Nine Questions from a Skeptic – answered by Lisa Quintana, Christian Apologist
I volunteer for a ministry called Talk About Doubts, where inquiries to the site are answered by experts who volunteer their time to help provide good answers to concerns about the Christian faith. Recently, one young woman sent a list of questions yet did not respond to my reaching out to her. So, I would like to answer most of her questions in this blog post. (One of her questions need clarification. Something that I have learned is when something is unclear, ask what a person meant by it. In the case of the first question, I’m unable to provide answer because I need more information.)
- Inconsistency between holy, just punishment and free will.
- Explain what you mean by this – how do you think there is an inconsistency?
- Explain what you mean by this – how do you think there is an inconsistency?
- Why does God intervene at the times he does and not others.
1. Because we are not omniscient, and cannot fathom all of time or how things will play out. - Why kill off the Canaanites for their sinfulness but let the Holocaust happen? While I disagree that a good God would command genocide or killing, a part of me can understand a necessary act of evil to destroy a larger evil… if it’s consistent.
- The difference can be understood when you consider the Old and New Covenants. In the Old Testament, God was working through history to bring the Messiah into existence. Jesus would come through the Jewish people, and so the Jews had to be preserved. If the Israelites did not kill the Canannites, they likely would have been destroyed. It was about the survival of the Jews for the coming of the Savior. And since Jesus atoned for all sin on the cross, the New Covenant is in operation which only requires faith in him for salvation. Although the holocaust was one of the most horrific things to happen, God used it because after the war ended, the Jewish people were able to finally return to their homeland as was prophesied in key passages. The scriptures foretold the regathering of the dispersed Jewish people to the land of Israel, with Ezekiel describing a vision of “dry bones” coming to life and being placed back in their land, and Isaiah mentioning a “second time” for God to gather his people (see: Ezekiel 37:11-12; Isaiah 11:11-12; Ezekiel 36:24).
- The difference can be understood when you consider the Old and New Covenants. In the Old Testament, God was working through history to bring the Messiah into existence. Jesus would come through the Jewish people, and so the Jews had to be preserved. If the Israelites did not kill the Canannites, they likely would have been destroyed. It was about the survival of the Jews for the coming of the Savior. And since Jesus atoned for all sin on the cross, the New Covenant is in operation which only requires faith in him for salvation. Although the holocaust was one of the most horrific things to happen, God used it because after the war ended, the Jewish people were able to finally return to their homeland as was prophesied in key passages. The scriptures foretold the regathering of the dispersed Jewish people to the land of Israel, with Ezekiel describing a vision of “dry bones” coming to life and being placed back in their land, and Isaiah mentioning a “second time” for God to gather his people (see: Ezekiel 37:11-12; Isaiah 11:11-12; Ezekiel 36:24).
- Then when I question the Garden of Eden, why didn’t God kill Satan, the greatest evil of all? Someone once told me it’s because Satan needed to tempt Adam and Eve in order for free will to exist. An all-powerful God has infinite things at his disposal, let’s not stupidly assume keeping Satan alive was the only way to challenge Adam in Eve to insure free will.
- God did not “need” Satan to do anything – with or without that, Adam and Eve most likely would have found a way to sin. It’s important to note that Satan has free will, too. God made creatures, i.e. angels and people, with freedom. The most remarkable thing is that God knew when he created the world, he would have to die for it. There was no Plan B.
- God did not “need” Satan to do anything – with or without that, Adam and Eve most likely would have found a way to sin. It’s important to note that Satan has free will, too. God made creatures, i.e. angels and people, with freedom. The most remarkable thing is that God knew when he created the world, he would have to die for it. There was no Plan B.
- And if God decides to insert himself in earthly actions, seemingly randomly, what’s the point in free will?
- The point in free will is there is an overriding good – love. Love should never be forced. God works within our free will providentially, and there are many different theories on how that is done (Calvinism, Arminianism, Molinism, etc). But no one knows for sure how God allows people to have free will and yet maintains his sovereignty. It is a bit of a mystery.
