In my previous letter I asked the question a lot folks have: If God is real why doesn’t He just do a bunch of magic tricks for everyone all the time so that they will see Him, believe in Him, and love Him?
Well, lets take a bit of a deep dive into the answer.
Maybe God seems ‘hidden’ to our five senses so that folks can choose faith freely, rather than being forced by undeniable proof.
God isn’t some old dude up in the clouds or some alien in outer space – God is spirit, imperceptible to our limited senses.
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24
God wants a genuine, personal relationship with us, and He wants us to know him as He is. That requires some effort on our part, as in any human relationship. God doesn’t seek robots or slaves who have no choice but to obey and believe in Him.
God’s hiddenness requires us to seek deeper understanding, to doubt, to wrestle with Him, and to develop faith and patience. It requires us to work on our own character.
But make no mistake, God reveals Himself everywhere and at every moment through the complexity, precise workings, and order of His creation.
Howdy, I trust all is well with you as you sit here on death row with the rest of us.
Someone recently asked me why an all-loving and all-powerful God would hide and allow for so many folks to doubt His existence.
The so called ‘hiddenness of God’, which has been debated in philosophical/theological discussions for a long time, raises the question of why God doesn’t just make His presence undeniably clear to everyone.
Do we ask why the clockmaker doesn’t show himself every time we look at a big, beautiful grandfather clock? Nope. Because the clock is proof of the clockmaker.
God isn’t hidden, you can see Him everywhere you look.
Psalm 19:1-2 – The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. (KJV)
How can any intelligent person look at the creation and not see the Creator? So, no, God is not hidden – people who claim He is are in denial.
Romans 1:19-21 – Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Not only has God revealed Himself through the Book of Creation, He has also shown Himself perfectly through the written Word of God, the Bible, and in complete fullness by the Word made flesh, Jeshua our Messiah, the only begotten son of God.
Even so, I understand the argument: Why doesn’t God just do a bunch of magic tricks for everyone all the time so that they will see Him and love Him?
Well, part of the answer to that question is imbedded in the question itself. See if you can figure it out before our next little chat when we’ll dig a little deeper into the hiddenness of God.
Augustine believed that human evil stems from human free will and the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, while natural evil, which we discussed in our previous letter, is a consequence of our fallen nature and moral failure.
So, murder, rape, genocide, assault, and war are all examples of Human Evil – people choosing to inflict death and suffering on others.
God doesn’t force anyone to behave morally anymore than he forces anyone to believe on Jesus Christ as savior. We each have unconditional free-will and we all live with the benefits, and consequences, of that remarkable freedom.
You can’t blame God for the evil free-will choices of people. But you can ask, “Why does God permit the innocent (sometimes) to suffer?”
Well, here’s the uncomfortable truth: God can and does shield from harm those who seek His divine protection as they ask in faith – everyone else is on their own, and if they live outside God’s hedge of protection, it’s because they choose to be on their own.
Now listen, there are times and circumstances when people of faith will voluntarily confront human evil knowing that they may be harmed or even killed. Their reasons for doing that are between God and them.
There are also times when people of faith wander outside the castle and the King’s protection, so to speak, through disobedience, willful ignorance, or plain old rebellion. Bad things can happen when that occurs.
And finally, there are times when the bad things that bad people do to good people are simply inexplicable – only God knows the whys and wherefores. 1 Corinthians 13:12 – For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (KJV)
So, while suffering and pain is hard to understand and bear while going through it, no matter how awful or how long one has to endure it, it is infinitesimally brief compared to what God has in store for those that love Him.
2 Corinthians 4:17 – For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory…
Once again, I hope our correspondence has provided some answers, or at least some food for thought, as we sit out our time together here on death row.
In my previous letter I left you with this thought – ‘everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright it’s not the end’ – as a shorthand way of explaining the ‘The Eschatological (end-times) Hope’ argument for why God allows natural evil to happen in our world.
In this letter I want to talk a bit about the ‘Mystery of Divine Providence’ argument.
The ‘Mystery of Divine Providence’ is a fancy way of saying that we aren’t able to understand why God allows bad things to happen to people and that we just have to trust that, even though disease or earthquakes are deadly evils now, a greater good will eventually come of it.
It’s different from end times hope because instead of trusting in an ultimate justice and a ‘setting right’ of all that’s wrong, the mystery of divine providence asks us to look at evil as a necessary step on the road to God’s end-game.
I’m not buying it, though. To say that the ultimate good depends on evil happening doesn’t pass the commonsense test – or a closer study of the Bible.
