Over at Tough Questions Answered, I found an answer to a question I get all the time:
Now here is a question that many people struggle with. Here is how the argument generally goes:
God is the Author of everything.
Evil is something.
Therefore, God is the Author of evil.
This is a valid syllogism, meaning that if premises 1 and 2 are correct, then the conclusion follows.
Looking at premise 1, is God the author of everything? Well, if he isn’t, then we don’t have a sovereign creator, but that’s what the Bible teaches. We can’t reject this premise.
Looking at premise 2, if we deny that evil exists, then we deny a basic truth about reality. There clearly is evil in the world and we all know it. To deny the existence of evil would be to deny a fundamental aspect of life.
Are we stuck? Not exactly.
Well, go on over there and see what the answer is, I’m not going to tell you.
Over at Tough Questions Answered, I notice they are putting out a lot of quality work. But they also have some answers for beginners. I am going to be posting two of their beginner answers today, just to make sure we can all answer them. Here is the first question they answered: “Why can’t God make a rock so big he can’t lift it”
This is a common question that is asked by those who misunderstand the nature of God’s omnipotence. Another humorous way of asking this question is: Can God make a sandwich so big he can’t eat it? (I owe that jewel to my friend Greg).
You’ll have to go over there for the answer, I’m not telling!
UPDATE: My answer is actually a little different than their answer. My answer would be that a rock that can’t be lifted is self-contradictory. All objects that have mass can be lifted, by definition. So what the questioner is really asking is something like this: “Can God make a married bachelor?” or “Can God make a round square?”. God’s power does not allow him to perform self-contradictory things. That is not a limit on his power – self-contradictory things are nonsense, and no one can do nonsense.
WINTERY KNIGHT 