The Thread of Life – Part 4 (The problem of evil – 2 of 2)

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The Thread of Life – 31 Stories that point to Jesus

(Part 4 – Freewill & The Problem of Evil)

Welcome back – Middle of a series on the Bible

• Beginning of year we started w/ the question: What is the Bible
  • How do we read it…
  • How do I reconcile apparent conflicts
  • What about the Gospels… why aren’t they exact same
  • Is the Bible – All God… All Man… or like Jesus: Incarnational
• It is our goal at Jesus Church to learn to read the Bible well
  • To read it literarily… not just literally
  • And to understand truth is truth regardless of allegory/fiction
    • I think of the prodigal son… did Jesus recount an actual son
    • No – Yet the truth of the story is no less true
• Also the authority of Bible – what is authoritative to my life today
  • B/C parts were culturally authoritative but aren’t now
    • Like women not wearing makeup or having braided hair
    • Or the food laws of the OT
    • And while most of the NT remains authoritative to u & me
  • And reason its my authority… is b/c I come under its authority
    • But that isn’t true for ur atheist neighbor/hindu coworker
    • Although it is true for their life… best way to live
    • We can’t hold them to an authority they not submitted to

So now we are reding thru the Bible

• Which 4 us who follow the Bible w/ our lives… pretty important
  • And 2 weeks ago we read through the fall in Gen. 3
• Last week we got into the Book of Job
  • The question posed in the story: Why Bad things > Good people
    • And while Job (and us) want to know the reason “WHY”
    • God never gives us that explanation
  • Instead he helps Job to see the complexity of the universe
    • How sin and evil work in ways and effect things
    • Most of the time we will never fully understand the “WHY”

Job 42:1-5

Then Job replied to the Lord, “I know that you can do all things”. No purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, “Who is this who obscures your plans without knowledge”? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, “Listen now and I will speak. I will question you and you will answer me. My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.

• To Job… even if he didn’t have all the answers… God was enough
  • And when we are struggling with what we don’t know
  • We cling to what we do know
  • And trust God who WE KNOW is good and loving

But the question remains from the text… Why

And even though Job doesn’t answer the question… Bible talks about it

• In theology (theodicy) – There r some doctrines I find dangerous
  • And I want to start by picking on one theodicy specifically
  • Meticulous Providence… wanna sounds smart – just drop that
• And a basic level… it goes by the name “Sovereignty of God”
  • Idea is God is Sovereign… meaning (in this view of sovereignty)
  • God is in charge of every single detail in the universe
  • He’s meticulous – So everything that happens is Gods will
• Historically: This view didn’t exist for first 400 years of the church
  • Prior to that… when people talkesd about “WILL OF GOD”
    • It was: God’s moral intention for the universe
    • EX: Gods will: Man/Wife in marriage – faithful 2 each other

But then came theologian Augustine (4^th century) and John Calvin…

• When these people talked about God’s will
  • It meant God’s control OVER THE UNIVERSE
  • That’s a very different idea
• So something happens.. That must be God’s will
  • Or something doesn’t happen… Oh that must not be God’s will
  • That’s a very different take on the will of God

One very popular proponents of this Theodicy today had this to say

John Piper

It’s right for God to slaughter women and children anytime he pleases. God gives life and he takes life. Everybody who dies, dies because God wills that they die…

God is taking life every day. He will take 50,000 lives today. Life is in God’s hand. God decides when your last heartbeat will be, and whether it ends through cancer or a bullet wound. God governs. So God is God! He rules and governs everything. And everything he does is just and right and good. God owes us nothing.

• So this guy is super smart… And I don’t know him
  • And my guess is that he loves Jesus
  • He literally believes God’s in control of everything that happens
    • Good/Bad/Major/Minor
    • Cancer… that’s God
    • A bullet to the head… God’s hand was on the trigger
• He believes all suffering is “For our Good and God’s Glory”
  • And while Piper is extreme – He isn’t alone
  • Many people have this mindset… intentionally/unintentionally

Just think of all the things we hear/say when bad things happen

• God is in “CONTROL”
  • For some this means: I don’t get it but God controls it…
  • And I know that not all people think of “control” this way
• God has a “PLAN”… which he does…
  • Some conclude there’s a drawning of every move you’ll make
  • Everything that happens – Good/Bad/Awful
  • We say life plays out just as God drew it up
• Everything happens for a “REASON” (everyone uses this one)
  • And tons people don’t just say it… believe it to its end…
  • And I think if played out… this can be very dangerous
    • I see it at odds with teachings of Jesus… writings of OT/NT

