A Proponent for the Profound Propitiation by a Pro-Life Prosecutor
Well Howdy! I decided to get with the new Post-modern age and get a blog. Ironically enough, I also started a Twitter today too (twitter.com/wbrettnewman). Anyways, I'm not really sure what Blogs are for. I guess it is to share my thoughts, but don't you think that is kinda conceited? I mean, I think I'm a cool guy, but why would you, the reader, or really anyone else, care about what I think? And unfortunately, I am not an English major, so there will most likely not be any beautiful symbalances of humanity in my words.
So whats the point?
Well, first and foremost, I want to journal for myself, so I can get my thoughts out of my head and onto paper. And since I type faster than write, I might as well type out my thoughts. You can say I'm going green. Secondly, I feel like, although I am severely and irreversibly flawed, there are things that I think through that might be of some redemptive value to the reader. So put these together, and the reason for a blog makes sense.
And to add a last disclaimer, like I have mentioned before, I don't want the reader to think what I write is truth for them. You might wholeheartedly disagree with me. If that is you at any point, lets talk it out. You will find that I am very responsive to others opinions. Just call me up.
So let's get to it, shall we?
Last night, at Parent's Breakaway, Ben Stuart spoke on Hebrews 2. I'm going to take out parts of this passage and unpack them, in my own words:
"Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him" (v8, ESV).
When I first saw this, I thought of the ever-present question to Christianity/Religion: Why do bad things happen to good people? Or to state it another way: If God is both all-powerful and all-good, how does evil exist in the world? Either God is not all-powerful, or he would stop the evil; or God is not all-good. Which is a legit question. However, it is a flawed question if you are looking to defeat the deity of God. (And by God, I mean the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ's Father) First, in order to ask this question, you are admitting that your standard of morality is a common standard for the whole world. And if an atheist asks this question, he cannot both agree to a common morality standard and say there is no supernatural deity outside this morality standard (namely, God). C.S. Lewis says it this way: "It begins to look as if we shall have to admit that there is more than one kind of reality; that, in this particular case, there is something above and beyond the ordinary facts of men's behavior, and yet quite definitely real - a real law which none of us made, but which we find pressing on us."- (Mere Christianity, p.20).
Which brings us back to the "problem of pain" question. Like I said earlier, to ask this question, you have to believe that your standard of morality is a common morality standard. The reason you have to say this, is because if this is not true, you do not have the right to determine what is good or not. To say what God is doing is evil, you are inherently proclaiming that you know what Good and Evil is. In connection with this, you also have to proclaim that you know the future consequences of every action in the world. Because suffering that produces sanctification later, is not considered evil, because you know the good that will come out of it. So to call something evil means that there is no good in it. If you can make that claim, then go ahead, but I will stay away from that and leave it to God.
-(a note) Since all things are coming back to God, who is perfect, you could use my reasoning to say that there is no evil in the world, because at some point all evil will turn into good. However, remember that this evil is only brought to completion by God, not be any human good. So I am free to call things in this world evil, because this world is separated from God. I wholeheartedly believe that injustice, lukewarm-ness, etc is evil.
So if you can truthfully say that your standard or morality is overarching, and that you can see the consequences of all things, then we are done with this discussion...
No?
Thats what I thought, so I guess I'll continue. To sum things up, I believe all evil in this world is brought upon humans by humans acting outside of God's will for them. So does that mean that God is not powerful to control all of his creation? Well, let me ask you a similar question: How do you walk your dog? hahaha..
You could choose to bind your dog to a strict leash, to where he/she has no choice but to walk by your side. Or you could take off the leash, and while little doggy might run away, how blessed do you feel when it comes back to you, to walk beside you, freely. Personally, I would rather be running in a field with my dog chasing after me, than me carrying my dog in a bag... How great the glory we bring to God when we decide to walk by his side, to chase after him in a field of distractions, when we have the complete opportunity to run away.
So when you accept that evil is from humans interacting outside the will of God, and that we can't determine what actions of God are evil or good, then we realize that God's purposes don't make sense to us, and that He has no obligation to explain his actions to us.
"At present, we do not YET see everything in subjection to him"...
But we will!!
I think that's all I will go into right now, but I still have some things to say about this passage, so hopefully this wasn't a one time thing...
