The Gifts (Manifestations) of the Spirit - Craig Keener

 Coming October 13.

By Craig Keener and Daniel Kolenda.

Spiritual Formation and Transformation

Tree, in my backyard

Spiritual formation is the ongoing process of Christ forming himself in our heart (spirit); the ever-increasing heart-morphing into Christlikeness. Galatians 4:19 is a key verse here. It reads: 

My dear children, 

for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth 

until Christ is formed in you...

I like how Renovare's Life With God Bible expresses the meaning of this verse and the nature of spiritual formation.

"A hallmark verse for spiritual formation, Gal. 4:19 provides an image of the process of growth for Christians. In this picture it is Christ who is growing in us, rather than we who are growing in Christ. Christ is formed in us by the power of the Holy Spirit as we respond to his ever-present grace in our lives. This occurs in daily, ordinary life as we "practice the presence of God" in our work, our play, our relationships, and all of life. By the Spirit in our hearts we cry out to God "Abba! Father!" (Gal. 4:6) many times throughout the course of a day, acknowledging who we are and whose we are. Christ is also formed in us as we present ourselves as living sacrifices to him through the Spiritual Disciplines, which, far from being the binding legalism Paul condemns in this letter, are the loving response of disciples to God's grace.

Steadily, gradually, Christ looms larger and larger within us. We find ourselves thinking, feeling, believing, serving, and living more like him. Not only are we becoming more like Jesus; we are becoming more human, more ourselves.

The work of spiritual formation is the subject of this letter [Galatians]. That the Galatians were submitting again to a yoke of slavery - the opposite of spiritual formation - prompted Paul to couch his communication in the vocabulary of freedom. Spiritual formation and freedom have a dynamic relationship. Curtail one, and the other is stifled. Grow in one, and the other flourishes. Five dimensions of spiritual formation emerge from the text as a result of Paul's emphasis on freedom. These are seismic shifts in the core of his being as Christ is formed in him, in the Galatians, and in us." 

The locus of spiritual formation and spiritual transformation is the human heart. See Dallas Willard's essay "Spiritual Formation: What It Is, and How It Is Done." 

Willard writes: "Spiritual formation in the tradition of Jesus Christ is the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as the spirit or will. It is being formed (really, transformed) in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ."

This means that one's heart is formed, or morphed, into Christlikeness (Gal. 4:19). Spiritual formation, Jesus-style, is not about asking "what would Jesus do?" and then trying hard to be like Jesus and do the things he did. If a person had the heart of Jesus, the results would be, inexorably, the kind of interior and exterior life Jesus had. With the "interior" being ontologically prior to the "exterior." As Willard says, "Christlikeness is established in the very depths of our being." This is about "change of the inner person, where what we do originates."

The interesting thing about this is that neither you nor I nor anyone can bring this about. To think that one could do so is to diminish the transcendence of the transformation. I might think that I could, given enough time to practice, transform myself into Lebron James. Had I this belief, you would question whether or not I have seen Lebron James play basketball. Who Christ is so far surpasses us that our formation into Christlikeness can only be achieved by Christ himself,

(Willard's entire article is profound, deep, and insightful. See also Willard's "Spiritual Formation in Christ: A Perspective on What it is and How it Might be Done.")

It's Linda's Birthday!

 

 

 

Monday morning, August 3.

It's Linda's birthday!

I met Linda in 1970 at Northern Illinois University. We were part of the same campus ministry.

I was attracted, not only to her physical beauty, but to her heart, to her spirit. And, most importantly, to her unwavering love for Jesus.  

I thank God regularly for giving me Linda, my beautiful wife and life partner. 

She has a vast personal ministry to many people. 

She is a source of wisdom for constant callers. 

She is a compassionate God-seeker and prayer warrior. 

Linda has a fierce, loyal, unswerving faith in Jesus. 

She is a brilliant piano/vocal teacher, imparting more to her students than musical abilities.

She is a knowledgeable and skilled educator.

She has many gifts, and uses them for the glory of God. 

She is a phenomenal mother.

She is a passionate and creative grandmother!

She is a great support and strength to me. I could not do what God has called me to do without her. 

Her sense of humor really gets to me.

And, Linda is the perfect Wordle partner!

On August 11 we will celebrate fifty-three years of marriage! 

Thank you God, for giving Linda to me, and to so many others.

Happy birthday!

