Transcript Conversational Apologetics

Conversational Apologetics
The Problem of Evil – Part 1
Conversational Apologetics
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Open Questions
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Pointed Questions
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To remove the “roof” of their irrational
assumptions
Explain the Gospel
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To understand and know them
Only when asked
Nurture The Relationship
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Help unbelievers grow towards Christ
Help believers to grow IN Christ
Explain the Gospel
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Use whatever method you’re
comfortable with to share the Gospel
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Way of the Master
D.E.
Joe’s Crabshack, back of the napkin,
homegrown evangelism
But…..
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What if they ask me a hard question?
Such as…
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“How could God allow the Tsunami?”
“Where was God on 9-11?”
“Was Katrina part of God’s Plan?”
“How could a loving God allow my mother
to die when I was 8 years old?”
The Problem of Evil
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If God is all powerful, He can prevent
evil.
If God is all loving, He abhors evil and
wishes to prevent it.
Evil Exists
Therefore, God cannot be all powerful
or all loving.
The Problem of Evil
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If God cannot prevent evil, He is not
all-powerful.
If He is powerful enough to prevent
evil, but chooses not to, He is not allgood.
In fact, He is a monster
David Hume's challenge: 'If God is able to something about evil and
suffering yet chooses not to then God is malevolent. If God cannot do
anything about evil and suffering then God is impotent.'
The Problem of Evil
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The most powerful argument against
the Christian God ever devised.
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First articulated by Epicurus (d. 270BC)
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Mark Twain
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Argued that the existence of evil disproved
the existence of the gods
"If there is a God, he is a malign thug.”
And we must not shrink from it…
The Heads of Corpses
• “I was questioned in a prison in Region 4 before
being brought to Tuol Sleng. I did nothing
treasonable. So I had nothing to admit. Then they
tortured me with electricity. The first time I was
sitting in a chair, but later I fell out of the chair and
went unconscious. When I regained
consciousness, they threw water on my face so
that they could go on with their interrogation.”
Van Nath went on to say, “I saw prisoners lying dead in the room
where I was being kept at Tuol Sleng and young people were kicking
the heads of the corpses frivolously for fun.”
“Babies, children, adults and the elderly were killed everywhere. The Khmer
Rouge killed people if they didn’t like them, if didn’t work hard enough, if
they were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups, or if they
showed sympathy when their family members were taken away to be killed.
All were killed without reason.” – Dith Pran, The Killing Fields
Two to three million people died in the killing fields; an estimated 30% of the Cambodian
population
The Evil that Lies in My Heart
• A soviet torturer in the
Gulag was quoted as
saying, “I thank God,
in whom I don’t
believe, that I have
been allowed to live
to this day that I may
fully express the evil
that lies in my heart.”
The total documentable deaths in the system of
corrective-labor camps and colonies from 1930 to
1956 amount to 1,606,748, including political and
common prisoners; note that this does not include
more than 800,000 executions of
"counterrevolutionaries" during the period of the
"Great Terror", since they were mostly conducted
outside the camp system and were accounted for
separately.
Where is God Now?
The SS seemed more preoccupied, more disturbed than
usual. To hang a young boy in front of thousands of
spectators was no light matter. The head of the camp
read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was lividly
pale, almost calm, biting his lips. The gallows threw its
shadow over him. This time the camp executioner refused
to act as executioner. Three SS replaced him.
The victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses. "Long
live Liberty!" cried the two adults. But the child was silent.
"Where is God? Where is He?" someone behind me asked.
At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over.
Total silence throughout the camp. On the horizon, the sun was setting. "Bare your heads!" yelled the head of the camp.
His voice was raucous. We were weeping. "Cover your heads!"
Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. But the third rope was still moving; being so light, the
child was still alive...
For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we
had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. Behind me I heard the same man asking:
"Where is God now?"
And I hear a voice within me answer him: "Were is he? Here He is - He is hanging here on this gallows. . . "
Elie Wiesel Night
Answering the Problem of Evil
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“Theodicy”
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Derived from two Greek words (theos,
God, and dikē, justice)
The justification of the goodness and
righteousness of God in the face of the
evil in the world.
Famous Theodicies
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Augustine (d. 430AD).
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Luther (d. 1546)
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“Free will defense”
Evil is not a ‘thing,’ but the absence of good. (e.g.,
darkness is not a ‘thing,’ it is the absence of light).
God is not to be justified, but man. To assert the problem
of evil is, itself, to declare man’s unrighteousness.
