The Biblical and Christian Worldview
for the 21st Century

** Note: The following discussion is incomplete. When I approached this subject, I wrongly believed that I could address a few simple issues in a brief manner. As you will see, the issue of theodicy is quite complex. So, I present the following even though it is incomplete and preliminary. However, I do not know when I might get back to the subject, so I have placed it here so that it is addressed on this site.

Theodicy (Greek: theo-God, dicy from dike-God) is a specific branch of theology and philosophy that attempts to reconcile the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent God. (Modified from Wikipedia.com.)

When natural disasters, such as, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004, occur, many people ask the question, “If God is good and omnipotent, how can such disasters occur.” Not too many years ago, a popular book was titled Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? When a young child dies or contracts a crippling disease, the same question is asked. Christians should be ready to have an answer for such questions. Indeed, as with all questions of cosmology, such questions should begin with the character of God.

The issue of theodicy is answered differently for Christians and non-Christians because God has revealed Himself in His Scriptures. The unbeliever does not accept the truth of God’s Word, so we will begin with the non-Christian. But, even these categories have not been carefully separated.

1. The issue of God granting life and opportunity to those afflicted or killed is rarely, if ever raised. Virtually every person about whom the issue of theodicy is raised had been given life itself and an opportunity of life before the “bad” happened. They had people to love and to love them in return. They had opportunities for education, growth, helping others, and sharing their lives. The older they were at the time of the “bad,” the more of these wonderful opportunities did they have. Should not God get the credit for their existence and these opportunities for them before the “bad?”

2. About what God is the person who raises this question talking? The person who raises the question of theodicy should be asked about what powers exist in the universe. If they invoke some belief in deity, they should be asked about the powers and characteristics of that deity. The God of Christians is virtually always the God about whom this question is raised! Why? First, there is the knowledge of God in all men, as discussed in Romans 1. Second, there is really no other God who is known to mankind Who is both good and powerful. (I am not assuming that everyone would accept omnipotence. Also, I am equating the God of worshipping Jews to the Christian God.)

The person asking the question should be asked, “Who is this God about whom you are speaking?” There are only two possible answers: (1) the God of the Bible (Christianity) or (2) their own fuzzy concept of God. Now, if they want to blame the God of the Bible, then they must accept all that the Bible says about Him. If they pick and choose His characteristics as they please, then they have created their own God, not the God of the Bible. So, they should be shown that they are blaming a God that only exists in their own minds or the minds of others who have also created their own god.

If they want to blame the God of the Bible, then they have to accept all that the Bible says about Him. And, we will come to those issues concerning Christians.

3. What is “good” and what is “bad?” By definition, these issues involve ethics. Virtually every culture around the world has some issues of right and wrong that differ from others. And, probably no two people on earth agree on every issue of ethics. So, a person who asserts that which is “bad” cannot be consistent with a “good” God, has made major assumptions about what is “good” and “bad.” If follow-up is carried out with victims of these “bad” situations, there are amazing stories of the “good” things that occurred later. So, an immediate assumption that a disaster is truly “bad” is just that, a major assumption, if not arrogance in an attempt to understand God.

Would we understand “good” without the presence of “bad?” I play golf. What if every shot went in the hole? Would that be “good?” What if everything that I attempted was successful? Would that be enjoyable? What if I lived forever, would I appreciate good health? If everything were “good,” would that not be “bad” without some contrast of the opposite?

4. Why should anyone posit a “good” God in the first place? C. S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain raises the question why we should posit a good God at all. With all the good, bad, and ugly that takes place in every life and culture on the planet, why not posit a whimsical god? Why not posit dualism, the competing forces of both good and evil? Why is not the question asked in the face of pain and disaster, “Why does an evil god not cause more problems for mankind?” But, that question is never asked. Why? If we are going to challenge the deities, should not that question be asked equally often?

I believe that this latter question is not asked comes from unregenerate man’s war with God. When he asks why bad things happen to good people, he is really saying that God does not meet that person’s own standards of “good.” Therefore, God is really cruel. The person can rationalize his own avoidance and criticisms of God by showing to others how “unfair” God is. But, “unfairness” demands a standard to which one can appeal. And, no person lives up to his own standard, much less that of others. (See regeneration.)

5. To posit a God who is good, but limited in power to prevent all “bad” from happening, is to overthrow any hope of stability in the universe. If God is so limited in power, then anything could happen to anyone at any time. What hope of tomorrow or any future can be derived from that position? Unless one posits an omnipotent God, only despair is the logical conclusion.

1. Definitions: “good,” “evil.” “Good” is whatever God does. If God “ordains whatsoever comes to pass, “ then everything that happens is “good.” If God is omnipotent, then “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28).

2. For the believer, Romans 8:28

3. CS Lewis: how does one postulate a “good” god from evil in the world?

5. Understanding intellectually does not mean that one does not struggle with his emotions. The depth of anyone’s suffering should not be minimized. Even when we know that those close to us are in heaven with Jesus, we miss them and ache at their absence. Understanding and having the peace of God do not always go together.

6. Some might contend that true “free choice” must include the choice for evil. If one were not free to chose evil, then “free choice” would not really exist. Or, if one could only choose the good, then choice would be restricted (not free). See the website of Greg Koukl.

However, I do not agree with this argument. Man is predestined in his choices, whether from being programmed by his genes and his environment from birth onwards or by God’s predestination. Only Adam and Eve were completely free to choose between good and evil. The Westminster Confession of Faith (9:2) states that they had free choice. Man after the Fall is only able to choose evil--he can do no good (as far as pleasing God). That is, he is totally unable to choose anything good apart from regeneration.

Why is free will necessarily a “good” thing? By this line of argument, it is “good” that Hitler, Stalin, Chiang Kai-shek, and Pol Pot had “free choice” to murder millions?

8. Weak argument towards the unregenerate? Would you choose a god (1) whom you could understand?

9. The attempted escape of theodicy into “open theism” where God does not predestinate all things or the predestinates by foreknowledge (“seeing the future”) demeans God. If the future is fixed, then man is predestined by some other cause than God. The only ultimate power in the universe is God (omnipotent). He is the ultimate cause of everything, but mostly works through secondary agents.

10. The great theological issue is the fact of death itself, not when it occurs. The child who develops leukemia and dies strains our heart far more than the 85-year-old man who has lived a fully and healthy life. But, even if the child did not develop leukemia, he would eventually die sometime. Everyone dies sometime. Why? Quite simply, death is the curse of God (Genesis 2:17). Death is the last enemy (I Corinthians 15:26). The great tragedy is that everyone must die, not when it happens.

11. God purposes discipline and suffering for His people. See Hebrews 12.

See Wikipedia on “Theodicy.” They list several solutions to the problem of theodicy, many of which are unbiblical and/or illogical.