"Bigging Beepei" is an oppoitunity foi you to continue

youi stuuy of uou's Woiu thioughout the week.

"#$%&'

Eveiyone expeiiences pain. It is the common giounu on which all humanity
stanus. Eveiy living peison is in the piocess of pain management. This week
we will uiscuss the pioblems of evil, pain, anu suffeiing. This is a ieal life
issue of the heait foi both believeis anu unbelieveis. Bowevei, this is a
pioblem that must be iesolveu with the minu.

In fact, the pioblem of evil is consiueieu "the most seiious intellectual
obstacle that stanus between many people anu ieligious faith." Fiom life's
fiist ciy, the human expeiience is one of pain foi both the chilu anu mothei.
In auuition, ueath involves pain, often foi the uying anu always foi the
people who aie left behinu to giieve the loss of a loveu one.

Peihaps moie obvious anu uistuibing is the moment by moment life
expeiience that is plagueu with sickness, injuiy, acts of violence, anu othei
vaiious pains anu evils that leau to an unavoiuable question. Why.

"If we follow the couise on which humanity has been leu, anu become
Chiistians, we then have the 'pioblem' of pain." C. S. Lewis, one of the most
influential theists on cuiient Chiistian philosophy, woikeu out this
acauemic issue with claiity in his book, !"# %&'()#* '+ %,-.. Bowevei, latei
in his life, the ueath of his wife moveu him to challenge his own
philosophical beliefs.

"Bon't come talking to me about the consolations of ieligion oi I shall
suspect that you uon't unueistanu." Lewis wiote, "I not only live each uay in
giief, but live each uay thinking about living each uay in giief. Bei absence
is like the sky, spieau ovei eveiything. But no, that is not quite accuiate.
Theie is one place wheie hei absence comes locally home to me, anu it is
the place I can't avoiu. I mean my own bouy."

()*(+: uou nevei wastes a huit. ieau }ames 1:2-4.
DIGGING
DEEPER

Weekly Bevotional
WEEK 0F A0u0ST 11- A0u0ST 1S, 2u14

(*,-%&'

What is Evil. Bow uoes one know it when they see it. When uoes a cai oi a
gun take the step fiom being a simple mechanical uevice to something that
can be pait of a muiuei. Bow uo we come to unueistanu the uevastation
anu loss of life causeu by a huiiicane anu how is that uiffeient fiom the
events that leu to the ueath anu uestiuction the woilu witnesseu on 9-11.

It seems cleai that theie is a uiffeience between a huiiicane anu an act of
teiioiism. Although both aie evil, one is moial evil anu one is natuial evil.
"Noial evil is evil biought about by human choices anu actions; any othei
kinu of evil is what we call natuial evil."

A muiuei woulu be consiueieu a moial evil because one peison chose to
kill anothei. Bowevei, if a peison uies in a huiiicane, that woulu be a
natuial evil because it uiu not iesult fiom the choice anu action of a human.
A majoi uiffeience between these two categoiies is a mattei of intent. If a
human chooses to take action that will iesult in the ueath of anothei
human, that peison has intenueu to uo something that they ought not to uo.

}ohn Stuait Nill wiites: "In sobei tiuth, neaily all the things men aie hangeu
oi impiisoneu foi uoing to one anothei aie natuie's eveiyuay peifoimance.
Killing, the most ciiminal act iecognizeu by human laws, natuie uoes once
to eveiy being that lives, anu in a laige piopoition of cases aftei piotiacteu
toituies such as only the gieatest monsteis whom we ieau of evei
puiposely inflicteu on theii living fellow cieatuies."

-(),$.(+ /#) (#%&': Reau Psalm 2S:4.

0,%$,-%&'

uou of the Bible is uesciibeu as being infinitely poweiful, goou, anu
knowleugeable. Bowevei, if uou exists, anu has the thiee attiibutes just
mentioneu, "Be woulu have both the uesiie anu the powei to iiu the woilu
of evil." In auuition, Be woulu know how to uo so.

In uenesis 6, "the Loiu saw that the wickeuness of man was gieat in the
eaith anu that eveiy intent of the thoughts of his heait was on evil
continually" (uen. 6:S). Bowevei, how uiu this happen. All thioughout the
cieation account in the beginning of uenesis, uou affiims that Bis cieation
is "goou." "Then uou saw eveiything Be hau maue, anu inueeu it was veiy
goou" (uen. 1:S1). What happeneu between chaptei 1 anu chaptei 6 of
uenesis. Fiom wheie uiu this evil come.

Baikness is ieally an absence of light anu is theiefoie not a thing but iathei
the absence of a thing. This is similai to the ielationship between evil anu
goou in that evil ielies on goou foi its veiy uefinition. The analogy of light
anu uaik is still in neeu of claiification because evil is moie than just the
absence of goou; it is the piivation of goou.

