Tag Archives: Noseeum Inference

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Greg Ganssle explains the problems of evil and suffering

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I found these three videos on Apologetics 315. They are each about 5 minutes long.

Here’s the first one:

Description:

Part 1 of a trilogy. Greg lays out a classic argument that God does not exist, called ‘The Problem of Evil’. He distinguishes two versions of that argument, which are sometimes called ‘the deductive’ and ‘the evidential’ version. He goes into some details on the deductive version.

And the second one:

Description:

Part 2 of a trilogy. Here, Greg gives a response to the deductive version of the Problem of Evil on behalf of someone who believes that God exists. In thinking about this response, we need to think about whether God can make contradictions true, and whether God can have good reasons for allowing bad things to happen.

And the third one:

Description:

Part 3 of a trilogy. Greg considers the evidential version of the Problem of Evil, and gives a response on behalf of someone who believes that God exists. This involves considering whether God might have a good reason to allow bad things to happen.

This is very practical and you won’t find a shorter introduction to the problem of evil than these videos. When things go wrong as they sometimes will in your life it’s very important to understand that we shouldn’t be surprised by suffering and evil.

Probably the most important thing to understand about evil and suffering is that God is not our cosmic butler. It’s not his job to provide happiness for his human pets. You would never get the idea from the Bible that God is interested in making people feel happy, especially if they ignore him and his moral laws. Everything God does with people is meant to make them know him better and serve him better, and many things that happen to us that don’t make us happy, but they do give us the opportunity to either grow towards God or away from him.

If the story of Jesus tells us anything, it tells us that you can be morally perfect and still get whammed while you learn how to be obedient to God. Being good is no guarantee of happiness. Doing God’s will is no guarantee of happiness. There just is no guarantee of happiness, no matter how righteous you are. But what there is for us is a promise that God works through evil and suffering in order to make those who respond to his leading as much like his Son Jesus as they can be. And that has to be enough for us. We have to learn how to trust God through suffering. Knowing the logic of the problems of evil and suffering can help us to develop that trust.

See the links below for more.

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News

Greg Ganssle explains the problem of evil in three videos

Leave a comment

I found these three videos on Apologetics 315. They are each about 5 minutes long.

Here’s the first one:

Description:

Part 1 of a trilogy. Greg lays out a classic argument that God does not exist, called ‘The Problem of Evil’. He distinguishes two versions of that argument, which are sometimes called ‘the deductive’ and ‘the evidential’ version. He goes into some details on the deductive version.

And the second one:

Description:

Part 2 of a trilogy. Here, Greg gives a response to the deductive version of the Problem of Evil on behalf of someone who believes that God exists. In thinking about this response, we need to think about whether God can make contradictions true, and whether God can have good reasons for allowing bad things to happen.

And the third one:

Description:

Part 3 of a trilogy. Greg considers the evidential version of the Problem of Evil, and gives a response on behalf of someone who believes that God exists. This involves considering whether God might have a good reason to allow bad things to happen.

Recently, I was chastised by a suitor to one of my former proteges for not teaching her about what the word “theodicy” means, so I’m just going to fix that right now. Theodicy is “the branch of theology concerned with defending the attributes of God against objections resulting from physical and moral evil”.

See the links below for more.

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William Lane Craig lectures on the evidential problem of evil

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Dr. Craig delivered morning and afternoon lectures in Denmark on the topic of the problem of evil.

Here is the description:

The problem of innocent suffering–usually called ‘the problem of evil’ by philosophers–is the most important argument against the existence of God. Dr. Craig differentiates between the emotional and intellectual problems of evil in order to help keep our thinking about this controverted subject clear. He further differentiates between internal and external versions of the intellectual problem of evil, arguing that while the former is generally thought to have been resolved, the latter remains a subject of debate. During his morning lecture Dr. Craig will set up the problem and discuss the internal version; during the afternoon lecture he shall address the external version.

Below are videos for the afternoon lecture.

Part 1:

Part 2:

If you like this lecture, you can also check out my favorite lecture on the problem of evil by Doug Geivett. I am still watching the two lectures I posted Monday and today, so they may become my new favorites.