Calvin (d. 1564)
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“For God's will is so much the highest rule of
righteousness that whatever He wills, by the very fact that
He wills it, must be considered righteous. When, therefore,
one asks why God has so willed you are seeking
something greater and higher than God's will, which
cannot be found."
Greg Bahnsen’s Theodicy
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1948 - 1995
Student of Cornelius
Van Til, the ‘father’ of
presuppositional
apologetics
M.A. and Th.M from
Westminster
Theological seminary
PhD in Philosophy
from the University of
Southern California
Presuppositional Apologetics =
The non-believer is on trial
Evil must be Taken Seriously…
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…by both sides.
Acts of cruelty naturally evoke feelings
of outrage and moral indignation…
…not only in the believer, but in the
unbeliever as well.
This point is crucial and must not be
disregarded when we defend the faith.
Evil as a Logical Problem
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It is important to realize that the Problem of
Evil is really a charge of logical
inconsistency in the Christian worldview.
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The Law of Non-Contradiction
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Something cannot be A and Not-A at the same time
and in the same way.
The existence of the God of the Bible is
contradicted by the existence of evil.
Therefore, we cannot simply offer evidence
for the good God has done, nor suggest that
the “good outweighs the bad.”
For Whom is Evil a Problem?
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Two Premises about the God of the
Bible:
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One Premise that contradicts the other
two:
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God is All-Powerful
God is Good
Evil Exists
For the contradiction to exist, all three
premises must be regarded as true.
For Whom is Evil a Problem?
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Atheists think that their worldview does
not suffer from this contraction
because they do not believe in God
(the first two premises).
But their argument succeeds only if the
third premise is true – not only in the
Christian worldview, but in their own.
For Whom is Evil a Problem?
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If evil did not really exist, there would
be no contradiction to the Christian
worldview.
So, does evil exist?
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Christian answer: Of course!
Atheist answer: Of course!
Which answer can be proven in a
manner consistent with its worldview?
Evil and the God of the Bible
The foundation of the Christian and Jewish worldviews is that
a Transcendent Creator God, whose character and will are
the basis of a universal standard of Good and Evil, has
revealed Himself in human history.
Evil and Atheisim?
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In a world without God…
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There are no “universals.”
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Universals = Truths that transcend the human mind.
“Good” and “Evil” are contingent concepts
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They depend on humans to define them
Subjective
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The “New” morality of the 1960’s (and beyond)
Differing concepts of morality between cultures
The Atheist who assumes any universal,
especially universal morality, is being
inconsistent with his worldview!
Some Pointed Questions
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What do you mean by “good?”
What standard do you use to
determine what is “good” and what is
“evil?”
How does that work in a universe in
which there are no moral absolutes?
Atheistic Answers
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Good is what causes the least
suffering (or the most happiness).
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Counter-argument: In the Sudan, the
government claims it is reducing
starvation in the Muslim majority by killing
Christians. Why is that wrong?
Good is determined by one’s culture
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Counter-argument: The Nazi culture said
it was moral to kill Jews. Why is that
wrong?
Evil is a Big Problem…
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…for the unbeliever!
In order to use the Problem of Evil
against the Christian worldview, the
atheist must be able to show that his
judgments about the existence of evil
are meaningful – which is precisely
what his unbelieving worldview is
unable to do!
In a World Without God…
All this doesn’t matter.
Humans are just
another animal – bags
of protoplasm. 35
million deaths is just 35
million bags of weak
protoplasm being
destroyed by stronger
bags of protoplasm. In
an atheistic world,
you’d better be a strong
bag because neither
good nor evil exist.
The Origin of Moral Outrage
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Atheists feel moral outrage.
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Indeed, the more seriously the atheist feels morally
outraged, the better.
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Where does their outrage come from, if their
worldview cannot account for the existence of evil?
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The reality is: Evil Exists!
Thus, the atheist is actually ‘borrowing’ from our
worldview when he or she feels moral outrage and
uses the Problem of Evil to question God’s
existence.
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Suppressing the Truth…
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For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known
about God is evident within them; for God made it evident
to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible
attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been
clearly seen, being understood through what has been
made, so that they are without excuse. (Rom 1:18-20
NASB)
Why?
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Why does the atheist feel morally outraged?
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Because he lives in the real world.
Because he knows in his ‘heart of hearts’ that
evil exists.
He knows evil exists because he is a Divine
image-bearer; because God has revealed His
Divine Nature (His Goodness) to all people,
everywhere.
The very empathy and anger that he feels
against wanton cruelty cries out that God
exists, that God has set a standard of
goodness and those who violate it deserve
a righteous and final judgment.