Absence only implies that something is not theie. Piivation implies that
something ought to be piesent anu it is not. An example that woulu
illustiate the uiffeience between an absence anu a piivation woulu be a
blinu man veisus a blinu iock. In the iock, sight is not expecteu; theiefoie,
blinuness woulu be an absence of sight. Bowevei, foi the man, sight is
expecteu; theiefoie, the blinuness is a piivation of sight. Evil is a piivation
of goou.

Although uou is not the cieatoi of evil, Be is the cieatoi of the goou
cieatuies that choose to uo evil. uou cieateu a woilu in which evil was
possible, but it was cieatuies that maue evil actual by choosing things that
weie not goou. "Be cieateu the fact of fieeuom; we peifoim the acts of
fieeuom. Be maue evil possible; men maue evil actual."

()*(+: Suffeiing can make us BETTER oi BITTER.

(+*)-%&'
Why uoes uou allow evil to continue. Because uou is omniscient, Be woulu
have known that men woulu choose to uo evil. Specifically, Be must have
known that Auam anu Eve woulu be uisobeuient in the gaiuen anu that evil
woulu be the iesult. So, why uiu uou allow this to happen. Even if uou is
not the authoi of evil, it woulu seem that Bis omnipotence woulu allow Bim
to keep evil fiom happening thiough eithei a miiaculous event oi othei
pieventative measuies.

Why coulu uou not have blown a gieat winu that maue it impossible foi Eve
to get to the fiuit she was tempteu to eat. It seems that uou coulu also
miiaculously tuin a gun into a banana just befoie a muiuei happens. Coulu
uou have stoppeu the events of 9-11 by causing each of the teiioiists to
have a spontaneous heait attack befoie they killeu thousanus of people.

In uou's soveieignty, he gave man fiee will. Knowing that this act woulu
leau to the fall of man, the ueath of Bis Son on the cioss, anu the suffeiing of
many people spenuing eteinity in Bell, coulu uou have just not given man
fiee will. At fiist, this option makes sense. Bowevei, the only way foi uou to
allow love to be shaieu between a cieatuie anu a cieatoi is foi both to
choose to paiticipate in the ielationship. Love cannot be foiceu, because
foiceu love is ieally iape.
If theie is the potential foi a peison to choose to have a ielationship with
uou, it woulu follow that the potential foi man not to choose uou woulu
also have to be ieal. This is why uou alloweu foi the possibility of evil anu
why fiee will is a goou thing foi Bim to have cieateu. It was the only way foi
man to have the potential to fieely love uou.

),&%: 1 Petei 4:12-1S

/)1%&'

C. S. Lewis noteu that uou must be teiiibly offenueu at oui behavioi. Be
wiites, "We actually aie, at piesent, cieatuies whose chaiactei must be, in
some iespects, a hoiioi to uou. This I believe to be a fact: anu I notice that
the holiei a man is, the moie fully he is awaie of this fact." Why uoes an all-
goou anu all-poweiful uou not just uestioy evil anu iemove it fiom the
woilu.

}ust because uou has not yet uefeateu evil, this uoes not mean that evil will
not be uefeateu oi uestioyeu by uou in the futuie. "Since we have not yet
finisheu with histoiy, it is possible that all evil in histoiy will one uay cease."
In fact, the only way to iefute the potential foi uou to one uay uestioy evil
woulu be to see all of time, which only an infinite being coulu uo.

Because uou has not yet iemoveu evil, we live in an evil woilu that iesults
in pain anu suffeiing. The analogy of a symphony oichestia woiks well to
illustiate this point: If we weie to imagine that the entiie univeise is a
philhaimonic oichestia in conceit, we might uesignate ceitain objects as
instiuments. A seiies of events oi an eia in histoiy might then iepiesent a
paiticulai movement within the oveiall conceit.

"The ueath of an innocent man uuiing this eia might be iepiesenteu by a
uissonant choiu anu the Seconu Woilu Wai by seveial measuies of the
scoie. If the symphony hau been playing foi thousanus of yeais anu
someone listeneu to only a few minutes of the veiy uissonant section, he
woulu not be faii in pionouncing the whole symphony "hoiiible" oi the
uissonant pait "unjustifieu." In the same way, it may be that theie aie some
examples of suffeiing that uo not seem justifieu fiom oui vantage point, but
these may neveitheless be ultimately justifieu."

),&%: 1 Petei 1:6-7

Content foi this publication was collecteu fiom vaiious iesouices.
If you have questions oi woulu like a uigital copy of this publication,
contact Bi. Stephen Cutchins at cutchinsSfbchnc.oig.