Christianity and the Problem of Evil

Larry Lacy

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781639034932
• eBook ISBN:
  9781639034949
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

This book deals with the problem of evil that the Christian faith faces. Is the Christian faith (which affirms that there exists a God who is omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good) improbable, given the horrendous evils encountered by some in this life; and is the Christian faith improbable, given the evils the Christian faith affirms for some in the age to come--eternal judgment and eternal punishment? Some reflective persons see the problem of these eschatological evils as the most serious challenge to the reasonableness of the Christian faith. I argue that once we become clear about what the New Testament teaches about each of these eschatological evils, a way is opened up to show that it is not improbable for us that each of these teachings of the New Testament is fully consistent with the perfect goodness of God. I then argue that the doctrines of eternal judgment and eternal punishment, properly understood, open up an important resource for dealing with the problem that the grave evils of this life create for the Christian doctrine of the omniscience, omnipotence, and perfect goodness of God.

Chapter 1

Introduction

God, as understood in the Christian faith, is perfectly good. This includes God’s being perfectly just and perfectly loving. The Bible teaches, so I argue, that for each individual created person, at some finite point in the future, the final destiny of that person will be settled and that, at this final judgment, some individuals will be eternally rejected by God.5 This is the doctrine of eternal judgment. Further, the Bible teaches that the destiny of those who are eternally rejected by God will be eternal punishment. This is the doctrine of eternal punishment. Part 1 of Christianity and the Problem of Evil wrestles with the question of the consistency between the doctrines of eternal judgment and eternal punishment on the one hand and the doctrine of the perfect goodness of God on the other. Some people hold that the Biblical teaching on eternal judgment and eternal punishment exposes the Christian faith to the most devastating form of the problem of evil.6 The first task in responding to this challenge is to ascertain what the Bible teaches (i.e., what God teaches in the Bible) about eternal judgment and eternal punishment (chapters 2–7). The second task is to inquire whether eternal judgment and eternal punishment, as taught in the Bible, are consistent with the perfect goodness of God (chapters 8–9).

If we are interpreting the Bible to discover what God is saying about some issue, there are two principles of interpretation that we must employ. I call these the Tradition Principle (TP) and the Consistency Principle (CP). The first principle, TP, says that if there is a predominant tradition of interpretation of scripture in the church over the ages, this creates a presumption that that interpretation is the correct interpretation of scripture. For example, there is a strong tradition in the church over the ages of interpreting eternal punishment to mean eternal torment. According to TP, this creates a presumption that this is the correct interpretation of scripture, that is, the burden of proof is on the person who would argue for a contrary interpretation. How strong this burden of proof is depends on (i) how early and widespread the tradition is and (ii) how much weight one gives to tradition in interpreting the Bible. It is my view that we should accord moderate weight to tradition, but that we must not accord it such great weight that the Bible could never win through to correct tradition. There is a second general principle of interpretation that says the correct interpretation of scripture on some particular issue will always be consistent with all better-established doctrines based on scripture. I use the title “the Consistency Principle (CP)” more narrowly. One of the most firmly established doctrines that emerges from a study of the Bible is that God is perfectly good (God is perfectly just and he is perfectly loving). The principle I use should be called the Principle of Consistency with the Biblical Doctrine of the Perfect Goodness of God, but that is too cumbersome; I will, for the sake of brevity, refer to the principle I will be highlighting as the Consistency Principle (CP). According to CP, if a proposed interpretation of scripture seems, upon adequate reflection, to be inconsistent with the perfect goodness of God, this creates a presumption that this proposed interpretation is not the correct interpretation. How strong this presumption is depends on (i) how clear it seems upon adequate reflection that the proposed interpretation is inconsistent with the perfect goodness of God and (ii) how entitled we are to trust even our clear judgments on this matter.

