.jpg)
Is God Dead?
Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at possible reasons why God allows evil and suffering to exist, including as punishment for sin, and as a consequence of other people’s sin (as a byproduct of free will). Recently, we have suggested that the exercise of free will is perhaps the predominant reason why God allows evil and suffering to exist. In this vein, we have sure enough seen how most all evil and suffering in the world traces back to free will decisions made by human beings. In short, the free will argument often dominates among all explanations given. This is all right, and well, and good, except the free will argument can hardly explain why North Carolina and Florida were devastated by back-to-back hurricanes not so long ago. In fact, one would think it absurd to think that these disasters were brought about by human free will under any circumstances.
Nor is it conceivable that a human being exercising free will could bring about any manifestation of tornado, or earthquake, or flood. It could be argued, I suppose, that natural disasters fall under the punishment for sin category of causation, but that seems highly unlikely when the sheer scope and randomness of the suffering brought about by natural disasters is considered. Surely, God is not punishing every affected human being because of their sin. Nor does it make sense to suggest that the victims of natural disasters are suffering as a consequence of other people’s sins. There must be another reason why human beings suffer from natural disasters. Since we have been considering for the last two weeks what Christian doctrine has to say about why God allows evil and suffering to exist, we will begin again with the Christian Bible.
On orthodox Christian doctrine, humans are not the only created beings with free will. The author and theologian C. S. Lewis summarizes the Christian doctrine well, writing, “And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil, and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Indeed, Scripture is quite clear, both explicitly and implicitly, that the angels are free-willed beings.
Speaking of Satan’s free will, the prophet Ezekiel writes that he exercised free will in choosing his own destiny: “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.” As a result of Satan misusing his free will, God said to him,” I cast you to the ground” (Ezek 28:17). The problem was, as Jude explains, Satan and his angels did not keep their given authority but exercising their free will “abandoned their proper dwelling” (Jude 16).
The fact that Satan and the angels whom he corrupted rebelled against God speaks directly to their possession of what can be termed “angelic free will.” Consequently, the intentional misuse of angelic free will brings about much evil and suffering in the world. In the tradition of St. Augustine of Hippo, Christians hold that much of the natural evil and suffering in the world is the work of Satan. Just as God cannot both grant angelic free will and at the same time regulate or limit it, neither can he prevent free-willed spiritual beings from using it to cause human pain and suffering.
More than that, God seems to have booted Satan and the fallen angels out of heaven without diminishing their power. In fact, Satan has been sinning from the beginning of time (1 John 3:8) and has since been singularly focused upon touching mankind with as much evil and suffering as possible. And, according to biblical testimony, he has the power to exercise his angelic free will to bring devastating evil and suffering upon mankind (cf Job).
Jesus even refers to Satan three times. The apostle Paul says that Satan is “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2); not that he is God, but that he has the power and free will to exact evil and suffering upon nature and human beings as the prince of this present age (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11), and that, he does with catastrophic effect. We have mentioned hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes, but that is just the start.
Natural evil in the hands of Satan is revealed through the evil and suffering of diseases like cancer, ALS, epilepsy, and dementia, to name but a few. And the evil and suffering wrought by Satan and his demons are manifest in pestilences like bacteria, viruses, blight, mold, and decay, not to mention Satan’s ever-present temptation of mankind to sin against God and one another. Sure enough, in this realm, the works of Satan are everywhere, and the evil and suffering they cause touch every human being continually.
Join us next week as we continue to unfold Christian doctrine from the biblical text on why God allows evil to exist. Until then, the question at hand is this: Is God dead?
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at [email protected].