Morphing From Our Subhumanity to True Humanity

 

Often, when a person fails at something, they say "I'm only human." But from the Jesus POV, this is not true. If one were "only" human, truly human, then one would not morally or spiritually fail. People like N.T. Wright, Dallas Willard, and Thomas Merton all agree with this.

Wright points to that Sea of Galilee story, when Jesus walks on water and calls to Peter, "Come!" Peter comes, walks for a moment, then falls in. The falling-in is not because he is "only human," but because he is not human. The Jesus who becomes "fully man" (as well as "fully God") walks on water because he is just that. In Jesus we see mere humanity, true humanity. 

In his sermon "Dreaming of a White Easter," Wright says that, as dwellers in Christ, "we can really live without being greedy and snatching at power and using other people as objects in your quest for pleasure or prestige." Most of the world has no idea that this is possible. You might as well have snow at Easter. As one of the greatest early Christians put it: it’s ridiculous, and that’s why it’s true. Nobody would have made this stuff up." You and I are meant to be signs to the world who "show the full glory of what human life was meant to be, and to cut across the shallow lies that drag us down and make us, frankly, sub-human." Part of Christ being formed in us (Gal. 4:19) is that his full humanity becomes ours.

Dallas Willard, in "Spiritual Formation: What It Is, and How It Is Done," writes: "Spiritual formation in the tradition of Jesus Christ is the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as spirit or will. It is being formed (really, transformed) in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ." What does that look like? Willard refers to 1 Corinthians 13 and writes: "There is a real possibility of looking at I Corinthians 13, for example, and being able to see that the love that is portrayed there can actually come to occupy the human heart. People can really be like that--"Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." People can be like that, not because they do such things, but because agape love has occupied them effectively as a result of their having learned how to receive it into the deepest part of their being." 

People can really be like that. To be like that is to be human. This is so huge I can hardly bear it. Arguing by via negativa, if this were not true, than things like 1 Corinthians 13 that speak of such transcendent love are carrots forever dangling before hungry rabbits. The famous "love chapter" then becomes either fiction, or merely descriptive of God, but inapplicable to us, the result being we are forever subhuman.

thomas Merton expresses his longing to transcend subhumanity and ascend to true humanity when he writes: "One cannot remain immobile where the political and aesthetic customs and potentialities are so conspicuous and compelling: one must take another step." These words defined Merton's "personal vocation," which is the vocation of us all; namely, to go beyond the vast limitations of our subhumanity. Merton writes:

"I must - in my writing, in my prayer, in my life - take this further step and go beyond my limitations and the limitations of thought, art and religion of our time. And this requires effort and suffering. I simply cannot sit down and accept my limitations - that is impossible. But I must take care most of all not to be content with merely fanciful transcendence - going beyond my limitations in thought and imagination only. It must be a real transcendence." (A Year With Thomas Merton, Kindle, 5057-5070)

I must be transformed into true humanity. I must transcend the limitations of subhumanity that result in impotent and impoverished living. Our world needs Jesus, and I am called to host his presence. Christ in us. That's the hope of glory. Amazingly, "we are partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1)

"Mere humanity" abides like a branch in a Vine and does the kind of things Jesus did and even more. That is the promise and destiny of every real follower of Jesus.

Five Core Beliefs of a Praying Life

 

(Linda, on a Lake Michigan beach)

(From my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.)

Since 1981 my extended praying day has been Tuesday. On Tuesday afternoons I go alone to a quiet place, away from distractions, and talk with God about what we are thinking and doing together. Solitary praying is one-on-one, God and I, for several hours. As I meet with God, I carry certain core beliefs about God with me. They are...  

1. God exists. God is real. There is a God. God is. Without this, praying is an illusion. In the act of praying I am keeping company with the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, necessarily existent (everlasting; without beginning or end), personal agent who created and sustains all things. This is no small appointment I have! 

2. God is a personal being. God desires relationship. The Christian idea of God as a Trinity makes sense of God as essentially relational. God, in his being, is three relating Persons in One. God, as a Three-Personed Being, makes conceptual sense of the idea that God is love. Everlastingly, the Father has been loving the Son, the Son has been loving the Spirit, the Spirit has been loving the Father, and round and round in the Big Dance. To pray is to accept God’s invitation to the Big Dance. 

3. God made me. For what? For relationship with him. God desires relationship. He made me for such a partnership as this. When I pray, I am living in the heart of God’s desire for me. 

