Do You Still Think God Is Good? by Brumby Clayton;

Author:Brumby, Clayton;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

The Tale of Two Timeframes

“How is it that God seemingly sits so idly by as evil and suffering ravage what he’s made?”

Mike stayed quiet for a moment to allow the question to sink in. Then he offered, “Let’s make some assumptions. The most important is that the God we are dealing with is, as was just stated, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving and perfectly moral. The answer will be found without compromising any of these attributes.

“And if I can, let me offer a couple of approaches scholars have taken before in answering this question,” he continued. “One is called the soul-building theodicy.47 This explanation simply claims certain attributes and character traits cannot be brought about in us by anything other than adverse circumstances. As the saying goes, a diamond is simply a piece of coal that stuck to the job. Without the pressure it would never become hard or beautiful or valuable.”

“So now you’re saying evil is necessary?” Todd asked.

Mike grew thoughtful. “More that its inevitability has positive applications. Chelsea knows love, grace and forgiveness at a level few of us ever will; they are tangible realities to her. And her ability to give back now, particularly to people carrying a lot of guilt or dealing with regret, far exceeds anything she could have developed on her own. Libby knows now that when the hard chips fall she can step it up and do just about anything God asks of her. And Eric knows he can emotionally handle pretty much any inexplicable circumstance, no matter how hard the loss, and still stay the course. I know the same thing having experienced the loss of my own mother to cancer. These are lessons learned in the crucible. So for God to make human beings of value, and that means human beings of character, they must be tested.”

“So you’re saying evil has to exist in some way for this soul-building to take place?” Todd restated his comment. He wanted to make sure he was hearing Mike correctly.

“It’s hard to say yes to that,” Mike replied. “Does God utilize it to accomplish things not possible otherwise? It appears so. There is simply no other way for this kind of character building to take place. C. S. Lewis spoke to this, after going through the loss of his own wife to cancer, how God uses adversity to work things deep into us.” Finding the quote on his tablet, he read:

The terrible thing is that a perfectly good God is…hardly less formidable than a Cosmic Sadist. The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed—might grow tired of his vile sport—might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If

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