Friday, March 16, 2007
Notes from today's webcast
Reporting to you from the streaming webcast of the Ligonier Conference, here are my notes on MacArthur's "The Problem of Evil"
1 - Evil exists. It is a massive reality.
a. Natural evil - impersonal, external. Diseases, disasters, catastrophes, everything from viruses to volcanos
b. Moral evil - personal, internal, spiritual. Sin.
c. Supernatural evil - demonic.
d. Eternal evil - eternal hell. Absense of good.
2 - God exists. The God of the Bible. The true and living God.
Everything is under His sovereign control. He does not shy away from claiming responsibility for "natural" disasters. He is the One who sent the Flood and killed millions (I would say Billions) of people, saving only 8.
Isaiah 45:5-10, but remember Psalm 5:5. GREAT QUOTE: "Arminianism is an attempt to rescue God from the bad press He gets in the Bible." To do this, the Arminians had to re-invent God. Many Arminians believe god has limited power - he's good and loving but just doesn't have the power to prevent the evil that happens - or was unwilling to use that power because there was something more important than stopping evil, which is giving sinners autonomy. Other Arminians by saying god has limited knowledge - process theologians (god is in process and getting better as history unfolds). Openness theology says that god doesn't know the future - he can't know it because it hasn't happened yet. They have created a new god - one without omniscience. "This god was shocked when he saw Adam & Eve sin. Of course, he did say everything was good when he created it. So much for positive thinking. It didn't work for god, doubt it will work for you." These people lack a God-centered, God-focused, God-dominating view of the way things are. They sit on their man-centered perches hoping God doesn't violate any of their sensibilities.
The absolute sovereignty of God is crystal clear from cover to cover in the Bible. You can't explain it away.
So, why evil?
a. Metaphysical theodicy - yin yang. Good exists because evil exists. Evil exists because good exists. Two co-eternal independent realities - always present - not created by god. (So who created them?)
b. Autonomy - The cause of evil is free will. The best thing god could give us is free will. Free will trumps evil on god's value scale. God wants you to love him all on your own just because you want to love him not because he made you to love him. He had to protect autonomy to protect himself from bad press. But this doesn't really get him off the hook, does it? Because he STILL created them knowing that not everyone would be saved and follow him, so he was STILL created them to fall and sin and spend eternity in hell.
c. maybe Al Gore is actually in charge of the world and global warming has more impact than we realize.
Would you rather have a god who can't get a grip on evil or a God who is in control of it?
d. God willed and ordained evil to exist. He didn't create it. He didn't prevent it. God even used evil for his own purposes - even eternal evil. Sometimes punishment, sometimes chastisement, sometimes to humble. He let Satan loose on Job. There was a remedial purpose - he let Satan have Peter so that when Peter was converted he would feed the brethren. Paul's thorn in the flesh - the demons that were directing the false teachers to attack Paul, to keep Paul humble.
Why did God will it?
For His own glory. (here he quotes the Westminster Confession on the very point I'm trying to illustrate on page 3 of my comic).
Romans 3:5 - our unrighteousness demonstrates, manifests, discloses the righteousness of God. Israel's sin doesn't cancel God's righteousness but makes it more glorious. We would never understand God's righteousness if we were not first familiar with unrighteousness.
Romans 5:8 - How else could God demonstrate the love that loves enemies and sinners if there were none?
Romans 9:22 - Literally, "God determined to demonstrate for Himself (for His own glory and satisfaction) His wrath"... If no son, no display of wrath.
Jude 4 - their condemnation was pre-written before history began. God predetermined that he would ordain the existence of evil without being the cause of it to display His Glory.
How holy is God? He is so holy He must send forever away from His presence anything that is not worthy.
Romans 9:23 - The vessels of mercy were ordained beforehand. God willed to make known His love, His holiness, His grace. "That He might make known the riches of His glory."
He did all of this that He might bring together with Him in heaven a redeemed humanity that would forever know how glorious He is.
Romans 9:17 - He directed the very genetic path to put Pharoah on the throne just to display His holiness and His wrath through the Exodus.
