Comments on: Answers For Skeptics: A Loving God, Rampant Evil and Free Will

By: The Broken Telegraph

The Broken Telegraph — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:08:40 +0000

Barry- welcome to the site and thanks for taking the time to weather this post (and the lengthy comments). Topics like evil, God and freewill are so vast that it’s very hard to distill them down to something consumable; for that reason your links are worth considering and are appreciated. It’s one of those questions that, even if we convince ourselves that we’ve solved it, remains at least a partial mystery until we face God someday. I hope to see you around the site in the future.

Kelli- great to see you taking a look at some of these older posts. thanks for expanding on my ideas; I like the way you articulated things.

As for my hesitation to answer the general public (meaning believers in God and also those who don’t) is that it can be a cheap “out” to always run to the conclusion “just have faith.” Some people are wanting to see the intellectual and rational side of a pursuit towards God, and I have a great respect for that thirst. But you are absolutely right that our daily lives are filled with faith-tasks.

Thanks for the links- I’ll give them a look.

-ian

By: kelli

kelli — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:34:55 +0000

I like your picture on asking God to end poverty while we sit on the couch. Can we truely expect God to fix something if we don’t first act.. its that like that old saying you cant twin the lotto with out buying a ticket.
“Lastly- it is okay that things can be hard to accept. We sometimes want to sort it out, and end up feeling guilt if we can’t make sense or find peace when something goes bad. But maybe that’s faith- not the absense of conflict or pain but the balance of hope along with what’s unknown or unresolved. So not that we will “get” it all but that in the midst of confusion there will be trust and hope in God’s understanding and power to heal. ” this is very well said. I don’t believe we can truly learn teh beauty of a happy time with out knowing some sorrow. Can we truly appreciate the sun with out the rain? or vice-versa?

And whats wrong with answering a question with faith. Sometimes it takes faith just to wake up in the morning. even if faith doesnt pertain to our belief in God. It takes faith to know we can work thru hard times in our marriages and faitht to know that its air we are breathing even though we can not see it. Faith is trust. Do we trust that no matter what our circumstances matter? I do. Yes I am small and mostly insignificant… but it is possible that something I do can effect the world.. even if I never see the fruits of that.

Anyways My pastor answers the question of why does God allow suffering quite well. His answer is a little less political than yours but I thought you might enjoy a similar yet different answer. Anyways You might enjoy his response. Check it out at : http://www.ac3.org/PDFs/Q&A/Why%20suffering.pdf

if that doesn’t work go to http://www.ac3.org/q&a.htm– its the question about halfway down the page

By: Barry Wallace

Barry Wallace — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:23:10 +0000

Ian,

This is my first visit to your site and I enjoy hearing your thoughts. You’ve spent time thinking seriously about a lot of important issues.

I know this is an old thread, and this comment will go largely unnoticed, but I wanted to suggest considering another line of thought.

Human free will offers some help in understanding the existence of evil, but I think that help is limited. If we accept everything that the Bible says about God’s power and goodness, which I do, there are still some major unanswered questions.

I have nothing at all to do with the following websites, I simply think the articles present another way to view theodicy and yet remain faithful to everything the Bible says about God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.

http://www.leaderu.com/theology/theodicy.html

The second article focuses on and further develops the idea that there are two different ways that God wills things, an idea introduced in the previous article.

http://tinyurl.com/3a7hye

I hope that’s all of some benefit.

By: The Broken Telegraph

The Broken Telegraph — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:55:31 +0000

Heya Beth-

your questions make sense. Let’s definitely *attempt* to look at that issue next. I’m fascinated by it.

-ian

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:47:16 +0000

Always interesting. My basic questions most resemble those posted by Joey. Since the beauty and wonder of God has never been lost on me… my questions are more about the literal acceptance of documents written and translated by man. How can we possibly begin to understand such an omnipotent and grand force? (Toes still up to the edge….and looking up and down and all around.)

Blaming or questioning God about tragic events does not make sense to me. My interest or search does not stem from needing things to be “fixed” or “understood”…Perhaps my fear is the mystery and wonder of such a force is lost when people define and interpret and judge others according to the written word.

Enjoyed every post on this. Reminds me that people are constantly churning and searching..much like I am.