God and Evil

With the destruction caused by hurricane Katrina and the not to distant effects of the tsunami in Indonesia and the surrounding areas the issue of evil comes to the forefront again and how God is involved. It seems that many try and distance God from the acts of evil in this world because they somehow feel God needs protection. The end result is for some to formulate a theology such a with Open Theism that on the surface answers some peoples emotional questions but leaves an even bigger void than it tried to somehow fill. At the crux of this is the idea that people want a certain type of God as evidenced by the ever popular statement, “if that is how God is then he is not the God I would like” , or some form of that statement. I totally agree that there is no evil in God but the issue is much deeper than that as we do need to reconcile God’s sovereignty with the existence of evil in the world instead of making ways to ignore the complexity of the issue. The Goodness of God and the Reality of Evil by Albert Mohler and Is God Less Glorious Because He Ordained that Evil Be? and Tsunami, Sovereignty, and Mercy by John Piper are good articles on this subject and I would also recommend the book Still Sovereign by Thomas R. Schreiner & Bruce Ware.

Grace and Peace to You,

Tony