Here is the problem with that thinking…

• Front end – You’ll get a lot of comfort…
  • This is bad… but God is in control
  • I don’t understand… but God must have drawn it up this way
  • I’m struggling… but God has a reason for doing this to me
• Back end – It leads to a crisis of faith
  • God is sovereign… But my dad was diagnosed with cancer
    • God is in control of my dad getting cancer???
  • God has a plan… but my kid fell in the pool and drown
    • That was drawn up in His plan???
  • Everything happens for a reason… EVERYTHING?!?!
    • My spouse left me for someone else
    • An earthquake killed 100,000 people
    • 2 Planes run into the World Trade Center
    • But God did it for a reason???
• So on the front end… relief but back end God is a moral monster
  • We saw this last week with Job
    • At first: “Lord gave/take away… name of Lord be praised”
    • Then he starts following that thinking to its conclusion
      • And by the end he is raging against God..
      • You are not only A-Moral… you are Immoral
  • This leads u (in my opinion) to a toxic view of what God is like
    • B/c u believe God is responsible for not only good…
    • But all of the evil in ur life

Respect 2 reformed theology – John Piper – Others

I do not believe this at all… most of our leadership doesn’t either

• I although I don’t believe this is a point to divide us
  • This not a salvation issue…
  • But I do believe it can be destructive
• Piper says: Everybody who dies, dies b/c God wills that they die…
  • Meaning death is almost an ally for Gods…
  • Compare and contrast that to what Paul writes to Corinth

1 Cor. 15:24-26

Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

• So for Paul… death and all of his friends are not God’s will/ally
  • But are straight up God’s ENEMY
  • His imagery is God at WAR with evil… not in collusion with it

What does that mean: All kinds of things happen that aren’t God’s will

• In fact they are deeply at odds with the will of God
  • Yes… God is all powerful and all good
  • But I believe the Bible shows God doesn’t always get his way
• Have to factor in reality that human/spiritual beings have freewill
  • They can either partner with God… for all that is good/true
  • Or rebel and rage against God
    • And EVIL is a biproduct of the freedom that we have
    • Which was given to us by God… God created it this way

Gary Brashear

Evil is the result of the morally significant free actions of God’s creatures.

• Meaning evil is not the result of God…
  • It’s from the freedom God built into the fabric of the universe
  • And I think we see this all over the Bible

Reading the Bible – Don’t see a story of God in control of every detail

• I see God in control… and he has a plan 2 accomplish
  • But I see a God who created world out of love (implies choice)
  • But that has been overrun but a foreign invader called EVIL

1 Jn 5:19

…the whole world is under the control (not of Jesus) of the evil one.

• And this is written after the death/rez of Jesus
  • And when I read the story of God… I see God at war w/ evil one
  • And God is at work to overcome this evil with good
    • Thru Jesus… His suffering/love/sacrifice… and you & me
    • And eventually it will usher in the Kingdom of God forever
• But in the meantime Earth is the site of a battlefield
  • And there is pain and suffering all over the place

Usually debate (Sovereignty/Free will) is on spectrum

• Its based on idea of sovereignty… how in control God is of universe
  • Everyone agrees God is sovereign… He can do what he wants
  • Don’t agree on how God uses that sovereignty
• So there’s the Meticulous Providence/Calvinists
  • Again… everything that happens is at God’s hand
  • It is what he wants… wills… and chooses to happen
• And there’s Arminianism (God doesn’t cause but does allow)
  • Evil is the result of human/spiritual freedom

And if I had to pick… I would lean towards the freewill side of things

• BUT HERE IS THE THING…
  • Both sides argue from Bible
  • Both sides have a ring of truth
• And I think there is a better way to approach this conversation
  • Not as a spectrum with a right & left
  • But more as a web or nexus

I really like one approach to all of this… Based on Lord’s Prayer

• Your kingdom come – Your will be done on Earth as in Heaven
  • So in reading this… Jesus assumes something in his prayer
    • Right now… God’s will is not always done on earth
    • Otherwise you wouldn’t pray for it to be done on earth
  • Jesus assumes that Heaven is where God’s will is always done
    • But Earth is where God’s will is NOT always done
    • Sometimes it is… sometimes its not
• Why – Because on Earth there are other “WILLS” at play
  • There are at least 5 if not more that I can think of