4. God knows me. In praying, God’s Spirit searches me out. God is aware of my deepest thoughts and inclinations, many of which are beyond me. God knows me better than I know myself. This would be devastating, were it not for the fact that… 

5. God loves me. God, in his essence, is love. Therefore, God cannot not-love. This is good news for me! As I put 4 and 5 together, I’m singing “Amazing Grace,” accompanied by tears of gratitude and joy. God desires me to love and know him in return. God has called me into a reciprocal relationship. Between God and me is a give-and-take.

Our Productivity Does Not Define Us

 

In my Spiritual Formation classes at Payne Seminary I tell my students that a main emphasis in my church is on helping our people understand their identity in Christ. The Pauline idea of "in Christ" is used, with variations, 180 times in his letters. One could argue that Paul's central idea is what it means to have Christ, the hope of glory, in you.

God spoke to one of my students about reclaiming their true identity, and to not allow this world's values to define them. This is important, since the core question of the spiritual life is "Who do I belong to?" 

Whose am I?

One of the false ways we are tempted to measure our identities is by our productivity. Henri Nouwen, in Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit, writes: 

"A life without a quiet center easily becomes delusional. When we cling to the results of our actions as our only way of self-identification, we become possessive, defensive, and dependent on false identities. In the solitude of prayer we slowly unmask the illusion of our dependencies and possessiveness, and discover in the center of our own self that we are not what we can control or conquer, but what is given to us from above to channel to others. In solitary prayer we become aware that our identity does not depend on what we have accomplished or possess, that our productivity does not define us, and that our worth is not the same as our usefulness." (P. 19)

I am in Christ. 

I am his "beloved" and he is mine. 

My worth is not the same as my usefulness, since I am God's child. 

My productivity, or lack thereof, does not define me. 

I am set free from the punishing, hierarchical honor-shame systems of my surrounding culture.

 

Do Not Let This World Interpret You

 

(Our grandson Levi created this capybara.)

The prescient, prophetic, praying follower of Jesus, Thomas Merton, wrote: "We have a vocation not to be disturbed by the turmoil and wreckage of the great fabric of illusions." (A Book of Hours, 56)

We have a vocation... 

A calling. We have a calling.

From God. God calls us.

... not to be disturbed...

To not be agitated.

This is about the heart. 

Washing machines have "agitators." They move back and forth, back and forth, with force. They are going nowhere. They make no forward progress.

Disturbances halt forward progress. Disturbances interrupt the calling.

Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be agitated." 

ταράσσω,v  \{tar-as'-so}
1) to agitate, trouble (a thing, by the movement of its parts to and fro)  1a) to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of  mind, disturb his equanimity  1b) to disquiet, make restless  1c) to stir up  1d) to trouble  1d1) to strike one's spirit with fear and dread  1e) to render anxious or distressed  1f) to perplex the mind of one by suggesting scruples or doubts 

...by the turmoil...

Let not your hearts be agitated by the agitation. By the upheaval. By the irruptions. By the roiling waters.

Let not your hearts be arrested by the peace-thieves.

...by the wreckage...

Do not be captivated by the incessant effluence of cultural carnage. 

Put a compress on the bleeding media.

...the great fabric of illusions.

The systematic sham that is "the world."

With all its pretension and arrogance.

Do not let this world interpret you.

We have a calling from God to remain in Christ where agitation and turmoil are not to be found and the great fabric of systemic spell-casting is broken.

What Is 'Naturalism'?

 

I am not a philosophical, or metaphysical, naturalist.

What is 'naturalism'? Here's a helpful synopsis.

Roger Trigg defines it as the view that “reality is wholly accessible (at least in principle) to the natural sciences. Nothing ... can exist beyond their reach.”

[Alvin] Plantinga defines it as the view that “there is no God, and we human beings are insignificant parts of a giant cosmic machine that proceeds in majestic indifference to us, our hopes and aspirations, our needs and desires, our sense of fairness, or fittingness.”

We see this in Richard Dawkins’s vision of reality when he writes, “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”

We are the products of a “blind watchmaker.” (See Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker.)

As George Gaylord Simpson puts it, “Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind.”

