Theodicy – The Problem of Evil
Theodicy attempts to provide a morally sufficient and life-satisfying reason and justification as to why an Omni-perfect God would permit evil to exist in the very good world He created out of nothing.
Reconciling Suffering With Theism
The reason for proposing the theodicy Reconciling Suffering With Theism (RST) is that numerous Christian and non-Christian responses to the Problem of Evil have been proposed. However, all have serious and thoughtful detractors, and none have achieved widespread acceptance. Nevertheless, RST is another attempt to provide a plausible, reasonable, life-satisfying, Biblically-based, morally sufficient reason as to why the Omni-perfect God of the Bible would permit so much seemingly senseless evil to exist in the ‘very good’ world He created out of nothing.
In the proposed RST theodicy, evil is defined as disobedience to God. Evil was not ordained by God and was not inevitable or necessary for God’s Creation Project (CP) to be successful. In the RST theodicy, God did ordain the suffering of temptation, which is ‘very good,’ but God is never the source of temptation. Temptation is sourced from the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Further, it is hoped that the answer provided in RST will leave one’s sense of reality intact, that it tells the truth about reality. It is also hoped that it leaves one empowered within the intellectual-moral system in which one lives. Namely, it should not deny God’s self-sacrificial love, God’s power to do all that is logically possible, and God’s perfect goodness.
The following excerpts are taken from the Reconciling Suffering With Theism book. The RST book, and a Kindle eBook version can be found on Amazon. An MS Word doc of the full RST book can be downloaded here.
Reconciling Suffering With Theism
Synopsis
To escape the suffering, pain, and hardship of evil and enter the Kingdom of God (Paradise), a person must freely ask God that they be born again, born a new creation, a new type of person, one without the power to disobey Him this time.
John 12:25 NASB, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.”
Description of the Problem of Evil
As understood by most Christians, the Bible presents God as the Omni-perfect (omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, and so forth) creator of the Universe ex nihilo, out of nothing. Then how can such an Omni-perfect God permit seemingly senseless suffering and evil to exist in the very good world He created? (Gen 1:31)
“The problem of evil is undoubtedly the greatest obstacle to belief in God.” (William Lane Craig)
Alvin C. Plantinga (1932), renowned American religious philosopher and Templeton Prize winner (2017), catalogs the constellation of questions that comprise the problem of evil. Why does God permit evil, why does God permit so much of it, and why does God permit those horrific and seemingly senseless instances of it?
Why God permits evil is known as, The Logical Problem of Evil.
Why God permits so much of it is, The Evidential Problem of Evil.
Why God permits those horrific and seemingly senseless instances of it is, The Existential Problem of Evil.
Given the problem of evil in all its forms, here is one example of the argument against the existence of God, especially the Omni-perfect God of the Bible.
In Russian author, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s final novel, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Ivan Karamazov asks his younger brother Alyosha, a cleric: “Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature . . . and to found that edifice on its unremediated tears, would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? No, I would not, Alyosha replied softly.”
Dostoyevsky is essentially asking, like Epicurus, the Greek philosopher who lived several centuries before Christ:
1) Is God willing to prevent evil but not able? Then He is not omnipotent.
2) Is He able but not willing? Then He is not omnibenevolent.
3) Is He both able and willing? Then, Whence Cometh Evil?
4) Is He neither able nor willing? Then why call Him God?
This conundrum has come to be known as the problem of evil, in particular, the problem of horrific or gratuitous evil, for which there appears to be no good satisfying reason why an Omni-perfect God would allow such to occur.
Such horrific or gratuitous evil was the point of Ivan’s question to Alyosha as he recounted incidents of horrible torment and torture inflicted on little children. He could think of no good reason why an Omni-perfect God would allow such atrocities to be committed against little children, even infants.
Why This Theodicy?
The Problem of Evil arguably commands more attention than any other issue in the philosophy of religion and will continue to do so because of the obstacle evil presents to believing in a good God, especially the God of the Bible. Numerous Christian theodicies have been proposed during the two millennia of the Christian era, but all have serious and thoughtful detractors, and none have achieved widespread acceptance.
Roger Olsen, commenting on this situation in 2013, states, “My point so far is simply that innocent suffering, the suffering of small children, is a serious challenge to Christian faith in an all-good and all-powerful God, the God of Scripture and Christian tradition. And that Christian thinkers have risen to attempt to meet the challenge in various ways without arriving at consensus or settling on one response, one theodicy, as the total solution.”
Reconciling Suffering With Theism (RST) is another attempt to provide a plausible, reasonable, life-satisfying, Biblically-based, morally sufficient reason for which the Omni-perfect God of the Bible permits so much seemingly senseless suffering and evil to exist in the very good world He created out of nothing.
