Side-stepping Solutions—Conservatives

In sparse writings, most conservative scholars have tried to either absolve God of involvement or at least distance Him from the moral responsibility of evil’s existence and prevalence. They cite various verses such as:

“God is light; in him there is no is no darkness. . . (1 John 1:5),
“For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone” (Jas. 1:13),
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” (Hab. 1:13).

James Montgomery Boice, for instance, in his systematic theology textbook asks, “How can evil be compatible with the concept of a good God who is actively ruling this world?” (James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 176). But Boice, like so many others, never addressed the issue of the origin of evil. Instead, he merely concedes that “God uses [evil] in accomplishing his good purposes in the world” and correctly cites several biblical examples (Ibid, 181).

He summarizes that “Evil is still evil, but God is greater than the evil” (Ibid, 182). And he tries to distance God from creating evil by conceding, “Why God permits evil to exist even temporarily as he obviously does is also beyond our full comprehension” (Ibid, 195).

So Boice ends up blaming evil on us humans and our rebellion against God and his perfectly created world—“But one thing we can say is that evil is our fault, whatever reasons God may have for tolerating it” (Ibid, 195).

Like so many other conservative evangelicals, Boice is saying that God designed a perfect world for us to live in and to enjoy Him forever, but something went wrong. That is the essence, the totality, and the shallowness of his treatment. Again, he never addressed the origin of evil.

The much revered Dr. Billy Graham blames the origin of evil on Satan. In his syndicated column answering a reader’s question, “Where does evil come from?” Dr. Graham replies:

Evil is real . . . . Although there is much we can’t understand about evil this side of heaven, the Bible does make it clear that evil comes from Satan, not from God. Evil came into the world because Satan rebelled against God and his will. (Billy Graham, “My Answer,” The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), 7 August 2000, B-6.)

Then does this make Satan a second creator? In two other columns Graham writes:

This present world is not the way God wants it to be. All creation, including humanity, has been scarred by sin, and that is why we have suffering and evil in our world. Even the physical creation is not what God intended it to be. But one day God will change all that.(Billy Graham, “My Answer,” The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), 11 October 2000, B-2.)

Some day, all evil will be destroyed, and God, not Satan, will be victorious. . . . some day the final battle will be fought between good and evil . . . between God and Satan. . . . Christ will come to establish his kingdom of perfect justice and love.(Billy Graham, “My Answer,” The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), 31 March 2010, C-15.)

With all due respect to Drs. Boice and Graham, and many other conservative evangelicals, we believe they are biblically incorrect on this issue of evil and its origin, as well as Graham on the kingdom (see again “Kingdom of God”).

Source:

1 Why Not Evil? (future book – est. 2014) by John Noe