you also looking at it backwards?
Mom: *looks at page numbers as she flips* Yes
I love my mom :)
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“There is power in Your name, there is mercy there is grace where the weary soul finds rest in the presence of Jesus. There is love that never fails, no matter how dark my God prevails. In our weakness there is strength in the presence of Jesus”
—
Stop telling God how big your problem is. Tell your problem how big your God is
So this past weekend was the Crossroads Conference for CRU in the PSW. I must admit that I enjoy this conference the most out of all of the conferences. It’s only for juniors and seniors and it’s basically about what we want to do after we graduate. People always say that it’s only about getting you to intern or STINT with Crusade after college, but really it’s not. They do put an emphasis of an option to STINT or intern, but there’s a lot of emphasis on ministry in the marketplace, where a lot of us will be once we graduate.
This was my 2nd year going and I have been thinking about what I’m doing after college more and more every day because I am graduating the week I turn 23, which is in the beginning of March. This is what I have been thinking about doing after I graduate.
- STINT in Tokyo
- Intern somewhere there’s more of a need like Sac State or UC Davis
- Teach English in South Korea for a year
- Get a job
Now, Tokyo has been on my heart for 5 years. I’m 100% Chinese, but was raised with a lot of Japanese influence through my parents’ friends and the Japanese basketball league I was a part of. My first conference with CRU I learned about STINTing and Tokyo was put on my heart. It has been there for the past 5 years I have been in college. One of the main reasons why I got involved with Bridges International this year was because I wanted to encounter some Japanese students. So far, I’ve encountered one and he doesn’t come to meetings or anything because he is involved with a fraternity.
In regards to interning, I would not like to intern at Cal Poly Pomona. To be completely honest with you all I very much dislike it here at Cal Poly Pomona and do not enjoy being around many people (and I’m asking God to humble my pride so that I can love everyone in my time remaining here) here. This is why I would like to intern where there’s more of a need for staff and interns, like Sac State and UC Davis. Pomona’s movement is about 60 people and I’d say that around 1/3 of those people involved are graduating by this upcoming spring.
I’d want to teach English for a year in South Korea because I’d want to minister to those students and experience the Korean culture. A good number of students that have come to Bridges are Korean and I feel that God is giving me a heart for Korean students.
The last option is to get a job somewhere in America. I do not see myself entering the Music Industry because I really do not enjoy working in that industry. It’s really corrupt and soo many of those people need Jesus. It would be a great ministry to be involved in, but I do not believe that God is calling me there. I would get a job that requires a degree and I would probably see if I can move in with my brother in Westwood because there are more opportunities out there than there are in the Pomona area.
These are some of the doors that God has placed in front of me and I’m still not sure where He is calling me to, but I have faith that God will show me in time.
How Can a Good and Loving God Allow Evil? →
aaronfeeney.tumblr.com
Preface:
No matter your way of life, where you live, or the time you live we all experience evil. It’s seemingly an everyday part of life. But does the existence of evil disprove the existence of an all good and loving God?
(**When “God” is mentioned in this I am referring to the God of the Bible: All-benevolent, all-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing, all-super duper as we know God.)
KEY CONCEPTS TO KNOW:
WHAT IS EVIL?:
-A privation of good – Augustine
-It is not a thing. That does not mean it doesn’t exist, but it’s existence is dependant upon something (goodness) existing.
-It exists like a hole in a t-shirt; like cold (the absence of heat); like darkness (the absence of light).Fundamental Issues When Speaking of Good & Evil.
· These are NOT preferences (SUBJECTIVE). (Hitler preferred the Holocaust, but it was evil). They are OBJECTIVE.
· Good: What ought to be (Intended order for a purpose)
· Evil: What not ought to be (violation & failure of order and purpose)
-But where do ought-ness, intention, order, and purpose come from? A person. (It will not come from a rock; some morals cannot be explained by socio-biological evolution)
-Since we are talking about intentions and purposes and orderthat are universal and transcend individual people, cultures and times then the source must be universal, transcendent, and powerful (must have power to impose His will on people, and is able to enforce it).
-Good and evil find their reference point in God. If something is evil it diverges from God’s moral will-OBJECTIONS: Either God is conforming to a standard (then God is truly not God), or something is good because God says it is (might makes right, and is then arbitrary- not governed by any fixed rules).
-Either way, he is not worthy of our worship and adoration.
-Solution: God is good because they reflect his character. Not arbitrary and not external of Him.To say something is EVIL you mean that something is wrong because it is diverging from the character of God himself, and are thus using God to deny God.
