So we have Dr. Z, weeping into his glass of brandy, no longer able to affirm the proposition God exists, a proposition which on the reading of Romans 1 that has been presented to us, a person can only deny if they are in some sense in sinful rebellion against the knowledge of God that is […]
problem of evil
The problem of meticulously cruel evil
The movie “The Mist” tells the story of a mysterious mist that descends on a small town. Since it is based on a story written by Stephen King you know two things: (1) the town must be in Maine and (2) the mist must contain some real nasty thing-a-ma-jigs. As far as horror/suspense films go, […]
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 […]
Could God command evil for a greater good?
Silverbullet presents two scenarios: Scenario 1: God allows Fred to kill Suzie because of some greater good but the killing of Suzie is nonetheless evil. Scenario 2: God commands Fred to kill Suzie as a devotional act of commitment to God which leads to some greater good, but the killing of Suzie is nonetheless evil. […]
The day God (didn’t) command a father to kill his child
Some quick background At the already mentioned evening of fun and frolic at SBL in Atlanta, I rediscovered something I already knew: that in the minds of many Christians it is perfectly fine for God to demand his followers sometimes to engage in extremely violent acts in his name, perhaps even killing their healthy children […]
A cannibalistic serial killer enters retirement
A cannibalistic serial killer entering retirement reflects on his accomplishments. Trophies litter his cramped apartment — bloody panties in the living room and frozen fingers in the fridge — and he values them like the retiring company man values that Rolex watch given for thirty years of faithful service. He knows that others value those mundane things […]
Can rape be objectively wrong?
The problem of evil is often presented to Christians as the objection to the existence of God. Sometimes it is presented as a logical problem — the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God is logically inconsistent with the existence of evil — but more often these days it is presented as a matter of probabilities — […]
How to avoid the question: Lessons from Loftus
Every so often people provide challenges to our positions that we cannot seem to answer. So what are we to do? Concede the difficulty and work to revise or reject our position? Well we could do that, but nobody likes to eat crow. And we have our reputations to protect, don’t we? So I am […]
What John Loftus has is a failure to communicate
Chapter 7 of Loftus’ edited volume The Christian Delusion is by Loftus himself and is titled “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” In the essay Loftus intends to provide the reader with “a brief romp through the Bible with an eye on the failure of a perfectly good omniscient God to communicate […]
How to hate your enemies: Lessons from the Psalms (Part 4)
Let’s begin with the question we ended off with last time: “why did God include the voice of the imprecatory psalmist along with that of Jesus?” To answer that question (or at least provide one possible, and to my mind very plausible, answer), we should look first at another text: 2 Samuel 12. Here’s the […]