Evil is never good, and God doesn’t use human suffering to accomplish His ends – with one exception: the sacrifice of Jesus Christ resulting in his crucifixion and death, which he offered of his own free will in order to ‘reset’ God’s purpose back on its originally planned course to everlasting life and glory with Him.
Yes, God’s ways are above our ways – Isaiah 55:8-9“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
But that doesn’t mean that God has to use the death of a child or a catastrophic flood that kills hundreds of people in order to bring about some eventual good thing He has planned. It just means that how and why God works His will is often far beyond our understanding.
Anyway, that’s a lot to think about for one letter I guess.
So, maybe next time we’ll start in on why human evil exists, sound good? Well, not ‘good’, maybe ‘interesting’ would be a better choice of words here.
In my previous letter I talked about the ‘Soul-Making’ theological explanation for why God allows natural evil to happen to innocent folks. Meh, I’m not really convinced by that argument but I think we can learn from it.
In this letter I want to discuss the Eschatological (end-times) Hope explanation. I like this one. It makes a lot of sense and is fairly easy to understand. It goes something like this: all suffering and evil will be redeemed by God in the future, so trust in the ultimate purpose and plan of God to make things right.
But what about the people who suffer and die in earthquakes and from diseases and such through no fault of their own?
Good question, in fact that is THE question.
The Eschatological (end-times) Hope argument is based on the total trust and confidence in a just and righteous Creator, who even in the midst of the evil and darkness of this present age intends to bring about the redemption of the entire creation and put an everlasting rightness to things.
As Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” – Romans 8:18
Or another way to put it, as I once heard someone say, is this – everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright it’s not the end.
Okay, in the next letter let’s get into the ‘Mystery of Divine Providence’ explanation for why evils exists.
Just a follow-up to our last letter concerning the two kinds of evil – natural evil and moral evil.
Let’s look at natural evil first. Why and when does God allow natural disasters and diseases etc. to occur? That’s the question I left off with last time.
As to the ‘why’, there are several theological attempts at answering that question, including the soul-making theory, the eschatological (end times) hope idea, and the mystery of divine providence explanation. I’d like to discuss each of these ideas in turn with you over the next few letters if that’s okay.
So, let’s start with the soul-making theory, which was advocated by a guy named John Hick who once said, “A world which is to be a person-making environment cannot be a pain-free paradise but must contain challenges and dangers, with real possibilities of many kinds of accidents and catastrophes, bringing pain, suffering, and sorrow.”
I take that to mean that God allows natural evil, like earthquakes, floods, and cancer in order to create virtuous people of high character who have been forged in a fire of calamity and danger.
Well, there are some Bible passages which seem to support this view.
1 Peter 1:6-7 – “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
How about this one? James 1:2-4 – “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
The soul-making theory makes sense in some ways, but the Bible verses I cited here, and some others like Hebrews 12:11 and 2 Corinthians 4:17, don’t come right out and say that God intentionally created, or allows, natural evil in order to produce virtue in folks.
Granted, one of the results when natural evil happens could be perseverance, stronger faith etc., in believers, but other results are definitely the death and injury of innocents, destruction, pain, and massive sorrow and grief.
So, to me soul-making isn’t a completely satisfying answer as to why natural evil exists, it’s more like a possible side positive benefit stemming from some very disturbing and terrible happenings. But let’s continue to consider it as a part of understanding the whole.
In our next letter we should talk about the eschatological (end times) hope idea to explain the occurrence of natural evil in God’s creation. Sound good?
Let’s pick up where we left off last time where we were discussing one of the main arguments atheists have against the existence of God, which is the problem of evil.
We’ll probably spend a lot of time talking about this in our correspondence here, so let’s start off with defining the two kinds of evil.
Moral Evil
First, there is moral evil, or human evil. Simply put, moral evil is defined as the willful acts of human beings – like murder, rape, thievery, destruction etc.
Lots of that going on in the world, right? Always has been.
Human nature is, by default, depraved and desperately wicked. It’s the natural state as a result of the primeval and continuing disobedience to and hatred for God.
Jeremiah 17:9 – The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
You can’t blame God for moral evil, we’re not robots or puppets. God does provide grace and protection for those who claim it in faith, but murder, genocide, and all manner of horribleness is not on God, it’s on the freewill ickiness of people.
Natural Evil
Second, you’ve got your natural evil, which is stuff like earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, pestilence and disease etc. You can’t really blame a human being for an earthquake that kills thousands of people.
