Where the Rubber Hits the Road

"Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; Or he can, but does not want to; Or he cannot and does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. But, if God both can and wants to abolish evil, then how come evil is in the world?"  Epicurus (341-270 bce) This quote was offered today in the comment threads of one of my earlier posts. 'Martin' suggested that this mystery cannot be solved without  one "miring themselves in confused, byzantine, and self-contradictory poraxisms of illogic." I would appreciate some input from others in the blogosphere in formulating an answer to this question, either in the form of suggested reading or perhaps a proposed answer that you might wish to propose. I responded by suggesting that the problem inherent in this conundrum is that it imposes on God the limitation of existing in time - a conclusion I tried to back up using Einstein's formula of relativity (...

The Haitian earthquake has brought to the floor a discussion about the role of evil in the world. The musings of Pat Robertson claiming that the death and destruction of that impoverished nation come from a "pact with the devil" should and has been opposed. ( Click here to read Rex Murphy's contribution or click here to read what is most likely the best response to date ) There is however one small grain of truth in his malicious claim: evil (sin) is indeed responsible for death and destruction, but this evil was wrought by human hands. Consider if you will this column from David Brooks (NY Times) in which he points out that when an earthquake of the same magnitude struck San Francisco (1989) it resulted in the death of just over 60 people. Yet the same strength event resulted in over 50,000 deaths in Haiti. What was the cause of this horrific difference? Poverty, unenforced building codes, and lack of civil services. Each of these causes can clearly be laid upon hu...

One cannot open a newspaper or watch TV without witnessing the unimaginable horror that is Haiti today. As the images of death and destruction assail us, questions about the goodness and love of God comes to the fore for any believer. Many people are using this tragedy to denounce people of faith as being fools. After all, if we believe that God is all powerful and loving, how could he permit such death and destruction? Aside from the easy response of challenging such people with the question as to whether they are willing to grant to God the responsibility for all that is good in the world as they logically must if they are going to hold him liable for all that evil, it is essential that we understand that we too are the ones responsible for the role of evil in this life. It is mankind that is as responsible for what has befallen Haiti as God. I say categorically that we are responsible for what has transpired in Haiti because it is our own participation in sin that permits evil...