***To say something is evil is one of the most powerful evidences for the existence of God! C. S. Lewis: “How can I know a crooked line, unless I know a straight one?” Without the existence of God, the idea of evil becomes unintelligible.***
Two Arguments Against God From Evil
I) (LOGICAL) A good and loving God cannot exist at the same time as evil.1. -If God Is all-powerful He could prevent evil
2. -If God is all knowing he would know evil was about to take place and could stop it.
3. -If God is loving and morally perfect He would want to prevent evil.
4. -EVIL EXISTS
5. -Therefore, God does not exist
SIMPLIFIED THESIS: Either No God or No Evil
Problem with argument:
-The evidence for the existence of God is very compelling:· The Kalam Cosmological Argument, Fine-Tuning Argument, the evidence of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the trustworthiness of the Bible, and more.
- The existence of evil is undeniable- no one can live in denial of it consistently. If that person knew about, and had the power to stop the holocaust, they would.
So is it inconsistent that both exist?? Are they compatible?
Alvin Plantinga: Freewill Defense: “If there is a possible good reason why God would allow evil then the existence of God and Evil is not illogical, or impossible - the Logical Argument from Evil fails.”
Freewill Defense:
1. All Powerful, All Knowing, All Benevolent God created people as free moral agents (ability to choose evil as well as good.)
2. Because God is all knowing He knew evil would result.
3. Because He is all powerful God could’ve made the world another way.
4. Because He is all benevolent and morally perfect God could only have good reasons for making the world this way.
5. As a result, God made the potential for evil but human beings, because we chose it, made it actual.
6. But since God knew about it God must have a good reason for it.
Also:
1. If God is all knowing (omniscient) then he knew evil would result.
2. If God is morally perfect then He has good reason for evil.
3. BUT God’s reasons are not required for logical consistency.
The point of the Freewill defense: To show God and Evil are compatible.
II) (EVIDENTIAL) The amount and quality of evil makes it probable that God does not exist.
-This argument assumes evil as proof against the existence of God.
- So it is essentially: which do we see more of? Evil (evidence against), or the evidence for God?
-Based on probability; does not say that God does not exist, only that he probably doesn’t.-Argued by use of example:
· Bambi dying slowly by a forest fire by lightning.
· Beating, rape, and death of 5 year old girl.
· The point of these examples: There is no point! What possible good can come from these examples?
Softer form of the argument:
· There is more evil than necessary to accomplish some other good.
· But who could know that other than God? Just cause it’s not perceived does not mean there is no good.
· To know all the effects and consequences from an evil would require omniscience.
-The only person who could know whether the good resulting from evil is justified is God Himself. There’s no way we could know.PROBLEM #1: Based on arrogance.
· Places finite, flawed human beings in the place of an infinite, perfect God and then declares that nothing makes sense.
· Just because we can’t see the good that results doesn’t mean there is no good. We can’t determine how much evil is required to bring about a good.
PROBLEM #2: Loads the question to be answered a certain way.
· All the evil we see in the world (genocide, rape, torture, slavery, disease, injustice, terrorism, etc.) makes it likely that God doesn’t exist, then they have the thumb on the scale.
· If this argument was taken in isolation it would have some force, but to leave the arguments for God unstated is disingenuous at best.
** Probability is calculated by the relative background information.**
The evidence for God:
· Cosmological, Design, moral arguments; (that God described by those arguments is the God of the Bible)
· And the bible’s trustworthiness, God reveals himself through prophecy, miracles, and the resurrection of Jesus.
· In light of evidence for God, the fact that evil and God are able to exist simultaneously, and the fact that evil is actually an evidence for God the God of the Bible wins.
III) QUESTION: Why doesn’t God just destroy evil?
ANSWER: Possibly because of our moral character:
· We can choose evil or good.
· In order to destroy evil God has to take away or ability to choose good or evil (freewill).
· By doing that he would be destroying the chance to do the greatest moral good: to love God (which entails loving others).
**Instead of being destroyed, it needs to be defeated.**
- The answer to evil is Jesus:
- Jesus paid for the moral evil of believers
- Jesus will sit in judgment of evil.
- His resurrection answers natural evil:
- Jesus’ new body can’t die, or be corrupted in anyway.
- It is a glimpse of the world to come.
- The whole earth will be restored [Revelations 21].
- Everything will be redeemed to achieve it’s ultimate purpose.
***Evil is only a problem for those who refuse him.***
Awesome explanation.
"Here I am! Send me!"