In the proposed RST theodicy, evil is defined as disobedience to God. (1 John 3:4) It is also understood that a person obeys God by doing what God has commanded in the Bible should be done, or by not doing what God has commanded should not be done. And a person disobeys by not doing what should be done or by doing what should not be done.
Also proposed is that God has not ordained disobedience to God, nor was disobedience inevitable or essential for the success of God’s Creation Project (CP)(p. 14). However, now that evil and suffering are in the world due to humankind’s abuse of their freedom to disobey, God can use it, along with the suffering of temptation, which God has ordained, to further His CP.
God uses the consequent suffering caused by disobedience, and the suffering of temptation, to help people realize that to be saved from evil and suffering, they must ask God to remove their power to disobey Him. And this is accomplished in Hades, after the person’s death to this present world, by asking God that they be born-again into Paradise without this power.
Experiencing and witnessing acts of evil, from the most commonplace and seemingly harmless to the most horrific, egregious, and destructive, should help people realize the necessity of having their power to disobey God removed. And the more horrible the act of disobedience and its consequences, the more it should bring people to that realization.
For no one is innocent, everyone disobeys God and contributes to the world’s evil, pain, suffering, and hardship.
“… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23 NASB)
The answer to the Problem of Evil provided here is hoped to leave one’s sense of reality intact and tell the truth about reality. It is also hoped that it leaves one empowered within the intellectual-moral system in which one lives. Namely, it should not deny God’s self-sacrificial love, God’s power to do all that is logically possible, and God’s perfect goodness.
Note: Both William Lane Craig (p. 43) and Eleanore Stump (p. 125) have expressed ideas that are precursors to the answer to the Problem of Evil presented here.
Origin of Natural Evil
Events in Nature, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, lightning strikes, and the like, are often considered instances of natural evil that are not caused by either human or fallen angelic agents. However, it is proposed that all such natural evil events find their origin in Adam & Eve’s moral disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden.
“Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-17 NASB)
When Adam & Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, God declared: “Cursed is the ground because of you;” (Genesis 3:17).
Instead of obeying God, Adam & Eve gave in to temptation and obeyed Satan and thereby willfully surrendered and abdicated to Satan their God-given rulership over the Garden “to cultivate it and keep it.”
“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16 NASB)
Then, Satan and his cohorts were allowed to cause the above-mentioned destructive natural events throughout the world, but only within limits specified by God.
“… do not put forth your hand on him.” (Job 1:12 NASB)
“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15 NASB)
Furthermore, when Cain killed his brother Able, Satan gained more latitude to make it even more difficult to cultivate the ground, adding to the burden and hardship of evil.
“What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you;” (Genesis 4:10-12 NASB)
Ultimately, the root cause of all natural evil is moral evil, the disobedience of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. When God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you;” it is understood to mean that the disobedience of Adam & Eve allowed Satan, the newly crowned ruler of the world, to curse the ground.
Through Adam & Eve’s obedience to Satan, they allowed Satan to change the nature of this world in ways not presently understood, bringing forth corruption and death upon it. In the same way, when Cain killed his brother Abel, he allowed Satan to curse the ground to an even greater extent.
The Evidential Argument From Evil
The evidential argument from evil, an argument for atheism, as advanced by the religious philosopher William L. Rowe (1931-2015) in his celebrated 1979 paper, states:
1) There are instances of intense suffering that an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented ( … without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse).
2) An omniscient, wholly good being would prevent the occurrence of any such intense suffering it could ( … unless it could not do so without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse).
3) Therefore, since such intense suffering is not being prevented, there does not exist an omnipotent, omniscient, wholly good being. (Rowe 1979: 336)
Note: This idea of a ‘greater good’ arises from the subjective notion that a ‘greater good’ is a thing whose goodness and value surpasses the badness of that which is required to obtain it.
In 1979 Rowe provided evidence for this argument, a hypothetical but easily conceivable lightning strike in a distant forest resulting in a forest fire. In the fire, a fawn is trapped, horribly burned, and lies in terrible agony for several days before death relieves its suffering.
William Rowe’s evidential argument stipulates at least two classes of evil suffering. There is one class, the class of intense evil suffering, that he thinks an Omni-perfect God should prevent while not necessarily preventing a class of less intense evil suffering.
However, consider the following argument. Suppose evil suffering is represented by X in the world, and the varying degrees of evil suffering by X+1, X+2, X+3, and so forth, where the higher the number associated with X, the more intense the suffering.
Then assume that X+5 is the most intense evil suffering imaginable, and it is requested that God prevent X+5. The request is for God to prevent the suffering before it happens, after which there would be no human conception of X+5. That means it will never have been a part of the human experience.