1: God’s Will

Everyone agrees that God is sovereign… just not on what that means

• What I think it means… God is King and can do whatever he wants
  • There are times (hard 2 say – rare) God uses evil for his purpose
  • And this is very easy to see and prove from the Bible
    • Sometimes to discipline
    • Sometimes to grow us… teach a lesson
    • Sometimes to keep evil in check (death to protect life)
• One example is the Exile (Israel is defeated and destroyed)
  • After 100’s of years of God warning to repent and turn to Him
    • Finally God lifts hand of protection…
    • Babylon attacks right away
    • Wipes Jerusalem of map and takes Israel into captivity
  • Was that God – Kinda… it was Babylon but…
    • Directly or indirectly God uses Babylon to bring judgment
    • I’ve also taught this as the passive wrath of God
    • God lifting his hand to allow something to happen

So there are times (directly/indirectly) where God causes evil

• Issue w/ reformed theology… I think these instances are very rare
  • They think this is always the rule
  • I would argue this is the exception to the rule
• Don’t assume evil in your life if God’s hand to discipline/grow you
  • Learn all u can for sure… but don’t just assume God is behind it
  • Keep in mind there’s a difference b/w Israel in exile 4 rebellion
    • And a mother losing her baby in childbirth
    • Those are 2 VERY different stories

TAG: So first u have to factor in God’s will – He has a hand in our life

2: Our Will

Alexander Solzhenitsyn – Russian who was exiled from country unfairly

• When he got back… he was seen meeting with corrupt politicians
  • Many got really had at him for being seen with them
  • Couldn’t believe he would have anything to do with them

His response was…

Line b/w good & evil runs straight thru middle of human heart

• Saying: What we want to do when it comes to good vs. evil
  • We want to locate evil externally… out in someone/thing else
  • When the reality is its located internally in each of us
• We want it to be US vs. THEM – Good Guys vs. Bad Guys
  • We all do this… history is rewritten in good guys vs bad guys
• In therapy world: I’m the innocent victim
  • My “X” or dad or boss: They’re the guilty perpetrator

But reality is that our own heart is never just “Black & White”… its Grey

• Even as Xians we’re responsible 4 evil both in the world & our lives
  • Some of our suffering… is just the biproduct of our own sin
    • Our own poor judgment
    • The bad decisions we make
    • Immaturity… fear… unhealthy emotional responses
  • We can’t blame God for that… or other people… or even Satan
    • We have to accept responsibility for what we choose
    • Not w/ guilt or shame but humility

3: Other Peoples Will

Just like us… others have free will and use/abuse that freedom

• Not socially “in” to say it… but there are evil people > do evil things
  • If you don’t believe that – It’s time to wake up
  • There are evil people who do evil things
• They fly planes into buildings… prey on vulnerable… lie about you
  • Because just like us they are free
  • And evil choices of others causes pain & suffering in life

TAG: So some suffering is caused not by God or us… but by other people

4: Satan and the Powers

And we live in enlightenment… not popular to believe in spiritual world

• But the spiritual world is just as real and the physical one
  • The educated world we live in wants evil to be abstract concept
  • But I think this is incredible naive
• Based on the teachings of Jesus – Evil is absolutely real
  • And its personified in the person we call Satan
  • And this spiritual being is in league with other spiritual beings
  • All at war with God and all good/beautify/true in God’s creation
• Right now (not forever) a huge chunk of world is under his control
  • Bible has all sorts of names for these creatures…
    • Angels… demons… principalities… powers… gods… spirits

Point is: Vast number of creatures… both good and evil

• Some partner with God to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven
  • Others fight against God to drive the world into the ground

John 10:10 – The enemy has come to kill, steal and destroy

Greg Boyd

When one possesses a vital awareness that in between God and Humanity, there exists a vast society of spiritual beings who are quite like humans, in possessing intelligence and free will, there is simple no difficulty reconciling the problem of evil with the goodness of a supreme God. It virtually sidesteps the problem of evil.

