Tag Archives: Defense

Commentary

Why does God create people who he knows will choose Hell?

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It’s Bill Craig’s question of the week, and I think this is a legitimate question.

Here’s the question:

In your debate with Victor Stenger, he advanced the argument that God could not logically be a perfect being and creator of the universe. In response you stated that God does not create because of anything lacking in Himself, but because the creation of the universe benefits man, because he can come to know God and have a loving relationship with Him. I was just wondering, how does this square with the Christian doctrine of Hell? If Christ is the only way to God, and unbelief is punished by eternity in Hell, it seems likely that the vast majority of people, or at least a good number, will end up in Hell. In what way could we say that creation benefited these people? The doctrine of Hell has always been one of my major problems with Christianity, and it was my main reason for becoming an atheist.

And you can click here for Bill’s answer.

And you can find the Craig vs. Stenger debate right here for free. I keep the DVD in my office, because it’s a good debate.

UPDATE:

Here is Matt Flannagan’s answer:

The question why does God create people who he knows will go to hell seems to me to make some mistakes.

It assumes that it’s wrong to do something which one foresees will result in ruin for another. But one does not have to think far to see this is a mistake. Suppose a person told me that if I did not have an affair with her she would kill herself. i refuse and she kills herself. Am I guilty of murder? It seems to me not for two reasons, first although I foresaw the result I did not cause it she caused it by her actions hence I did not kill her. Second, the alternative in this instance did involve me causing something evil, it involved me causing an act of adultery and disloyalty.

Take this to the hell case, God foresees that others will freely do something which results in their damnation that does not mean he causes this action and so is not culpable. Second, the alternative to this would be to not create this person or this world and the question is whether this would be a better state of affairs, its not obvious it would be.

Moreover I am inclined to think this argument proves too much. As a parent I know that my child will at some point lie, sin and do bad things, does it follow that parents should be held accountable for their children’s actions and can’t justly punish them? After all they could have refrained from having Kids.

He’s a prominent Christian debater from New Zealand who debates the same sort of people as William Lane Craig does.

Related posts

News

AC-130 gunships now mounting 105mm howitzer

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This is really cool. (H/T ECM)

This is the ‘Angel of Death’, the world’s biggest flying artillery gun – and the latest weapon being used by British and US Special Forces to defeat Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

[…]…the aircraft, which is rarely deployed in daylight, carries a powerful Howitzer 105mm field gun which can ‘vaporise’ targets at a range of 1,200 yards.

As the Hercules drops from 2,000ft to as low as 80ft above the battlefield, the Howitzer – normally used by ground troops – fires ten rounds a minute and has a back-up of three 25mm Gatling cannons spewing out 7,500 rounds every 60 seconds to produce the ultimate airborne gunship. Once a camera sited under the fuselage has fixed on the target, it sends the co-ordinates to an onboard computer – and the ‘Angel of Death’ is ready to unleash its deadly load.

[…]The high explosive 105mm shells, each packed with 5lb of TNT, rocket towards their target at 1,548ft per second.

On contact, the shells can destroy buildings and spread shrapnel over a ‘kill’ area of up to 1,500 yards.

Click through to see the photos – you have to see the photos! It’s awesome! This is why we need to develop weapons, and to keep funding defense research. The article has a lot more detail and even talks about how the thing has been used to produce results.

Mentoring

Twenty ideas for doing apologetics from Apologetics 315

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The post is here.

Here are the ones I do from his list:

1. Give to an apologetics ministry
2. Get books into the hands of the right people (Love Your God with All Your Mind)
3. Organize apologetics conferences
5. Comment on blogs
6. Start your own blog (Blogger, WordPress)
7. Give people CDs and MP3s to listen to

That’s right – there’s a ton of them on there that I don’t do! But they are ALL do-able!

Leave a comment if you think of more. The one I thought of that isn’t on his list is to talk to your co-workers about your faith. But the first commenter mentions it. Here some links below. I recommend the co-workers one and the defend your faith in public one.

Mentoring

Apologetics advocacy