Posted on 12/10/2007 5:20:09 AM PST by connell
By Christopher Cook
Last night, my wife showed me an article about a young girl with an inoperable brain tumor, a little girl who has been given three months to live. The question in the air was why couldn't that Omaha mall murderer have gotten a brain tumor instead of this little girl?
A couple of years back, a dear old friend (and former man of the cloth) and I had discussions along this general line. He introduced me to the concept of process theology, and we talked about the following question:
How could an omni-benevolent God allow rocks to fall on good people's heads while they're hiking...or allow tumors to grow in the bodies of innocent children? How could He, being totally Good, allow such things?
When these questions come up in regards to God allowing human evil, the explanation is usually—and I would argue, correctly—that God, having made us with freewill, cannot or does not prevent human evil because that would take away our freewill. And of course, our freewill is a necessary component of who we are. Take it away, and we are robots, and not the creations God wished us to be: free to love Him, free to reject Him, and free in every other way.
The question becomes thornier, however, when discussing the evils that can be visited upon us by the natural world. The suggestion made by my priest friend in those conversations was that God may actually be incapable...
(Excerpt) Read more at modernconservative.com ...
You forgot the barf alert.
Except our bondage to sin.
Drop a quarter in Alex's jukebox, for this golden oldie from 2004...
GREG BOYD IS BACK IN TOWN
sung to the tune of "The Boys Are Back In Town",
as recorded by the band Thin Lizzy
Guess what just came back today?
A heresy that had been away
Hasn't changed, hasn't much to say
And Man? You're back and in charge today
God was asking if you were around
He didn't know you were living downtown
He cannot tell just if you're lost or found
It drives the Old Man crazy
Greg Boyd is back in town
The future ain't what it was supposed to be
Every night God wonders what will happen after 3:00
You make choices that God can never see
Not before you make them
One night over at the Baker place
Well the editor upped and he slapped Jesus’ face
God's Sovereignty, it stops at your chin
If God can’t really know, can He know anything?
Sunday night you’ll be dressed to kill
At the Woodland Hills Church you will
The wine will flow, but no blood will spill
Until you want it to, then you'll think about it
The preacher in the pulpit, getting lots of verses wrong
Hell must be getting warmer, it won’t be long
It won’t be long till the book tour comes
Now that Greg Boyd is here again
Greg Boyd is back in town
The above song lyrics are in no way meant to ridicule, or otherwise malign, the posters on Free Republic (including those who might publicly and openly support the heresy of "Open Theism" as it is defined by Historic Christianity [and even by other books printed by the publishing company Baker Book House]), those who have difficulty reading tiny legal print, or the former members of the 80s rock group Thin Lizzy. Do not attempt to drive while reading this post. Do not mix with alcohol or prescription medications. Do not drink while reading this post, unless you enjoy milk coming out of your nostrils. Avoid rubbing Flaming Hot Cheetos directly into the eyes. Warning - your computer monitor is fatal if swallowed.
Evil is not a problem for believers in G-d. It is a problem for deniers. In the absence of an Omnipotent Creator to proclaim what is good and what is evil objective evil cannot exist.
Why do people who claim the universe is random and meaningless continually crusade for the eradication of "evils" that by definition cannot exist in a random, meaningless universe???
So this means when the Cosmos is finally renewed and redeemed in totality, total freedom will not exist?
Rather, I think it's in the present time that total freedom does not exist. Death is the enemy of freedom, and sin is death.
The death of sinners is a mercy, insofar as death keeps them from worsening their sins. The death of saints is a blessing for them, for it calls them home to God.
Given process theology, how would one explain the story of Job?
Fallen, finite man invented process theology because he thinks that he is obviously fairer, smarter and more just than Sovereign God.
The problem with this theory is that it assumes there are some people who are better than others. Here is an interesting passage in Job:
This author mistakenly assumes the Omaha mall murderer was worse than the little girl with the brain tumor (a point he never answered). Actually to God they are both exactly the same. God shows no partiality.
This author has a totally wrong perspective on soteriology and God's saving grace. Is it any wonder he refers to the Pope rather than the scriptures?
That is what they have so much trouble undestanding. We are vessels made of clay, and the Potter uses us as he wishes. None of us are of any value until the Potter decides to use us. How he uses us is up to him, also. It is not up to the pot to tell the Potter what to do.
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