• Still when u think about evil… have to factor in Satan and powers

CS Lewis (Screwtape Letters)

There is a mistake we make when it comes to Satan and the demonic realm. Either we go crazy and think there is a demon behind every stubbed toe, flat tire or runny nose…

• A lot of people want to blame Satan for a fight with their wife
  • Maybe… but Satan not omnipresent – 7 Billion people to attack
  • Maybe it wasn’t Satan that turned u into a tool shed
  • Maybe it was just that you were in a bad mood

… but on the other side, we just act as if Satan isn’t real at all.

• And I think that is even more dangerous because…
  • To the degree u don’t take Satan and demonic world seriously
  • You will attribute his evil to either God/Self/Others

TAG: When in reality – So much evil is caused by Spiritual Freewill

5: Chaos (Chaos Theory)

If you don’t know what that is… go read Jurassic Park (watch the movie)

• Idea that everything is connected – Butterfly effect
  • There is such a thing as random chance in the universe
  • In theology this is called “Natural Evil”
  • So not murder or war… but earthquake/tsunami/avalanche
• Prof. Jon Walton: 3 categories for Evil (Order/Disorder/Non-Order)
  • Order: World the way God intended it to be
    • This is the Garden of Eden
    • How God originally intended it
  • Disorder: By-product of sin & warped the world b/c of it
    • Murder… Abuse… that’s disorder
  • Non-Order: Chaos of universe not yet under rule/reign of Jesus
    • Stuff like earthquake or tsunami
• So while God or Satan can be involved in a natural disaster
  • It could also be neither… like tectonic plates causing pressure
  • Or a build up of snow that comes loose on a mountain
  • There are some things that are just random – no explanation

So when u look at an event you are going thru – Filter 1 – God

2 – You

3 – Others

4 – Satan

5 – Life this side of resurrection

Example – Start with something not as intense… lose your job

• The default reaction in todays world…
  • I know God’s in CONTROL of this
  • I know this is all part of his PLAN
  • Everything HAPPENS for a reason
• When u think about it… could have happened for multiple reasons
  • It could have been God
    • To discipline/mature/something better
    • Tons of stories of losing a job… get job of ur dreams
  • It could have been you
    • You were on Instagram and not on excel
    • One was your job and one was not working
    • Or you were just mean to your boss… coworker…
  • It could be other people
    • They don’t like you and wanted your job
    • Spread a rumor that got you fired
  • It could be Satanic
    • Especially if you are sharing Jesus with coworkers
    • Inviting people to come to church on Sunday
    • Satan wanted you out of there
  • Or it could just be natural evil
    • Covid-19
    • Your company had to downsize
    • You were the odd man out

And whats so frustrating… a lot of time its not clear cut (sometimes it is)

2 Cor 12:7-9

Because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh (not sure what he means… chronic illness), a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

• So was this thorn God… he says it was given but not by whom
  • Or was it from Satan…
  • Or a result of Paul’s own pride… keep him humble
• The answer is… “YES” – All of the above
  • At least three are at place
• And I could point to other examples in scripture
  • Jesus – Line on the tower in Salom… people who died
  • Gen. 50 – Brothers sin against Joseph – God intended for good

Many examples where its not clear cut 1 of 5… its 2 or 3 or 4 of them

• So our theodicy is more a BOTH – AND over EITHER – OR
  • Sometimes you can see definitively what’s behind ur pain
  • But other times you can/won’t see behind the curtain
  • And we have to live in that mystery

But what if “WHY” is the wrong question

Why do bad things happen… Why does God allow suffering…

• When it comes to evil in world… we want an explanation from God
  • But instead… what we get thru the Bible and thru Jesus
  • He doesn’t SAY something about it…
  • He DOES something about it!!!
• God gives us a solution and an invitation
  • The Bible isn’t philosophy on why evil exists – Won’t find it
  • The Bible does give us a STORY
• Bible exists 2 tell the story of what God HAS/IS/WILL do about evil
  • And to invite you and I to join in that story

So here is the beginning of that story again

• (Gen. 1:1) In the beginning God created the Heavens & Earth
  • Then he created us to partner with God
  • And originally everything was “VERY GOOD”
• Why we long for a world w/o evil… you’ve never have known that
  • And everything in society pushes against this idea fo Eden
  • But everyone on the planet longs for the Garden
  • Why… because It’s in your DNA