But can you blame God for causing those awful things to happen, or at least for allowing them to happen? Well, ‘blame’ is a pretty harsh word, but yes I think we can say God does allow natural evil to happen.
The question is ‘for what purposes’ and ‘under what circumstances’ does He allow earthquakes and tsunamis and cancer to have their way with human beings?
I’ll leave you with this to chew on for now and we’ll dig deeper in my next letter.
Romans 8:22-23 – For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
My previous two letters were addressed to anti-natalists and nihilists, but I think there’s a lot of common ground between those folks and y’all atheists and agnostics.
One of the most common arguments used by all four of those worldviews is the problem of suffering. How could anyone believe in an all-powerful, loving God who would allow so much evil and suffering in the world?
Well, that’s a worthy question and there are massive amounts of books, articles, sermons, doctoral theses, movies, songs, and philosophical/theological debates on that subject (referred to as ‘theodicy’) dating back centuries.
So, in the next several letters I’ll be writing to you, I’ll be giving you my take on the matter in as a straightforward and common sense way as I possibly can.
Let’s start by considering this simple proposition: In order for there to be a level playing field where human beings are able to exercise actual free will, the conditions that create the possibility for failure, tragedy, and death must exist. Free agency is meaningless if there are no negative consequences as a result of bad choices.
Matthew 5:45 – “For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.“
God is entirely just, and He has committed Himself to abiding by the conditions which allow free agency to operate in our physical world and in our current time.
God doesn’t break His own rules, and He absolutely has a grand purpose in mind which he will bring to pass by His own power and in His own time.
I hope you take some time to objectively think about that proposition. Just chew on it for awhile, kick the tires, and let it marinate a bit instead of immediately dismissing the idea entirely.
In my next letter we’ll start looking at some of what the Bible says about the problem of suffering.
In my last letter to y’all I only made it as far as addressing the anti-natalists and didn’t get around to those of the nihilist persuasion. So, I’ll dedicate this letter to those of you who believe that life is meaningless and who reject all religious and moral principles – which is the definition of a nihilist.
You may be right in thinking that your life is meaningless, but that doesn’t mean that all life is meaningless. Right?
And if your life is meaningless and without purpose, well, read on.
Now to the bigger, much bigger, problem: To actually believe that the universe is empty of meaning and purpose is to deny the plain evidence directly in front of you every day.
Is there a purpose to the rain that falls? Of course there is. How about the sun that shines or the wind that blows? Of course, and I don’t need to explain or list the reasons and purposes for those things, everyone already knows and understands them.
Is there a reason behind the way our physical bodies are made to function or the way the planets and moons in our solar system move in predictable cycles? Undeniably and absolutely.
So how can you believe that there is no reason or purpose in our existence?
I’m reminded of this verse from the Book of Romans: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”
Everything has purpose, even you. If you don’t know, believe in, or understand your purpose, then you haven’t looked hard enough or asked the right questions.
Seek, and you’ll find. Knock, and the door will open.
It may strike you as odd, writing letters to those of you who embrace nihilism and anti-natalism from a person on death row. But as I pointed out in my first letter, we’re all on death row. So not so odd after all, right?
I’ll start by making sure I understand who y’all anti-natalists and nihilists are and what it is that you claim to believe. Definitions.
Anti-natalism, according to the cambridge.org dictionary is defined as “…the belief that it is morally wrong to have children or that people should be encouraged not to have children.”
Allow me to point out the obvious here, I’m glad that my parents didn’t think that way. I understand that there may be some who have reason to believe that life is nothing but a sad and miserable existence, even a tortuous, horrible existence.
But I’m quite certain that the overwhelming majority of folks in the world are pretty happy to be alive. This seems self-evident.
So why not have kids, babies, bambinos, babushkas, little bundles of joy? Is the world and life really that bad for you guys and gals that you don’t want to experience the joy and wonder of parenthood?
Plus, how can you be certain that your little one born into this dark and dreary world won’t be the someone who can make life brighter and better for everyone, or at least for some? No? Well, that’s a level of hopelessness and pessimism I will never understand.
It seems to me that we have a God-given instinct to have and raise children to be noble and awesome beings and to reflect the God of creation, to drive back the darkness, and to fulfill an eternal destiny. How can you, or why would you try to smother that instinct?
Genesis 1:28 states the Creator’s intention and purpose for creation this way: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (KJV)
What a calling!
Whoa, where has the time gone? I only got as far anti-natalism and left y’all nihilists out of this letter, even though I meant to address you as well. We’ll chat a bit in the next letter, I promise.