Footnote: Job 38-42. Get some tough talk from God for someone who thinks he might question God.
1 - Evil exists. It is a massive reality.
a. Natural evil - impersonal, external. Diseases, disasters, catastrophes, everything from viruses to volcanos
b. Moral evil - personal, internal, spiritual. Sin.
c. Supernatural evil - demonic.
d. Eternal evil - eternal hell. Absense of good.
2 - God exists. The God of the Bible. The true and living God.
Everything is under His sovereign control. He does not shy away from claiming responsibility for "natural" disasters. He is the One who sent the Flood and killed millions (I would say Billions) of people, saving only 8.
Isaiah 45:5-10, but remember Psalm 5:5. GREAT QUOTE: "Arminianism is an attempt to rescue God from the bad press He gets in the Bible." To do this, the Arminians had to re-invent God. Many Arminians believe god has limited power - he's good and loving but just doesn't have the power to prevent the evil that happens - or was unwilling to use that power because there was something more important than stopping evil, which is giving sinners autonomy. Other Arminians by saying god has limited knowledge - process theologians (god is in process and getting better as history unfolds). Openness theology says that god doesn't know the future - he can't know it because it hasn't happened yet. They have created a new god - one without omniscience. "This god was shocked when he saw Adam & Eve sin. Of course, he did say everything was good when he created it. So much for positive thinking. It didn't work for god, doubt it will work for you." These people lack a God-centered, God-focused, God-dominating view of the way things are. They sit on their man-centered perches hoping God doesn't violate any of their sensibilities.
The absolute sovereignty of God is crystal clear from cover to cover in the Bible. You can't explain it away.
So, why evil?
a. Metaphysical theodicy - yin yang. Good exists because evil exists. Evil exists because good exists. Two co-eternal independent realities - always present - not created by god. (So who created them?)
b. Autonomy - The cause of evil is free will. The best thing god could give us is free will. Free will trumps evil on god's value scale. God wants you to love him all on your own just because you want to love him not because he made you to love him. He had to protect autonomy to protect himself from bad press. But this doesn't really get him off the hook, does it? Because he STILL created them knowing that not everyone would be saved and follow him, so he was STILL created them to fall and sin and spend eternity in hell.
c. maybe Al Gore is actually in charge of the world and global warming has more impact than we realize.
Would you rather have a god who can't get a grip on evil or a God who is in control of it?
d. God willed and ordained evil to exist. He didn't create it. He didn't prevent it. God even used evil for his own purposes - even eternal evil. Sometimes punishment, sometimes chastisement, sometimes to humble. He let Satan loose on Job. There was a remedial purpose - he let Satan have Peter so that when Peter was converted he would feed the brethren. Paul's thorn in the flesh - the demons that were directing the false teachers to attack Paul, to keep Paul humble.
Why did God will it?
For His own glory. (here he quotes the Westminster Confession on the very point I'm trying to illustrate on page 3 of my comic).
Romans 3:5 - our unrighteousness demonstrates, manifests, discloses the righteousness of God. Israel's sin doesn't cancel God's righteousness but makes it more glorious. We would never understand God's righteousness if we were not first familiar with unrighteousness.
Romans 5:8 - How else could God demonstrate the love that loves enemies and sinners if there were none?
Romans 9:22 - Literally, "God determined to demonstrate for Himself (for His own glory and satisfaction) His wrath"... If no son, no display of wrath.
Jude 4 - their condemnation was pre-written before history began. God predetermined that he would ordain the existence of evil without being the cause of it to display His Glory.
How holy is God? He is so holy He must send forever away from His presence anything that is not worthy.
Romans 9:23 - The vessels of mercy were ordained beforehand. God willed to make known His love, His holiness, His grace. "That He might make known the riches of His glory."
He did all of this that He might bring together with Him in heaven a redeemed humanity that would forever know how glorious He is.
Romans 9:17 - He directed the very genetic path to put Pharoah on the throne just to display His holiness and His wrath through the Exodus.
Footnote: Job 38-42. Get some tough talk from God for someone who thinks he might question God.
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