Thursday, August 21, 2008

Sin and the Problem of Evil

It just hit me. Maybe it has been obvious to you, but not so for me.

I have been think a lot about 'The Problem of Evil' This is sort of a philosophical problem that goes like this, "How can God exists in a world where there is evil? He either doesn't want to deal with it (which makes God evil), can't deal with it (which makes God weak) or doesn't know about it (which makes God dumb)." This problem is posed by atheists and by those who are experiencing the effects of evil ('How could God let this happen?').

A lot of Christians have failed in trying to 'answer' this problem. We can be so anxious to 'let God off the hook'. But we do little to help God. In fact, most 'solutions' present more problems.

The problem of evil is real, in fact the problem evil is ultimately the presence of Sin. The "problem of evil" only exists because there is Sin in the world. When Sin entered the world, it caused major problems, one of which was to put evil beside God. This is not right. Sin can be defined as that which is contrary to God. The presence of both God and Sin causes this big messy rift in the universe, making a lot of things 'not right'.

Now God is fully aware of the 'Problem of Evil' and while we can pose philosophical answers, He has put in place a practical solution. Through Christ's sacrifice God has defeated and is defeating Evil. In the Kingdom, there will be no sin and no problem of Evil.

1 comment:

Jonathan Blundell said...

im still working through this myself. here's a couple podcasts that have intrigued me for sure.

http://trippfuller.com/?p=173
http://trippfuller.com/?p=178
http://trippfuller.com/?p=169