[Levi Jones]

Theodicy. Here is an overview of what the definition of theodicy is.


The idea is that God is said to have these three properties.

It is often attacked by one of the most common copy and pastes atheists love to throw out there.

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

This is just another straw man attack against God and it supposes human understanding of the mind of God. God can do anything He wants to. He can choose to help you or not.

This is the secret to the problem of evil. Every major apologetic that speaks to the subject all has this in common.

Augustine says that God created the world perfectly, with no evil or human suffering. Evil entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve and the theodicy casts the existence of evil as a just punishment for this original sin.

A just punishment for Adam and Eve's original sin. Eternal punishment for the sins of our ancestors.

Plus, if we disobey God by not believing in Him, He is going to punish us a second time with eternal slow roasting in a lake of fire.

Plantagina, Irenaeus and others use this line of reasoning. The argument from free will. It's really the same argument framed a different way. In that it takes the same leg from the table to get to theodicy.

To achieve moral perfection, Irenaeus suggested that humans must have free will.

John Hick collated the ideas of Irenaeus into a distinct theodicy. He argued that the world exists as a "vale of soul-making" (a phrase that he drew from John Keats), and that suffering and evil must therefore occur. He argued that human goodness develops through the experience of evil and suffering.

So this life is justly cursed and tortured for the sins of Adam and Eve... merely as an audition for the next life.

God created man. Man sinned. God cursed man for eternity. Man continues to sin. God kills man except those on a boat. God gives law requiring blood sacrifices. Man continues to sin. God decides to allow people into heaven and hell. God temporarily sacrifices self to self. A new covenant in blood. Hebrews 9:17-18.


They all choose omnibenevolence to take away from the table to gain theodicy.

God is able to prevent evil, but He is not willing to. God is often the source of calamity and destruction as is His prerogative. That's the thing that atheists just can't understand about us.

Weak Christians say things like, "God is all loving. He wants nothing but the best for you." We know the Truth. God loves only those people He loves. Romans 9:13-23
The rest of them will be cast into a lake of fire forever and ever.

And that, my friends, is the truth of the matter. Theodicy is a lie because God is not omnibenevolent. To say that He is, is an attack on His character.

[Pim Pendergast]

Amen, Pastor Levi! We know God is good (Ps 135:3), but it does not necessarily follow that a God who is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His goodness, and in whom is no unrighteousness (Ps 92:15), will show goodness to everyone, as if His actions should be a reflection of His character. Another common tactic of liberal "Christians" is to harp on about the difference between the decretive and permissive will of God. God simply permits evil; He does not decree that it should come to pass. But this is in conflict with Isaiah 45:7.

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things].

God created evil, and He foreordains whatever comes to pass, good or bad. God is under no obligation to show goodness to everyone, because He is omnipotent and can do whatever He wants. In fact, because He is just, He is obligated to punish sinners. Every sinner deserves to be under the wrath and curse of God. It is a common misconception that God loves the sinner but hates the sin. But people sin because they are sinners. All sin comes from the heart and is a reflection of a person's evil nature.

Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

People do bad things because they are bad. And they sin wilfully. They plan to do evil, and if it's within their power to bring it about, they achieve it (Mic 2:1). But God has given us a commandment to warn others of their sinful state.

Lev 19:17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

God doesn't want us to stand idly by while others sin. We must intervene. Failure to do so would be a sin of omission our part.

[Basilissa]

Amen to both posts!

Everything important has been said. I will only add that God tests our faith as He pleases:

Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

1 Thessalonians 2:4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

And forgive me for a lengthy quote, but this is one of my personal favorites in the entire Bible:

Job 1:6-12
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

Followed by the description of destruction of everything that Job had and death of his family, and then -

Job 1:20-22
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.