10 // How Can A Good God Allow Evil? - Part 1

Aug 14, 2024 • Pastor Scott Hand

*EPISODE SUMMARY*

Pastor Scott Hand discusses the profound question, "How could a good God allow so much evil and suffering in the world?" He outlines arguments questioning God’s omnipotence and omni-benevolence, exploring various theodicies. Highlights include Aquinas's concept of evil as the absence of good, greater good theodicy by Augustine, and other perspectives on divine purpose and human suffering. Pastor Scott critically examines these views and sets the stage for discussing the creation order theodicy in the next episode, promising deeper insights into reconciling faith with the presence of evil. Tune in for a thoughtful exploration of this fundamental issue.

*KEY TAKEAWAYS*

"How could a good God allow so much evil and suffering in the world?"

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:00:32)

"A theodicy is an attempt to explain the ways of God and the ways of man and how they interacted, but particularly with the issue of evil, the whole matter of evil and suffering in this world, and how it relates to God, his attributes, his sovereignty."

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:02:14)

"Another theodicy that's out there is that God is responsible for evil and suffering completely."

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:06:27)

"We believe that God is good. And we believe, therefore, that he must have a reason, a morally justifiable reason for allowing and continuing to allow evil and suffering."

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:06:38)

"We just have to accept them on faith and live our lives and focus on what, what we can know and what we can understand and what we can do."

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:06:54)

"So the only evil that's out there is the evil that God allowed because he was going to take that evil and use it to bring about a greater good, or the evil was necessary to prevent a worse evil."

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:08:11)

"First you gotta ask, where is the good?"

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:10:22)

"If you argue that all evil. That every single evil, natural or moral, is allowed by God. In order for him to bring about the greater good, then what do we do with evils that have no obvious good that was derived from it?"

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:10:22)

"Who gets the good?"

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:12:19)

"In the next episode, we are going to talk about what's called the creation order theodicy."

Pastor Scott Hand - (0:16:28)