OPC'n
Puritan Board Doctor
As some of you might know, I'm doing Bible studies using God's Word and The Atheist's Bible. I combat untruths with truth. Here is another untruth from the Atheist's Bible.
"Epicurus' old questions are yet unanswered. Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?" David Hume
To answer, "whence then is evil?" one must concede that there are things that are not told in Scripture.
Deuteronomy 29:29"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
We do not know from where evil first came, so I will not address something I cannot answer. We do know that evil now comes from mankind's totally depraved nature and that Satan and his hellions are always working out evil under God's sovereign control. It is only by God's grace that He doesn't allow mankind to exhibit utter depravity on this earth.
When the Fall occurred mankind fell into total depravity, thus making mankind's heart hardened toward God. The Fall was the falling away from God into evil and this was mankind's fault not God's.
Romans 3:9 "What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10as it is written:
'None is righteous, no, not one;
11no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.
13 "Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.
The venom of asps is under their lips.
14 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16in their paths are ruin and misery,
17and the way of peace they have not known.
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes.'"
So Epicurus' question should be, "Why would God be willing to prevent evil?". That question is more fitting since mankind got itself into the evil it did. The way Epicurus puts his question would be like a child asking his mother why she didn't prevent the mud from getting onto his clothes when he played in the mud. His mother could have prevented the child from getting muddy by not allowing the child to play in the mud, but the child wanted to play in the mud and so got dirty by his own choosing. Thus, it is the child's fault for getting muddy not the mother's. Mankind wants its cake and eat it too by sinning all it wants without having sin's consequences. This is impossible. God would be just to allow us to sin and not ever shield us from sin's consequences which is evil.
God is willing to prevent evil sometimes but not all the time. God prevented Peter's sifting by Satan even though Peter denied Christ three times. God out of mercy kept Peter from losing his soul for eternity. On the other hand, God did not keep Judas from being sifted by Satan. God did not show mercy to Judas but allowed Judas to sin and reap the consequences of his own sin...the sin he chose to commit. God did this for His own glory. So He is both able and willing or unwilling to prevent evil. Here is the Scriptural reason:
Hebrews 9:13 "As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'
14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?' 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?' 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?"
Epicurus asks humanistic questions about God because he feels creation is over the Creator. Humanists always feel that everything revolves around them because they feel mankind is supreme. This is contrary to logic. What ever created this universe would have supreme significance. So, even the evolutionist would have to give way to the logic of supremely acknowledging what he feels brought the universe into being, were it the "Big Bang" or whatever it is they believe. In any case, it isn't mankind. Mankind didn't create the universe and so mankind isn't to be supremely acknowledged. Therefore, no one can demand questions of a supreme entity which centers around mankind's thinking. This is true of any supreme entity theory much less of God who is truly the supreme Person of His creation.
"Epicurus' old questions are yet unanswered. Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?" David Hume
To answer, "whence then is evil?" one must concede that there are things that are not told in Scripture.
Deuteronomy 29:29"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
We do not know from where evil first came, so I will not address something I cannot answer. We do know that evil now comes from mankind's totally depraved nature and that Satan and his hellions are always working out evil under God's sovereign control. It is only by God's grace that He doesn't allow mankind to exhibit utter depravity on this earth.
When the Fall occurred mankind fell into total depravity, thus making mankind's heart hardened toward God. The Fall was the falling away from God into evil and this was mankind's fault not God's.
Romans 3:9 "What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10as it is written:
'None is righteous, no, not one;
11no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.
13 "Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.
The venom of asps is under their lips.
14 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16in their paths are ruin and misery,
17and the way of peace they have not known.
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes.'"
So Epicurus' question should be, "Why would God be willing to prevent evil?". That question is more fitting since mankind got itself into the evil it did. The way Epicurus puts his question would be like a child asking his mother why she didn't prevent the mud from getting onto his clothes when he played in the mud. His mother could have prevented the child from getting muddy by not allowing the child to play in the mud, but the child wanted to play in the mud and so got dirty by his own choosing. Thus, it is the child's fault for getting muddy not the mother's. Mankind wants its cake and eat it too by sinning all it wants without having sin's consequences. This is impossible. God would be just to allow us to sin and not ever shield us from sin's consequences which is evil.
God is willing to prevent evil sometimes but not all the time. God prevented Peter's sifting by Satan even though Peter denied Christ three times. God out of mercy kept Peter from losing his soul for eternity. On the other hand, God did not keep Judas from being sifted by Satan. God did not show mercy to Judas but allowed Judas to sin and reap the consequences of his own sin...the sin he chose to commit. God did this for His own glory. So He is both able and willing or unwilling to prevent evil. Here is the Scriptural reason:
Hebrews 9:13 "As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'
14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?' 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?' 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?"
Epicurus asks humanistic questions about God because he feels creation is over the Creator. Humanists always feel that everything revolves around them because they feel mankind is supreme. This is contrary to logic. What ever created this universe would have supreme significance. So, even the evolutionist would have to give way to the logic of supremely acknowledging what he feels brought the universe into being, were it the "Big Bang" or whatever it is they believe. In any case, it isn't mankind. Mankind didn't create the universe and so mankind isn't to be supremely acknowledged. Therefore, no one can demand questions of a supreme entity which centers around mankind's thinking. This is true of any supreme entity theory much less of God who is truly the supreme Person of His creation.