- The point in free will is there is an overriding good – love. Love should never be forced. God works within our free will providentially, and there are many different theories on how that is done (Calvinism, Arminianism, Molinism, etc). But no one knows for sure how God allows people to have free will and yet maintains his sovereignty. It is a bit of a mystery.
- If God cared about free will in any context other than people choosing to believe in him, he wouldn’t intervene. (Also HE hardened Pharaoh’s heart the seventh time, condemning people to death. Where was the concern for Pharaoh’s free will?)
- You may be conflating God’s sovereign will with his foreknowledge. Many scholars agree that God only hardened Pharaoh’s heart because he knew (foreknowledge) that Pharaoh would continue to choose rebelling against God’s will anyway.
- You may be conflating God’s sovereign will with his foreknowledge. Many scholars agree that God only hardened Pharaoh’s heart because he knew (foreknowledge) that Pharaoh would continue to choose rebelling against God’s will anyway.
- Where is the concern for forgiving again and again and again as he told his disciples to do.
- The concern was finished once and for all on the Cross. Prior to that, in the Old Testament, full justice had not yet been fulfilled. Know the difference between the Old and New Covenants.
- The concern was finished once and for all on the Cross. Prior to that, in the Old Testament, full justice had not yet been fulfilled. Know the difference between the Old and New Covenants.
- What I see is this: Christians often interpret the Bible through a presupposition that God is good and/or forgetting the limitless possibilities of an all-powerful creator, explaining his actions with worldly logic.
- Yes, we do presuppose the goodness of God and for “good reason.” It is a logical conclusion when you consider the facts, as worked out by Anselm, an 11th C. monk who used a sound philosophical argument on why God is good:
- 1) God’s existence is necessary because of the degrees of goodness in creation
2) God must be perfectly good; the highest being; the root of goodness - 3) Why? Because there must be a “Necessary Being” – God is that being
- a. Needing no other (self-existent)
- b. All created things have need of God’s existence – they are contingent (i.e. we exist but are dependent on Earth’s resources to do so)
- 4) Anselm’s presupposes that people can, and do, distinguish between greater & lesser goods in life – a universal objective standard of goodness
- 1) God’s existence is necessary because of the degrees of goodness in creation
- Yes, we do presuppose the goodness of God and for “good reason.” It is a logical conclusion when you consider the facts, as worked out by Anselm, an 11th C. monk who used a sound philosophical argument on why God is good:
C. S. Lewis was also influenced by Anselm’s concept of the God being the root of ALL goodness, and argues for the same concept in Mere Christianity:
1) Some beings are more nearly perfect than are others.
2) But things cannot be more or less perfect unless there is a wholly perfect to which they can be compared.
3) Therefore, there must be a Most Perfect Being (God).
Note: God’s goodness is not dependent on what he does, but Who he is. God lacks nothing. His existence is perfect and cannot be corrupted.
- At the end of the day, if the Christian God is real, he had limitless power and chose to do everything he did the way it was done. However me, a 22 year old girl, without any level of infinite knowledge, find myself thinking of ways that he could’ve achieved his desired results without causing the harm he did. Granted, me thinking of ways is kind of moot because I am not a god and may not have some knowledge that God does. But even if my ideas don’t work, an all-powerful god could’ve found a different way to carry out his will. A god that settles on genocide as a solution cannot be a good one.
Answer: The Free Will argument – Christian Philosopher, Alvin Plantinga’s Core Free Will Argument:
- A world with free creatures is more valuable than a world without them.
- God can create free creatures, but cannot cause them to only do good.
- If free creatures misuse their freedom, evil will result.
- Therefore, it is possible that God cannot create a world with free will and no evil.
It must be understood the “the limitless possibilities of an all-powerful creator” are, in fact, limited to what is logically possible, (i.e. God cannot create a square circle). It is from philosophical arguments that we deduce that God could not have created a world with truly free creatures who only chose to do good all of the time.
