deliver us from evil - introduction

Deliver Us From

• If God were all powerful, He could destroy evil

• If God were all good, He would want to destroy evil

• But evil is not destroyed• Therefore, an all-powerful

and all-good God does not exist

- J. S. Mill

“Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is impotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is

malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Whence then is evil?” – David Hume

“But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. ” (Psalm 115:3)

“„Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, ”

(Jeremiah 32:17)

“The Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done” (Daniel 9:14)

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other

created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ” (Romans 8:38–39)

the·od·i·cyA vindication of the divine attributes, particularly holiness

and justice, in establishing or allowing the existence of physical and moral evil.

The Problem of Evil and God

What is

Evil is a privation or corruption that

exists in something that was originally good and perfect.

- Augustine

Evil is signified by the absence of

good.- Thomas Aquinas

Darkness is the absence of light

Sickness is the absence of health

Hate is the absence of love

“This doesn‟t mean it‟s in any way nebulous or vague or not to be

worried about. If there is a hole in the road where I expected solid

stone, the fact that there is „nothing there‟ is very dangerous

whether I‟m walking, cycling, or driving a car. The fact that a rung is missing halfway down the ladder

into the basement is neither nebulous nor vague when I‟m

feeling my way around in the dark. Evil is then the moral and spiritual

equivalent of a black hole.”- N. T. Wright

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“The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. ” (Matthew 12:35)

ponēros

Word Study - Evil

① Morally or socially worthless② wicked, evil, bad, base, worthless, vicious, degenerate③ deficient in quality in a physical sense; being in an unhealthy condition physicallyArndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature.

Greek Meaning

Interpretation & ApplicationAll definitions of the term point to something that has lost is value; there appears

to be nothing of worth; nothing to redeem. Part of the word meaning implies a sickness, much like a malignancy that has attached itself to something of worth and is destroying it. Scripture warns many times for a person not to be overtaken and overrun by evil, else it will destroy what goodness is there and leave the person in a

state of total destitution.

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Evil cannot exist on its own

Just as rust on a car cannot exist without the

car or rot on a tree cannot exist without the tree, evil cannot exist by

itself. Like a wound, it can only exist in something else.

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What are the Types of

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Two broad types of evil

1. Moral evil - manifests itself in the way humans choose or choose not to do something

2. Natural evil - realized through natural disasters and human disease and sickness

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Moral Evil

“When the chips are down these civilized people

… they‟ll eat each other!”

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the privation that causes moral evil

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things

there is no law. ” (Galatians 5:22–23)

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Natural Evil

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that

the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children

of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains

of childbirth together until now.”(Romans 8:20-22)

Notice how the world has been „corrupted‟ because of sin.

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Did God Create

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“A good tree cannot produce

bad fruit” (Matthew 7:18)

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•God created every substance.•Evil is not a substance (but a privation in

a substance).•Therefore, God did not create evil.

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•God is perfect.•An effect must resemble its cause.• Evil is an imperfection•Therefore, God could not have caused

evil.

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The Problem of Pantheism & Evil

Pantheism says all is God („pan‟=all,

„theism‟=God). But if all is God, that „all‟ must

include evil. This equates to the

conclusion of God having evil in His being.

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God Creating Evil…?

“I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and

create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. ”

(Isaiah 45:6–7, KJV)

The verse seems pretty clear that God does create evil…

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God Creating Evil…?

Knowing the various literary techniques used in the Bible helps solve this problem. This is a case of antithetic parallelism; the first is set against the second. What is the opposite of light? Darkness. But what is the opposite of peace? Evil? No. This leads us to consider that the KJV has a poor rendering of the Hebrew word „רע‟.

The NASB and other versions properly render the word in this verse „calamity:

“I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being [peace] and creating

calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. ”

(Isaiah 45:6–7)

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Another Problem…

“I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. ”

(Isaiah 45:6–7)

If darkness is the absence of light and evil is the absence of

something, then the verse still says God created evil (darkness).

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Aquinas Tries to Help…

“Not every absence of good is evil. For absence of good can be taken (1) in a

privative and (2) negative sense. Absence of good, taken negatively, is not evil;

otherwise it would follow that what does not exist is evil, and also that everything would

be evil, through not having the good belonging to something else; for instance, a man would be evil who had not the swiftness

of the roe, or the strength of a lion. But the absence of good, taken in a privative

sense, is an evil; as, for instance, the privation of sight is called blindness…”

-Thomas Aquinas

But … let‟s look at these next examples

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But we Still Have a Problem…

We have this from Exodus in God‟s discussion with Moses:

“The Lord said to him, “Who has made man‟s mouth? Or who makes him mute or

deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ” (Exodus 4:11)

And this from Job:

“The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is

no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away

from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.” ” (Job 2:3)

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… which leads to more insight

“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that

he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God

might be displayed in him. ” (John 9:1–3)

Behind this man‟s blindness was a purpose – to glorify God. God is sovereign over everything, including this man‟s blindness, so while an absence of good existed, it existed for a higher purpose than mere

sight alone.

