Tying God's Hands
“How can God exist when there is pain in the world?”
The question is forefront in the minds of many who encounter tragedy. At first thought it seems impossible that a God who is all-good and all-powerful would allow such unpleasant realities as pain or evil to come into reality in the first place.
Ever since I was old enough to ask this question myself, I have heard the same answer: “There is no love without free will. There is no free will without the possibility of abuse. This abuse of free will is called evil.” This made perfect sense to me, and for goodness sake, C. S. Lewis says as much in his book The Problem of Pain.
The point at which this whole paradigm came crashing down for me was about two years ago. Many of you students from UT will be familiar with Cliff Knectle, a pastor from up north who comes to Austin about once a year to answer questions for skeptics of the Bible. I have a deep admiration for him and his endurance, every day he is rejected and beaten down because He is taking a stand for Christ. Without fail, every couple of hours the question arises, “How can a loving God allow evil” and every couple of hours he provides the answer: “Love is impossible without free will. Just as God can’t make a circle a square, He can’t make us truly love Him without giving us free will. Of course, in order to have free will, we must have a choice. In order to have a choice we must have something else to choose. That thing is evil.” Cliff provided the same answer I had heard all my life, but something different happened this time:
I was immediately furious.
Why? At first glance his answer would seem perfectly correct. It fell in line with all that I had ever heard and even what I had taught my students. But there was one phrase in particular that set me off: “God can’t”.
God can’t? ...
GOD CAN’T???
The God of the Bible … the all the powerful YAHWEH? This is the God who created the cosmos with a whisper; the God who eradicated mankind with a massive flood; the God who liberated His people from the enslavement with plagues demonstrating His infinite and intricate control over all creation. This is the God who saved this bastard child of satan from the clutches of hell by pouring out His wrath upon His only begotten Son.
Do you mean to tell me that this God is perplexed by the intricacies of plane geometry? Is this God’s omnipotence held in check by the Almighty Shape???
The thought is absurd. But think of the implication. Is God forced to give us free will because true love simply won’t work otherwise? God is love and the creator of our ability to love Him and each other. Were God’s hands tied so that He was forced to allow evil into the world via free will? If we assert that this is true we have elevated the terrestrial reality “Love is not possible without free will” above the eternal truth “God is all powerful”.
What does this mean then? Did God intend for evil to exist? The Bible clearly says that God is good and in Him is no darkness at all. The Bible is just as clear that God is sovereign and all powerful. How can we reconcile these two truths?
There is only one solution:
All of history has transpired and will transpire exactly as God intends it: for the ultimate glory of His Name.
HOW CAN THIS BE?
Think about it. If God is all good, then story of His Creation throughout all eternity will most perfectly reflect His Eternal Goodness. If God is all powerful, there is nothing in heaven or earth that could ever stop Him.
Through our narrow vision, we see that evil has dug its razor-sharp claws into our flesh, satan has dragged us into the deepest and darkest hell holes, and we can feel the sulfurous breath of demons on our ankles. But Hope is on the way! Hallelujah!
In the perspective of eternity we will see that God has allowed evil to ravage and devour only so that His Awesome Power may be most fully demonstrated in the rescue of His own. In His total sovereignty, He knows how He may most fully glorify Himself in our history, from the most mundane details of our daily lives, to the rise and fall of nations.
Was God powerless to stop Adam from eating the apple? Is God powerless to create a world where there is love without free will?
By no means.
It may seem impossible to believe, we live in the best of all possible worlds, because we serve the best of all possible gods: The true God. This God was not forced to allow evil so that we could truly love Him. He chose to allow evil that He may most truly demonstrate His Glory.
The circle is circle because that is how it brings the all good, all powerful God of creation the most possible glory in this best of all possible worlds.
The question is forefront in the minds of many who encounter tragedy. At first thought it seems impossible that a God who is all-good and all-powerful would allow such unpleasant realities as pain or evil to come into reality in the first place.
Ever since I was old enough to ask this question myself, I have heard the same answer: “There is no love without free will. There is no free will without the possibility of abuse. This abuse of free will is called evil.” This made perfect sense to me, and for goodness sake, C. S. Lewis says as much in his book The Problem of Pain.