- From "Recovering the Person: The Crisis of Naturalism and the Theological Insights of Søren Kierkegaard and Karl Barth." Alan J. Torrance and Andrew B. Torrance

Living Jesus's Moral Life Requires Utter Dependence on the Power of God

                                                       (Kibera, in Nairobi. Kenya)

One aspect of New Testament ethics is that it is an ethic of love. The two greatest commandments, said Jesus, are to love God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then to love one's neighbor as you love your own self. (Matthew 22:36-39) These commands involve the condition of one's heart, and are not mere matters of outward compliance. 

In the ethics of Jesus there is a special place for the poor. For example, in the parable of the invitation to the banquet the servant is commanded by his master to bring in the poor, crippled, blind, lame, the street people of first-century Israel. This is a way of demonstrating the agape love of God which is non-hierarchical and unconditional. 

Anyone who thinks following Jesus' love ethic is easy to do has wrongly identified comprehension with matters of the heart. This is far from easy, in our natural state. Many are those that understand, few are those that do.

R. Scott Smith writes:

"How are Christians to live this kind of ethic? They cannot live it out just by education and self-discipline. Instead, they can live it out only in utter dependence upon the indwelling power of the Spirit of Christ. Thus, the Holy Spirit is necessary for the moral life for a kingdom member, and this is where the virtues enter into our discussion. Indeed, the New Testament places a very strong emphasis on the virtues, with the goal of becoming like Jesus. Yet the virtues are not divorced from commands and principles. They work together, such that the moral life is not just doing the right thing or avoiding doing wrong. It is about becoming like Jesus, and that should issue forth in certain kinds of actions." (R. Scott Smith, In Search of Moral Knowledge: Overcoming the Fact-Value Dichotomy, Kindle Locations 314-319)

The virtue of love, as with all moral virtues of Jesus, fruit of the Spirit. "The Holy Spirit produces these virtues in Christians. Yes, there are things believers are to do to cultivate them, but the Holy Spirit is necessary for their realization." (Ib., Kindle Locations 322-323) These virtues represent our goal, which is becoming like Jesus in character.

The Spirit grows this fruit as we live like branches connected to Jesus the True Vine. One major way of connecting is by being a praying person. Praying is the intimate God-connection par excellence. A praying person is a fruit-bearing person, to include a loving and compassionate person.

Where Was God When the Tornado Came (Lecture Notes)

(These are my lecture notes for my conference workshop in Green Lake, Wisconsin.)

WHERE WAS GOD WHEN THE TORNADO CAME?

-      John Piippo

How do we respond when someone asks us a question like this?  In this workshop we will see how the reality of God as all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing is compatible with the existence of moral and natural evil, and why belief in such a God makes the best worldview-sense of moral and natural evil.

This workshop is not about the existential problem of suffering; i.e., it is not about how we cope with and minister to the reality of suffering in the aftermath of tragedies like the tornado that hit Oklahoma. That is so very important. But in this workshop we’re looking at answers to the question: Where was God when the tornado came?

My understanding to this is: God is working all things together for good. While on the surface this seems to be insensitive, I don’t think it is. In this workshop I’ll explain.

Worldviews

Everyone has a worldview. A worldview is that set of beliefs, expressed in statements, that are held to be true.

When something like a tornado or tsunami or hurricane or earthquake or murder or rape happens, a person's worldview kicks in.

Worldviews have explanatory functions and answer questions like "How?" and "Why?"

The value-ideas of "good" and "evil" get explained within a person's worldview.

So, the beliefs of your worldview will answer, or not answer, the question "Where was God when the tornado came?"


Define "God"

On Christian theism, and even on the philosophical-intellectual Western atheism that claims to defeat God's existence, "God" means:

- an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, necessarily existent personal agent who is creator and sustainer of all things.

In the Worldview of Christian Theism what does “Good” Mean?

On the worldview of Christian theism, the greatest good is loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The GG is not: preservation of life, in this present darkness.

This is seen at the very center of our faith; viz., the suffering of Jesus on the cross.

God is working to achieve the greatest good. This greatest good infinitely outweighs all earthly suffering and evil.

Rom. 8:18 - I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

On Christian theism “good” is what God wills. “Good” is defined in terms of God.

a.   Note: This avoids the Euthyphro Dilemma. (That’s another issue – I won’t go into this today.

Definition of “evil.”

"Evil" is that which goes against the heart of God, the will of God, which is often expressed in the commands of God.

Note here the worldview of atheism. What kind of moral beliefs will an atheist have?

One common option is:  Utilitarianism.

On utilitarianism – "good" is “pleasure,” and “evil” is “pain.”