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Darkness can have a purpose

“He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting. You

appoint darkness and it becomes night, In which all the beasts of the forest prowl

about. The young lions roar after their prey And seek their food from God. When the

sun rises they withdraw And lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work And to his

labor until evening. ” (Psalm 104:19–23)

“He sent darkness and made it dark; And they did not rebel against His words. He

turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. ”

(Psalm 105:28–29)

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Evil is a violation of God‟s purpose.- Ravi Zacharias

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A More complete definition of Evil

Evil is an absence of good, resulting in a violation of

God‟s good purpose.

A mere absence of good is not evil as Aquinas points out, however it cannot be

defined to just be an absence in something that should be present by default. God, through His own good

purpose, may will such a privation to bring about a greater good.

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• An Omnibenevolent God has a good purpose for everything

• There is some evil for which we see no good purpose

• Therefore, there is a good purpose for all evil, even if we do not see it

- Norman Geisler

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“The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil. ”

(Proverbs 16:4)

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No Good or Evil in Atheism?

“Humans have always wondered about the meaning

of life...life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate

the survival of DNA...life has no design, no purpose, no evil

and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”

- Richard Dawkins

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No Good or Evil in Atheism?

If there‟s such a thing as evil, you assume there‟s such a thing as good.

If you assume there‟s such a thing as good, you assume there‟s such a thing as an absolute and unchanging moral law on the basis of which to

differentiate between good and evil.

If you assume there‟s such a thing as an absolute moral law, you must posit an absolute moral law giver, but that would be God – the one

whom the atheist is trying to disprove.

So now rewind: if there‟s not a moral law giver, there‟s no moral law. If there‟s no moral law, there‟s no good. If there‟s no good, there‟s no

evil.

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“The problem of evil, for instance, can hardly be separated from the problem

of goodness. Were there no goodness in the world, we would not even be

considering the problem of evil. It is a strange thing. Dozens of times I have

been asked by patients or acquaintances: „Dr. Peck, why is there evil in the world?‟ Yet no one has ever

asked me in all these years: „Why is there good in the world?‟ It is as if we

automatically assume this is a naturally good world that has somehow been

contaminated by evil.”-M. Scott Peck

People of the Lie

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No ‘Good’ or ‘Purpose’ in Atheism

You cannot define good without defining „purpose‟

You cannot define purpose without defining „cause‟

The atheist‟s /philosophical naturalist‟s worldview has no ultimate purpose or cause behind anything, therefore they

have no way of determining good.

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“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. ” (Matthew 5:16)

kalos

Word Study - Good

① pert. to being in accordance at a high level w. the purpose of someth. or someone, good, useful. ② free from defects

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature.

Greek Meaning

Interpretation & ApplicationAgain, you cannot call something bad without knowing what good is. And „good‟, as defined in God‟s Word, corresponds both to purpose (God‟s) and speaks to their being no „lack‟ in the object in question. Both (purpose and completeness) are embodied in this statement from James: “And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ” (James 1:4)

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Whence came

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“God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good [no privation]. And there was

evening and there was morning, the sixth day. ” (Genesis 1:31)

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The first Acts of Evil

“You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was

found in you. “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain

of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. ” (Ezekiel 28:14–16)

“And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven ” (Revelation 12:4)

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ” (Genesis 3:6)

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The Root Cause of Evil

Every drop of evil – both moral and natural – can be traced back to one thing: the misuse of freedom. God Himself is free, and He created free creatures. Freedom is a very good thing, however

freedom allows the ability to act contrary to the good purpose of God. This is what Satan and Adam/Eve did.

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Defining ‘Cause’

What „caused‟ evil? There are three possible options:

1. Determinism: something outside of Satan/man caused them to sin. Ultimately this would have to be traced back to God. But God is perfect, cannot sin, and does not tempt anyone to sin (cf. James 1:13)

2. Indeterminism: nothing caused evil; it just arose. Impossible because God will not hold a being accountable for something that just „happened‟; no accountability without responsibility

3. Self-determinism: the evil in Satan and man was self-caused.

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Conclusions Regarding

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Conclusions

• The attempt to reconcile an all-good and all-powerful God with the reality of evil is called a theodicy

• Evil is an absence of good, resulting in a violation of God‟s good purpose

• The two major types of evil are moral evil and natural evil• God did not create evil but created the possibility for it• The root cause of evil can be traced back to the misuse of a very

good thing – free will• Evil came about from the self-determined actions of creatures

created with free will

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Deliver Us From