But Gen 3 there is a snake – Satan – In the garden w/ no explanation

• We have no clue or story to tell us “WHY”
  • But he is there… that’s all we know
• Humans join in the snakes rebellion against God
  • As a result… Evil is here officially to stay

God calls out a group of people to represent him / show God to world

• But thru OT the story shows the people of solution are the problem
  • OT is one story after another of failure
  • But it draws evil to a point… all of it leads to Jesus
• Jesus comes as humanity in person… God’s people in a person
  • All of human failure devolves onto Jesus shoulders
  • He takes evil in all forms to the cross and puts it to death

And that event of Jesus death is called Atonement

There are 2 things we believe in atonement – pertain to problem of evil

• 1: Substitutionary Atonement (we believe this)
  • Jesus died in our place
  • Based on sacrificial system of the OT
  • He died so that we might live
• 2: Christis Victor (Victory in Christ)
  • Idea that in Christ death/rez – Jesus won the battle against evil
    • It was like “D DAY” of World War II
    • After we won the battle of “D Day”… Hilter had lost
    • But it took years still to win the war
  • Jesus victory over sin was like a spiritual “D Day”
    • He fatally crushed the power of sin – Destroyed the Devil
    • He defeated death itself
• And Christis Victor is the knifes edge in how we think of the cross

Greg Boyd

Christ’s life, death and resurrection reveal that even though God is not at fault for the evil in the world, he never the less takes responsibility for it. And in taking responsibility for it, he overcomes it. On the cross God suffers at the hands of evil. And in this suffering and through his resurrection, he destroyed evil. Through the cross and resurrection, he displays his loving character and establishes his loving purpose for the world, despite its evil resistance. He therefore demonstrates that evil isn’t some God wills into existence… it is something he wills out of existence.

So Jesus death/rez is the point of the story… but not the ending

• Jesus then calls his followers (u & me) to join in his kingdom work
  • Why – To overcome evil with God
  • And rest of NT looks to Jesus return (judgement day)
    • Which will be a great day if you are a follower of Jesus
    • Because we will see evil destroyed… injustice gone
• After tsunami in 2004 – Killed 23000 people…
  • John Piper who again… loves Jesus… brother in faith said this…
  • Wrote an essay that the tsunami was the will of God

John Piper

Satan is not the cause of more than 100k deaths… God is.

In response – David Bentley Hart (a theologian) wrote an article for WSJ

• Beautiful loving push back to Piper’s view of why evil happens
  • At one point in the essay he says this…

David Bentley Hart

Of a child dying an agonizing death from diphtheria, of a young mother ravaged by cancer, of tens of thousands of Asians swallowed in a second by the sea, of millions murdered in death camps and forced famines. Our faith is in a God who has come to rescue his creation from the absurdity of sin and the emptiness of death. So we are permitted to hate these things with a perfect hatred. As for comfort, when we seek it, I can imagine none greater than the happy knowledge that when I see the death of a child, I do not see the face of God, but the face of his enemy. It is a faith that has set us free from optimism and taught us hope instead.

I want to end on that note of hope… turn to Romans 8

• I wanna read this powerful passage of the longing all creation has
  • For the return of Jesus
  • And put the world to right

Rom. 8:18-25

I consider that our present sufferings (whatever you might be going thru – this is especially for you) are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed (when we are set free from sin forever). For the creation was made subject to frustration, not by its own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God (when you and I finally rule over the world as we should).

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

The word hope is used 6 times in this passage…

• Passage about our current sufferings… compared to hope of future
  • Because to Paul.. Hope isn’t just wishful thinking…
  • Its expectation of coming good fully based on God’s character
  • But for Paul – Our hope…
• For Paul our hope isn’t that nothing bad will happen…
  • Jesus actually said opposite: In this world u will face tribulation
  • That’s a straight up promise – Book of promises
• Also isn’t that everything that happens is the will of God
  • God has a plan… in control… everything happens for a reason
  • All the terrible stuff happening… well that’s how its written up
    • That’s not what our hope is

Our hope is that no matter what happens – Jesus is back from the dead

• He is king over the world… universe
  • His kingdom is here and coming
  • And no matter what you face… God is with you
  • And if u turn ur life to him
    • He’ll take ur brokenness & turn it into something beautiful
• Current sufferings: Nothing compared 2 what we will receive 1 day
  • So the question isn’t so much why… Do bad things happen
  • But what… what is God doing about it… He is coming back