I will first seek to ascertain what the Bible seems to teach about eternal judgment and eternal punishment apart from considerations of either TP or CP and, at a subsequent stage, inquire whether this interpretation can sustain any burden of proof imposed by either TP or CP. Proceeding in this way, I will argue that the best interpretation of the Bible, apart from considerations of TP and CP, is that the Bible teaches what I will call the optimal grace understanding of eternal judgment; optimal grace consists in God always doing all he can, short of violating persons’ free will, to win each person to Christ (chapters 2 and 3). Furthermore, the Bible teaches the eternal destruction understanding of eternal punishment; this is the view that the destiny of those who have made themselves incapable of salvation is a morally appropriate painful judgment by God which culminates in God withdrawing from them the gift of existence (i.e., God ceasing to sustain them in existence) and that there is no restoration from this punishment; it is final, and it is eternal (chapters 4–7). I will, then, argue that it is not improbable that the optimal grace view of eternal judgment, so understood, is consistent with the perfect goodness of God and that it is not improbable that the eternal destruction view of eternal punishment, so understood, is consistent with the perfect goodness of God (chapter 8). I argue that both the optimal grace view of eternal judgment and the eternal destruction view of eternal punishment can sustain the burden of proof that TP imposes on each, while the denial of optimal grace and the eternal torment interpretation of eternal punishment cannot sustain the burden of proof CP imposes on each of these traditional views (chapter 9). It follows from the conclusions of these three lines of argument that it is not improbable that either eternal judgment or eternal punishment, as taught in the Bible, is consistent with the perfect goodness of God. Thus, there is a successful defense against the problem of evil that has been brought against Christian eschatology.

In Part 2 of Christianity and the Problem of Evil, I will argue that if the defense I offer in response to the eschatological problem of evil, evil in what the New Testament calls “the age to come,” is successful, then this provides a very important resource for responding to the problem raised by evil that occurs in “the present age.” In the final two chapters, I seek to respond to the problem of evil in the present age.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to many books on the topics of final judgment and final punishment, but none greater than C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1962); John W. Wenham, The Goodness of God (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1974); Harold E. Guillebaud, The Righteous Judge7 (printed privately, 1964); Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes, Revised Edition (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster Press, 1994); Le Roy Edwin Froom, The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1 (Washington, D. C.: The Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1966) and vol. 2 (Washington, D. C.: The Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1965); F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1973); and G. B. Caird, A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper & Row, 1966).

Part 1

The Eschatological Problem of Evil

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5 Some might prefer to say that it is a real possibility that some will fall into this category.

6 I believe that the problem of evil is the strongest argument against the existence of God, but there is a second argument some make against the existence of God—the argument that the concept of God is incoherent. For a response to this argument, see Appendix 1, The Coherence of Theism.

7 The Righteous Judge is obtainable from the Rev. B. L. Bateson, Winsham Vicarage, Chard, Somerset TA20 4JD.

Chapter 2

Eternal Judgment

The traditional view about the Biblical teaching on eternal judgment is that physical death ends all opportunity to accept God’s offer of salvation, whether or not the person has freely made him- or herself incapable of freely choosing right relationship with God. I argue, contrary to this, that the Bible teaches that (i) God does not eternally reject any person who is still capable, with his grace, of freely choosing to receive God’s gift of salvation in Christ through repentance and faith and (ii) God offers each such individual what Jerry Walls, in Hell: the Logic of Damnation, calls optimal grace. Optimal grace consists in God always doing all he can, short of violating a person’s free will, to win each person to Christ. I will call this the doctrine of optimal grace.

Each time we freely choose to resist the light God gives us to draw us to repent and turn to him, we further harden our hearts.8 God, in order to overcome this further hardness of our hearts, must send a greater light. If we freely choose to resist the greater light, then we harden our hearts even more. There is a greatest available light—the revelation of God in Christ and the revelation of Christ’s love as manifested in the members of the body of Christ on the last day. If one freely rejects even this greatest available revelation of the goodness of God, then that person will fully hardened his or her heart against God. At that point, it is impossible for that person to accept salvation, so long as God respects his or her freedom. The person has made what I will call a definitive decision against God. It is only in response to a person’s having made a definitive decision against God, a decision to reject optimal grace, that God passes eternal judgment against a person.

Does the Bible (apart from the Tradition Principle and the Consistency Principle) teach the doctrine of optimal grace? First, I think this is implicit in the statement in 2 Pet. 3:9 that “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance.” Second, and most important, optimal grace seems to me to be the most reasonable interpretation of two passages in the Gospel of John: John 3:16–21 and John 12:46–48. I think it is clear that the author of the gospel intends these two passages to be read together. (The significance of these two passages was pointed out by C. S. Lewis in his chapter on hell in The Problem of Pain.) Let us examine these two passages in light of each other:

16For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God sent the Son i...

Table of contents

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11