Big God Little Mo

I'm gonna get a little philosophical today. In my philosophy class, we are currently discussing arguments for and against the existence of God. We started with pro-God arguments such as the Kalam Cosmological Argument, the Watchmaker Argument, and the Fine Tuning Argument. Today we started learning the arguments against God. We started with the Problem of Evil. Here it is.

Hume's Argument from Evil

1) Either God is not able to prevent evil or he is not willing to prevent it.
2) If he is not able, then he is not omnipotent (all-powerful).
3) If he is not willing, then he is not all good.
4) Therefore, either God is not omnipotent or he is not all good.
5) If God is either not omnipotent or not all good, then God does not exist.
6) Therefore, God does not exist.

Chapter two of Tim Keller's book, The Reason for God talks about suffering. Here is a quote from that chapter.  "Tucked away within the assertion that the world is full of pointless evil is a hidden premise, namely, that if evil appears pointless to me, then it must be pointless."

This is huge! If God is who he says he is, couldn't he do something that appears to be evil from our perspective, but in reality leads to something glorious and good. It makes me think of parenting and how my parents didn't let me eat icecream for breakfast. As a seven year old, my parents may have seemed powerful, but certainly not all good. All good to me may have been parents who let their kids do whatever they please. But now I see that spoiling kids is not what is best for them and I look back and am thankful for the way my parents raised me. This analogy is maybe too simple though. I realize that much greater evils happen in this world that aren't as easy to explain away. I still believe God is big enough to have reasons that I can't comprehend.

Then I started thinking about how small and insignificant I am to even question God's goodness. Thinking about how small I am reminded me of how stinkin huge God is. He holds this complex world in his hand and is not the slightest bit worried about the evil in it. He has it under control. If God is who he says he is, then he has a purpose for everything. In the end, he will be glorified. And for some crazy reason beyond my understanding, I get to intimately know this God.

This reminded  me of a passage from Romans 8.

20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, why did you make me like this? 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some poverty for special purpose and some for common use?

I encourage you to check out this passage in context. It was too long for me to put here. But here's a link to Romans 8:14-29

Who am I to question God's justice and goodness? And who am I to dwell in his justice and goodness? Who am I to be loved by you?

I walked back from class with a new joy. Rather than dwelling on my insignificance and unworthiness, I will walk with joy knowing I am saved by God's grace alone. It's humbling that I can't comprehend what good can come from seemingly pointless evil. but God can orchestrate it all. God is all powerful and all good, even when we don't see it. And he loves us even when we question him. Mind blowing.