                                         i.    Bentham’s “hedonic calculus.

                                        ii.    Mill’s reinterpretation of Bentham’s individualistic idea.

A possible distinction between moral evil and natural evil

Moral evil: there is suffering caused by the choices of created agents - that’s “moral evil.”

 In cases of moral evil at least one free creature can be rightly blamed.

Natural evil: there is suffering that appears to be uncaused by created agents – that’s “natural evil”.

                                    In the case of natural evil no free creature can be rightly blamed for it.

The Free Will Defense in response to moral evil.

God allows moral evil to happen.

                                         i.    God does not cause moral evil.

                                        ii.    God hates moral evil.

                                       iii.    Moral evil happens because God gives persons libertarian free         will.

Why does God give created agents free will?

                                         i.    Because God is love.

                                        ii.    For God, love is the greatest.

                                       iii.    Love requires free will.

                                      iv.    This is risky for God.

e.   W/o free will love is impossible.

Michael Murray – much so-called “natural” evil is really moral evil. (Murray – Nature Red in Tooth and Claw)

 In many cases the evil that results from such natural disasters is in part attributable to the actions of free creatures. (132)

E.g. – If I am hiking in the mountains and see ahead that the trail passes by an unstable rock wall. If I proceed on the trail and am injured or killed by falling rocks, the injury or death would not count as natural evil, since the evil here results in part from my freely choosing to do something I know to be risky.

“As a result, the evil of being injured or killed by the rock is at least partially attributable, causally and morally, to me.” (133)

 E.g., if I choose to build a home on a known fault line, or in the likely path of hurricanes. If my home is destroyed by an earthquake or a hurricane the resultant evil is not, strictly speaking, a natural evil, since it is in part attributable to my (poor) choices.

A biblical example: Acts 27:

9 Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement.[a] So Paul warned them, 10 “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” 11 But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship.12 Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.

13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. 15 The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, 17 so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor[b] and let the ship be driven along.18 We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. 19 On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

21 After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss.

But… why does God make these possible in the first place? “Why would God put us in a position where we are capable of being harmed by falling rocks, or capable of building homes which are subject to destruction by catastrophic natural forces?” Murray says there are two things to say in response to this.

                                         i.    1 – “The question is simply a variant of the question of why God allows us to choose between doing good and evil in the first place.

 Providing us with the ability to do good and evil just is providing us with the ability to cause good or harm (to ourselves or others).

And the cases we are discussing here are simply further instances of the general phenomenon.” (133)

"There are good reasons for the theist to think that God would put free creatures in a position where being able to cause goods and harms of this particular sort is on balance better than not being able to do so.” (133) How would we argue for this?

1.   It is a good thing that the world be governed by regularities which make these sort of harms possible, and that this regularity is good enough to outweigh those harms.

2.   If it is good to have a world with free creatures and good that such a world be governed by physical regularities, there will be occasions where those free creatures might willfully throw themselves in front of “lines of causation” that cause them harm.

c.   So… much of what is typically regarded as natural evil is in fact moral evil.

d.   This is not to deny that there are some genuinely natural evils. Indeed, some evils will still count as wholly natural evils even in cases where creaturely free acts have contributed to their occurrence in some central way.

e.   “If I build a house in the beach in Miami, I know that at some point it will be damaged by a hurricane. When that day arrives, the damage will count as one of those semi-natural moral evils. On the other hand, if an earthquake were to devastate Philadelphia tomorrow, home owners there could hardly be blamed. Philadelphia has never experienced such an earthquake, nor does anyone think it liable to.” (133)

f.     This does not mean there is no natural evil. But there’s much less of it than one might have initially believed.

                                         i.     

g.   A biblical example of natural evil - Luke 13:1-4 – the tower in Siloam that fell

                                         i.    13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

                                        

Evil on Theism – 3 views:

a.   Calvinism - John Piper thinks all evil is caused (determined) by God.

                                         i.    E.g., the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis.

                                        ii.    Calvininism’s doctrine of meticulous providence.

                                       iii.    God causes such things to bring us to repentance. 
The Calvinist idea is that God causes all calamities and horrors "for his glory." (See Roger Olson, Against Calvinism, 22)

b.   Warfare Worldview - Greg Boyd thinks all evil is moral evil.

                                         i.    Calvinism has a “blueprint” view of the world. Greg rejects this for a “warfare worldview.”

