Donald Hansen
THEO 202
Short Essay 1
03/28/15
We serve an all-loving, all-powerful and merciful God, but there are horrible disasters,
and horrific crimes that are taking place in the world. What kind of God would allow such things
to take place especially to other believers many have asked. There is evil in the world yes, but
God does not and did not create evil, humans did and do. These two issues about God and evil
are one of the most important and debated matters within a given religion. God will allow certain
evil things or events to take place in order to use them for the good to bring other souls to His
kingdom of heaven.
Moral evil is the bad evil, natural evil is the harmful types of evil. Even though natural
evil is different from moral evil, it is not separate from it. "According to the Bible, natural evil is
the consequence of moral evil" (Gerstner, pp. 412). Moral evil is the destructive thoughts to do
and cause harm. Natural evil is the caring out the act of those evil thoughts. By giving all of the
gift of freewill, God permits moral evil with that comes natural evil and the consequence.
There is sin among mankind because of the disobedience from Adam and Eve towards
God, though pure thoughts in man still exist now also exist evil thoughts and the desire to hurt
one another as a consequence of the actions from the first man and woman. Theodicy means
"God" "justice" which is a term that is used to refer to attempts to justify the ways of God to
man. Free human action is relevant to moral evils problem. "God in spite of His omnipotence,
cannot remove evil. Since He cannot remove evil, He is not morally responsible for its presence
in the world" (Feinberg, pp. 1185). God is in the business of building souls for His kingdom.
Since He is using the world to do just that, He cannot place humans in a sinless paradise where
nothing ever goes wrong. Yes there is evil in the world. "God is not to be blamed for it, since
he intends to use it to build souls and ultimately develop people to a point where they are ready
for the kingdom of God" (Feinberg, pp. 1186). The intent in writing theodicy's are to avoid self-
contradiction, with the theist striving to remove any potential or actual contradiction in His
systems if you will.
Can personal experiences of evil affect someone's relationship with God? I believe yes
and no. I strongly believe that if the person that is experiencing evil does not a strong
relationship with or knowledge of God, who He is, and why He does the things He does, then I
can definitely see how a person's relationship with God could severely be affected. No one likes
to experience evil, but if you know why you are experiencing that evil, there is a good chance
that you have a strong relationship with God because you know what that meaning for the most
part behind it is. Therefore, you can take joy in the experiences knowing that God is doing it to
build us up making sure we truly do love Him. Meaning I just think it's easier to go through evil
experiences if you have a strong relationship with your savior. I believe someone can dispute a
certain belief about God without attacking God himself depending on the nature of his heart and
questioning. It is human nature to wonder and to question, so I don't think there is anything
wrong with wondering why God does a certain thing as long as your heart ultimately in the end
is in the right place and you are not cursing God in the process of your questioning.
Bibliography
Elwell, A. Walter. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: 2001