Assuming God prevents X+5, the most intense evil suffering in human experience will now be X+4. However, when the same logical procedure is applied to X+4 as it was to X+5, the most intense evil suffering in human experience is now X+3.
If taken to its logical conclusion, the requests would not stop until God has prevented all evil suffering, which can only be done by God violating or revoking human freedom. However, without the freedom to obey or disobey God, people would not be able to genuinely love God. (3)
People want their freedom to disobey God, and they also want God to prevent all evil and suffering, a mutually exclusive request. Just as it is logically impossible for God to create a square circle or a married bachelor, it is logically impossible for God to create a human freewill that cannot disobey God, or a freewill that can be revoked. A freewill that cannot disobey God, or one that can be revoked, was never really free to begin with.
Regarding Rowe’s fawn suffering and dying in a forest fire, such instances of intense suffering are often referred to as gratuitous and unnecessary acts of evil, for which there appears to be no conceivable satisfactory justification. Nevertheless, the purpose of the RST theodicy is to provide such a justification. (4)
God’s Creation Project
RST suggests that from before the beginning, it was in the heart of God the Father to have a Son. So, God bore His one and only Son Jesus, Who had both a Divine Nature and a Human Nature as the Son of God and the Son of Man. And, as a loving parent, Father God desired to provide Jesus, the Son of Man, with a home and a bride, where the Son and His bride could rule and reign over all creation forever.
Therefore, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth as their Universe and the Garden of Eden as their home. And in the Garden, God created Adam & Eve, who were intended to be the first of humankind to join Jesus’ bride.
Accordingly, God created the Garden of Eden very good in that it was without defect and in good working order, and God also created Adam & Eve very good and without defect. Adam & Eve were tasked with keeping and cultivating the Garden under the authority and direction of Jesus, the Son of Man, as well as being the mother and father of humanity, procreating children of God.
Most importantly, God created Adam & Eve with the ability to love God, and loving God is every person’s highest and most important calling.
“One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And He said to him, ‘You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.’ ” (Matthew 22:35-38 NASB)
However, love is not real when only love is possible; for love to be real, the possibility of not loving also has to be real. Therefore, Adam & Eve were created open to the possibility of not loving God. They could love God by obeying Him, and they could not love Him by disobeying Him.
“If you love me, keep my commands. … He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me” (John 14:15,21 NASB)
However, only those who would always love and obey God, and never disobey Him, could God consider worthy of being in Jesus’ bride.
Therefore, Adam & Eve were created with libertarian freedom (a libertarian will, a freewill) to either obey or not obey God, to love or not love God. As understood here, libertarian freedom means that a person can make choices that are free from being determined by anything other than an act of their will. Internal and external forces acting on a person may strongly influence their choices, but they do not control them with absolute certainty. Likewise, choices made in the past may strongly influence present-day choices, but they do not control them with certainty.
Also, a person’s choices are free from being predetermined or foreknown by God. God may know with a high degree of certainty what choices people will make in future situations, but not with absolute certainty. If God knew with absolute certainty what choices people would make in the future, they would not have libertarian freedom. And without libertarian freedom, people could not be held responsible and accountable for their choice to love or not love God, to obey or disobey God.
Adam & Eve, when they chose against obeying God and instead chose to obey Satan, they did so freely, which is evil, and the consequence of their committing evil entered the world.
“… but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Gen 2:17 NASB)
RST posits that when Adam & Eve disobeyed God and died spiritually and then physically, their souls went to Hades, a place often mentioned by Jesus. Hades is thought to be the temporary dwelling place for the souls of all people following their physical death to this world, and where the soul of Jesus, the Son of Man, is thought to have gone temporarily following His physical death on the Cross.
In Hades, all people can love and obey God by denying themselves their libertarian freewill power to disobey Him by asking God to remove this power from them. And once the person has been fully informed of the consequences, God will remove this power, as it will have served its purpose. Its purpose having been to provide a way for people to love Him by freely denying themselves the power to disobey Him.
Then, once a person has been born-again by God, without the power to disobey Him, He will usher them to Paradise. And with their libertarian freewill power to obey Him, they will be able to obey Him in any of the myriad ways He has provided for them in Paradise.
“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;” (Gen 2:16, NASB)
Therefore, to escape the suffering, pain, and hardship of evil and enter the Kingdom of God, Paradise, a fully informed person may ask God that they be born-again. Born a new creation, a new type of person, one without the power to disobey God this time. And then take their place in the bride of Christ, ruling and reigning forever with Jesus over Father God’s creation, helping develop and make it into all He intended for them.
The Problem of Suffering for Theism
Humans experience two kinds of suffering. First, there is the suffering that comes from being tempted to disobey God, and then there is the suffering that comes from actually disobeying Him. People suffer from the temptation to disobey God when becoming impatient, unkind, unfaithful, unloving, and so on. The suffering that comes from temptation is ordained by God and is very good, even essential for the success of God’s CP, because it warns people of imminent danger, like a flashing yellow traffic light.