                                        ii.    All evil is moral evil.

                                       iii.    A biblical example – Matthew 8:25…

1.   ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” ⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. ²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

                                      iv.    Quoting Greg: “To be sure, acc. To Scripture the creation was originally created good, and the glory of God is still evident in it…  But something else  - something frightfully wicked – is evident in it as well. Satan and other spiritual beings rebelled against God in the primordial past and now abuse their God-given authority over aspects of the creation. The one who ‘holds the power of death – that is, the devil’ (Heb. 2:14) exercises a pervasive structural, diabolical influence to the point that the entire creation is in ‘bondage to decay’ (Rom. 8:21). If this scenario is correct, then the pain-ridden, bloodthirsty, sinister hostile character of nature makes perfect sense. If not, then despite the valid contributions of a number of thinkers on ‘natural’ evil, the demonic character of nature must remain largely inexplicable.” (In Murray, 100-101)

                                       v.    Murray says Boyd’s view can explain pre-Adamic pain and suffering, because it was brought in by the Satanic Fall.

                                      vi.    Here, perhaps, see Dembski on retroactive causality, from the Adamic Fall.

#3 - Best Possible World Worldview - W.L. Craig – “Japan and Natural Evil”

a.   How is natural evil – tsunamis, tornados, hurricanes – consistent with the existence of all all-loving, all-powerful, all-knowing being which we call God?

b.   A biblical example: Luke 13 1 ff.

                                         13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

c.   Earthquakes are not random events. They are the result of plate tectonics.

                                         i.    About the way our world is, and has been made.

                                        ii.    There are these massive, huge “plates” that support the earth’s crust, and shift about.

                                       iii.    8 large plates, and dozens of small plates.

                                      iv.    It is the movement of these plates that cause earthquakes as they shift about, separate, and so on.

                                       v.    This process that seems so dangerous and devastating actually turns out to be essential for human life. Because of plate tectonics, this planet is habitable. W/o plate tectonics there would be no continents. They recirculate carbon dioxide and other elements; a continual recycling that takes place. To see what a planet would look like w/o plate tectonics you have to look no further than Venus. As a result, Venus has a barren, lifeless surface, that could not be habitable.

                                      vi.    Earthquakes are the symptoms of a natural process that is vital for life to exist on earth.

d.   OK – but what’s bad is that people get caught in the aftershocks of these things.

e.   Here we have to keep in mind God’s sovereignty over human history. Any catastrophe in life must be seen in the broader framework of God’s providential plan for human history; which is to draw people freely into the KG. Into eternal relationship with Himself. God is the One who responsible for this overall direction of human history. It may be the case that God has providential plans for the disasters in life that ultimately serve his good ends for the human race.

f.     It is plausible that only in a world where there are natural evils that the maximum amount of people would freely come to know God and experience eternal life.

                                         i.    Note on “plausibility”: It makes logical sense.

g.   OK – maybe God does have a providential purpose in mind with these natural evils. But still God could have created a universe operating acc. to different laws of nature, where there were no tornados.

                                         i.    The problem with this is that if we begin talking about a different universe with different laws of nature, then we are simply out of our depth.

                                        ii.    This would be pure metaphysical speculation.

h.   We walk here by faith, and not by sight.

                                         i.    We may not see God’s morally sufficient reasons for natural disasters.

9.   CORNEA

a.   Condition Of ReasoNable Epistemic Access

So… where was God when the tornado came?

4 Answers

1.   Atheism

a.   There’s no God.

b.   Things just happen.

c.   There are no objective moral values.

2.   Calvinist theism – God causes (determines) all things

a.   God is loving us by teaching us a lesson, to bring us to repentance.

3.   Best Possible World theism – our world is the best possible for bringing people into relationship with God

a.   This fallen world is not what God intended.

b.   God is working to bring people into relationship with Himself.

4.   Free will theism - Satan hypothesis

a.   God is battling Satan, and wooing people to Himself.

With #s 2-3-4… the answer remains the same:

God is looking at the Big Picture. God is going after the greatest good.

God is working all things together for His purposes and good.

God will intervene if needed to advance His Kingdom.

Argument from evil for God’s existence

1.   If God did not exist, then objective moral values would not exist.

2.   Evil exists.

3.   Therefore, objective moral values exist. (from 2 by definition of 'evil')

4.       Therefore, God exists. (MT, 13, 15)