The point at which this whole paradigm came crashing down for me was about two years ago. Many of you students from UT will be familiar with Cliff Knectle, a pastor from up north who comes to Austin about once a year to answer questions for skeptics of the Bible. I have a deep admiration for him and his endurance, every day he is rejected and beaten down because He is taking a stand for Christ. Without fail, every couple of hours the question arises, “How can a loving God allow evil” and every couple of hours he provides the answer: “Love is impossible without free will. Just as God can’t make a circle a square, He can’t make us truly love Him without giving us free will. Of course, in order to have free will, we must have a choice. In order to have a choice we must have something else to choose. That thing is evil.” Cliff provided the same answer I had heard all my life, but something different happened this time:
I was immediately furious.
Why? At first glance his answer would seem perfectly correct. It fell in line with all that I had ever heard and even what I had taught my students. But there was one phrase in particular that set me off: “God can’t”.
God can’t? ...
GOD CAN’T???
The God of the Bible … the all the powerful YAHWEH? This is the God who created the cosmos with a whisper; the God who eradicated mankind with a massive flood; the God who liberated His people from the enslavement with plagues demonstrating His infinite and intricate control over all creation. This is the God who saved this bastard child of satan from the clutches of hell by pouring out His wrath upon His only begotten Son.
Do you mean to tell me that this God is perplexed by the intricacies of plane geometry? Is this God’s omnipotence held in check by the Almighty Shape???
The thought is absurd. But think of the implication. Is God forced to give us free will because true love simply won’t work otherwise? God is love and the creator of our ability to love Him and each other. Were God’s hands tied so that He was forced to allow evil into the world via free will? If we assert that this is true we have elevated the terrestrial reality “Love is not possible without free will” above the eternal truth “God is all powerful”.
What does this mean then? Did God intend for evil to exist? The Bible clearly says that God is good and in Him is no darkness at all. The Bible is just as clear that God is sovereign and all powerful. How can we reconcile these two truths?
There is only one solution:
All of history has transpired and will transpire exactly as God intends it: for the ultimate glory of His Name.
HOW CAN THIS BE?
Think about it. If God is all good, then story of His Creation throughout all eternity will most perfectly reflect His Eternal Goodness. If God is all powerful, there is nothing in heaven or earth that could ever stop Him.
Through our narrow vision, we see that evil has dug its razor-sharp claws into our flesh, satan has dragged us into the deepest and darkest hell holes, and we can feel the sulfurous breath of demons on our ankles. But Hope is on the way! Hallelujah!
In the perspective of eternity we will see that God has allowed evil to ravage and devour only so that His Awesome Power may be most fully demonstrated in the rescue of His own. In His total sovereignty, He knows how He may most fully glorify Himself in our history, from the most mundane details of our daily lives, to the rise and fall of nations.
Was God powerless to stop Adam from eating the apple? Is God powerless to create a world where there is love without free will?
By no means.
It may seem impossible to believe, we live in the best of all possible worlds, because we serve the best of all possible gods: The true God. This God was not forced to allow evil so that we could truly love Him. He chose to allow evil that He may most truly demonstrate His Glory.
The circle is circle because that is how it brings the all good, all powerful God of creation the most possible glory in this best of all possible worlds.
posted by hoose at 4:41 PM
5 Comments:
Hoose,
Just started reading your blog. You should add an RSS feed to your blog so I can subscribe on my Google Reader. Hope things are going well. I like your discussion topics. Later.
Bryan Plantes
Steve,
You sure can express your thoughts clearly and precisely. I like that you're putting the truth out there, buddy. Keep it up!
Peace,
-The Other Steve
What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
Also, there is an RSS Bryan, if you're using Firefox (and if you're not you should be) there's a little Orange Box in the location bar at the top when you're on the main page. Click it
(http://stevehoose.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default)
Oh, by the way, that was Romans 9:22-24.
yeah bryan, what he said (i'm about 3 years behind on technology, when i transferred out of EE i officially broke ties with technology)
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