Douglas Mead

Atheists’ Argument About Evil and Suffering

As I mentioned earlier, one of the greatest challenges many skeptics have in coming to faith in God is the presence of evil and suffering in the world. Atheists and agnostics like to argue, “If there is a God, why is there so much evil in the world?” They would make the case that the presence of such great evil in the world is evidence there is no God. So, it’s like them saying God and evil cannot co-exist, that evil has to exist without God.

This is the experience of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution. His daughter Annie died a cruel death due to tuberculosis at the age of ten and this destroyed Charles’ waning belief in a moral and just universe. Charles said that this period chimed the final death-knell of his Christianity. Any remaining faith he had in God died with her.12

The Christian Response to Atheists

In response to this line of thinking, Rice Broocks in his book, “God’s Not Dead, Evidence for God in an age of Uncertainty” emphasized an opposite viewpoint. He simply stated, “No God – No evil.”13 His point is that if there is no God, there is no such thing as evil. That is because, without God, evil doesn’t exist because evil relates to morality.

Morality only exists if there is a moral law giver. The fact is, God can only be the one with the authority to impose a moral law on everyone. The awe-inspiring, Sovereign God of the universe is the only one who has the moral authority to impose rules on everyone. Without God, it just comes down to the opinion of the individual. If that is the basis of morality, then anything goes. If anything goes, there is no basis for defining anything as evil.

And so, Christians would assert that the presence of evil does not disprove the existence of God. On the contrary, it helps provide evidence for the existence of God.

Many would agree that the reason why acts of evil are gradually becoming more common is because of the decreasing presence of the knowledge of God in society. It can be said that the knowledge of God is an immune system to the soul…that the less of this knowledge in people’s minds, the more evil rises in any culture. Again, the existence of evil is not evidence of God’s absence in the world, but evidence of His absence in the lives of some people.

To be continued…

You can find a copy of my book at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble or other online resources: https://amzn.to/3FMjcJp, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/going-deeper-with-god-douglas-l-mead-mssw/1139414030?ean=9781098087210

Find my second book at https://www.amazon.com/Going-Deeper-Fruit-Spirit-Cultivating/dp/1662855583/.

Trial can produce benefits

In Romans 5, Paul is telling us that trials are actually good for us because they produce benefits. They help us develop in three areas. One is endurance, another is character and another is hope (Romans 5:3).

The idea of endurance, what we also call perseverance, is the ability to carry on when we are facing trials and sufferings in life. By enduring and not quitting, we become victorious. The enduring here is about maintaining our faith. As the song says, “Faith is the Victory.” It is said that “when you are face-to-face with difficulty, you are up against a discovery.”11 This relates to how we can grow and learn through our difficulties if we will endure. There is a lot to discover in life!

Another benefit of suffering is how it develops our character. The truth is, it is often in the difficulties of life where we learn a great deal about ourselves and have our character tested and strengthened. We know that the troubles of life have a way of exposing what’s in our heart, revealing our character. We need to use the insight gained from this to help us grow as we know God cares about our hearts. He wants our heart. He wants our commitment. He wants our endurance. He wants us to have an enduring faith.

The third benefit of suffering Paul mentions relates to our hope. It is when we truly place our hope in Christ that we become victorious over our difficulties. It is because of our hope that we have a reason to endure and stay true to our faith. Hope gives us a purpose and keeps us focused on what is most important, not the pain, but the end result. For Christians, that is a home in heaven with the Lord.

The truth is, there are no victories without battles. Our endurance, character and hope develop as we are tested by the experiences of life. These experiences can draw us closer to God or they can push us away from Him. Again, it is up to us to choose the course we take.

To be continued…

You can find a copy of my book at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble or other online resources: https://amzn.to/3FMjcJp, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/going-deeper-with-god-douglas-l-mead-mssw/1139414030?ean=9781098087210

Find my second book at https://www.amazon.com/Going-Deeper-Fruit-Spirit-Cultivating/dp/1662855583/.

Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?

This is a continuation of a two month long series on this topic.

There are many problems with the notion many people believe that God is in control of everything. How does God not get the blame for the terrible things that happen if we believe He is permitting, causing and controlling everything today?

We can be clear and certain that one of the primary attributes of God is love. And because of this, logic tells us that God would not cause or allow horrible and devastating things to happen to those He loves if He could do something about it. Although it was required by covenant in the Old Testament as a judgment, this is not the case in the new covenant of the New Testament. This idea that God is in control of all of this and wanting these terrible things to happen seems clearly not congruent to me. What about you?

So, people with questions about why there is so much pain and suffering must ask themselves if they believe God is causing all of this. If people don’t have a correct view of God and His role in our lives, then there will be great confusion about this issue.

One passage of Scripture provides some clarity about God’s role in 1 John 2:16:

For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world.

From this passage we see that all kinds of sins and its many consequences come from the world, not from God causing or controlling it. All of this comes from the free will God has granted to humans.

We know that the New Testament Scriptures are full commands and requests placing responsibility on us for obeying God and living our lives as He wants us to. We were created for good works (Ephesians 2:10). We are encouraged to do whatever we do for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). We know that whatever we do, we are to work at it with all of our heart (Colossians 3:23). We are responsible for handling things according to our abilities (Matthew 25:15). We are to carry our own load (Galatians 6:5). We are to run our race (1 Corinthians 9:24-2). We are to train ourselves to be godly (1 Timothy 4:7). We are to put on many godly qualities (Colossians 3:12-14). We are to do good deeds to all people (Galatians 6:9-10). We all want to be told, well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23). God has established a partnership with us in accomplishing His will.

To be continued…

You can find a copy of my book at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble or other online resources: https://amzn.to/3FMjcJp, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/going-deeper-with-god-douglas-l-mead-mssw/1139414030?ean=9781098087210

Find my second book at https://www.amazon.com/Going-Deeper-Fruit-Spirit-Cultivating/dp/1662855583/.