Why hasn’t God put an end to evil? If it were on our terms, we would eliminate the cruel world leaders, murderers, thieves, natural disasters, and diseases. But God’s approach is far more radical.
Look around you, watch a minute of the news, and you will see suffering. It is an unavoidable part of life. But where did evil come from? As we ask this question and look for answers, we’ll find that the biblical Christian worldview gives us a robust answer to the problem of evil.
Despite our attempts to solve the problem of evil by eliminating either God or evil, only a recognition that our good God will conquer evil gives us hope.
Why do the innocent suffer? If God is so loving and powerful, why doesn’t He end suffering? This common objection is an opportunity for the gospel.
We need to think well and realize that the Christian faith is founded on fact. The object of our faith is key. Although the amount of our faith may change, but the object—the person and work of Christ—never will. As a result, Christianity is not a crutch—it’s the cure.
Isn’t Christianity just a psychological crutch? We frequently hear this objection to Christianity in one form or another: it’s an invention that helps emotionally weak people; it enables the purposeless to create meaning for themselves; it is merely the result of preconditioning. When someone comes to us with this objection, that is an opportunity to point them to Christ. We need to think well and understand the ins and outs of this objection in order to address it.
Teacher. Moral example. Good person. These are common modern descriptions of Jesus, but we need to ask, what did Jesus say about Himself? Although we may attempt to soften Jesus’ words or change His identity to be that of a mere teacher, if we take the New Testament seriously, we see that Jesus claimed to be God.
Having a claim to exclusivity does not automatically mean something is incorrect. But having a truth claim does not mean we toss tolerance out the window. Instead, we have tolerance despite difference with love, holding on to our views while respecting those of others.
Is Christ the only way to God? This bristling question has three potential answers: Christianity is not narrow; it is narrow and wrong; it is narrow and right.
Because the Bible claims to be the Word of God, and because the implications of that claim are life-changing, critics of every age have put the Bible under intense scrutiny. But the Bible has withstood and will continue to withstand all objections.
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