The conversation began when I raised some problems with calling God the perfect Father based on particular depictions in the Bible. I gave as a test case the text of Lamentations 4 where God judges Israel for her unfaithfulness by orchestrating conditions that will include women eating their infant children. The Israelites understood those conditions […]
natural evil
Is God a perfect heavenly Father? The Lamentations discussion continues
In “God as Father on Father’s Day” I pointed out the incongruity between calling God the most perfect Father and ascribing to God punishing actions such as are described in Lamentations. Chris offered an interesting and fairly standard response: present that which is described as an intentional punishment as if it were in fact merely […]
Tourette’s Syndrome, children and the problem of evil
In my article “The Problem of Meticulously Cruel Evil” I discussed a particular problem of evil. If the synchronicity of good events can seem to signal a benevolent deity, what is signaled by the synchronicity of evil events? The real life example I noted was a young woman who fell ill with a previously undiagnosed […]
You can’t defend the punishment of infants for the sins of their nation so don’t try
In “Does God punish people through natural disasters?” I considered Pat Robertson’s claim that the 2010 Haiti earthquake was a divine punishment on Haiti for the nation’s past sins. While condemnation of Robertson was universal, his critics seemed to miss an important point. In short, even if Robertson lacked evidence to support his claim, there seemed […]
A third blushing attempt to rationalize babies being punished
Let’s recap. Our story began in the smoking ruins of Haiti in January 2010, with one weak cry winding out from deep within the concrete rubble of a collapsed hospital. The cry was from six week old Landina, severely wounded in the devastating quake that killed and maimed hundreds of thousands. The horror naturally prompts the question […]
A second blushing attempt to rationalize babies being punished
Our second attempt appeals to the concept of imputation. To impute means to assign or ascribe a value to something. In classic reformed theology there are three senses of imputation. The one most Christians like to talk about is that of God imputing our sin to the sinless Christ. Somehow God assigns or ascribes the culpability […]
A first blushing attempt to rationalize babies being punished
Pete rushed (or at least ambled) in where most Christian theists would fear to tread by suggesting a possible explanation for six week old baby Landina being “punished” by being buried in an earthquake: I have tried thinking critically/honestly about on what grounds babies deserve to be divinely punished by God. What if all humans were […]
Why did God create carnivores?
As the final installment for my ill-fated project The Crazy Things We Believe I have included chapter 1 “Why Did God create carnivores?” wherein I address such important questions as whether God will resurrect giant prehistoric centipedes and if so, will it be on the same planet as resurrected human beings? To read more click […]
Does God ever visit Ronald McDonald House?
Several years ago I worked with a fellow who volunteered regularly at Ronald McDonald House with terminally ill children and their parents. Every couple months he’d come to work in pieces because another child had died. I always wondered what it was that drew him back. Could it be due to the fact that his […]
Possible, Plausible, or Probable Points or Special-Pleading?
I argued that John Loftus is inconsistent when he dismisses the Christian defense response to the problem of evil and instead demands a good ole’ fashioned theodicy. Robert Gressis, it appears, disagrees with me. At least he says he does: “”I agree with John that defense is too low of a standard….” Initially this was […]
The intrinsic value in learning to be good
JD is sympathetic to my view of evil as being redeemed in God’s good universe, but he has a reservation: “The Book of Revelation foretells a future existence in which there will be all these marvelously rich things like life and sentience and mind but with no death, sorrow or crying. If God is able […]
Would you rather be a bacterium? A rejoinder to the problem of evil
Silver Bullet has ably expressed the common atheistic retort that this creation simply cannot be the product of a loving and powerful God because there is just too much evil afoot. It is a serious argument. Indeed, it strikes me as the most significant argument against theism, bar none. And yet I also believe it is […]
T-Rex dung as a problem for Christians
Pearson International Airport in Toronto has decent FREE wi-fi so here y’are. A mid-day post free of charge. This is prefatory to John Loftus’ essay in The Christian Delusion on natural evil. (I will present an actual review when I get back to Edmonton next week and have the book in front of me.) I […]
