Church Shooting and The Problem of Evil
At the end of a news article on the recent church shooting, we read:
Don Free's niece, Angel Varichak, was one of the wounded. Free said she was expected to survive. "I wanted to know where God was when this happened," Free told the Chicago Sun-Times. "He was supposed to be everywhere. He could have at least been there."
I do care about the victims and have sympathy for them, but I care first about the truth and the honor of God, and it is this latter issue that I wish to address.
The article does not state whether Mr. Free is a Christian; in any case, what irritates me is that even professing Christians will talk like he does in similar situations (and this is also why I do not assume that Mr. Free is a self-admitted non-Christian even when he speaks as he does). But just because God is "there" does not mean that he must do what you think he should do.
How about saying, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job 13:15)? Of course an atheist would not say that, but a Christian ought to have such an attitude. To Mr. Free's way of thinking, we must reply, "I want to know where your faith/reason was when you said this. You were supposed to be rational and trust God. You could have at least reasoned correctly and trusted him on this."
There is no such thing as the "problem" of evil. The only problem here is in unbiblical/irrational thinking.
Related:
Vincent Cheung, "Tsunami and The Problem of Evil"
Vincent Cheung, "The Problem of Evil"
(See www.rmiweb.org)
Gordon Clark, God and Evil
(See www.monergismbooks.com)
The article mentioned above is at:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519
March 14 2005 | Apologetics, Current