However, the suffering that comes from actually disobeying God is not good, was not ordained by God, and was neither essential nor inevitable for God’s CP to succeed. First comes the helpful nondestructive suffering of temptation to disobey, and then, if given in to, comes the very unhelpful destructive suffering from actually disobeying God.
Suffering from the temptation to disobey God is a very good part of being human. The suffering of temptation that Adam & Eve experienced in the Garen of Eden was intended to warn and restrain them from disobedience, leading to their death and the death and destruction of the Garden and world around them.
However, more importantly, the suffering of temptation in the Garden was intended to bring Adam & Eve to the point of asking God if they could be born-again. Born-again this time without the power to disobey Him and thereby escape any further suffering from temptation.
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB)
It is posited that God had explained to Adam & Eve, even before they were tempted, that when temptation came, they could escape its suffering by being born-again without the power to disobey Him. And even though they could no longer love God by resisting the temptation to disobey Him, they could still love Him by obeying Him, which is all that is required.
Therefore, the suffering of temptation to disobey God is a very good thing for a person to have and is not a defect. God designed it to bring people to the point of wanting to escape this suffering by asking to be born-again without the power to disobey Him. Temptation can no longer affect a person who does not have the power to disobey God.
The Paradise Dilemma
Regarding greater-good type theodicies, James F. Sennett argues that if there is freedom in Paradise, then it seems there is also the possibility of evil in Paradise, violating Scripture and standard intuitions. (1 Cor 6:9, Rev 21:27)
It appears, then, that there is a dilemma in Paradise. If there is no possibility of evil in Paradise, then Paradise lacks a great good worth the price of great suffering and evil in this world. So then, how can God be justified in omitting such a great good from Paradise?
Following Augustine, Catholicism addresses this dilemma by postulating an afterlife in Purgatory before Paradise for those who do not go directly to Hell. Those entering Purgatory atone for their sins, making them eligible for Paradise, even though they retain their freewill power to disobey God in Paradise.
Some Protestant theodicists, such as Greg Boyd, Kevin Tiempe, and others, address it by appealing to the Irenaean soul-making process where the human soul, a person’s moral character, is perfected before entering Paradise. During this life and probably an afterlife before Paradise, a person’s moral character is gradually perfected to where disobedience to God is something they would never do. Even though they retain their power to disobey God in Paradise, they will never do so.
RST addresses this dilemma by postulating that the only people in Paradise are those who have demonstrated their love for God by voluntarily having their libertarian disobedient freewill power removed.
Note: Removing a person’s libertarian disobedient freewill power does not affect the operation of their other two freewill powers, their libertarian obedient freewill power, and their libertarian non-moral freewill power.
Before Paradise, people love God by obeying Him, and also by resisting the temptation to disobey Him. And they love Him to the greatest extent possible by asking Him to remove their power to disobey. And once it has been removed, it will have served its purpose and is no longer needed to love God in Paradise. In Paradise, people can love God fully by obeying Him in the myriad ways He has provided.
The Skeptical Theist Defense
Following Augustine’s argument that finite, intellectually limited humans cannot perceive the ways and means of the infinitely wise and intellectually unlimited Creator God of the Bible, skeptical theism is now a well-known defense against the evidential argument from evil as presented by William Rowe.
Rowe’s evidential argument from evil, an argument for atheism, gains traction by claiming that it is likely that at least some intense suffering from evil is gratuitous, not essential for some good to be obtained by God.
The evidential argument from evil postulates that the existence of some intense suffering from evil, for which there seems to be no conceivable good outcome or justification, constitutes evidence against a good God’s existence. For example, what possible life-satisfying good outcome can there be for a fawn burned, suffering, and dying a horrible death in a forest fire or for Ivan Karamazov’s tortured children?
Therefore an omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnipotent God should prevent these kinds of horrific gratuitous evils. And the fact that they are not prevented is evidence against a good God’s existence, in particular, the God of the Bible.
However, as skeptical theists argue, God may perceive and pursue goods from seemingly gratuitous evils that are beyond human comprehension. Skeptical theists Daniel Howard-Snyder and Michael Bergmann are prominent representatives of this response known as the skeptical theist defense.
The primary point of this defense is that the human inability to discern God’s good reasons for some evils does not constitute irrefutable evidence that there are no such good reasons. They argue that people have no reason to think that finite human minds can grasp all the connections between evils and goods. Yet such connections may well be known by an infinitely intelligent Omni-perfect God. (1)
God’s Omniscience and Omnipotence
The RST view of God’s omniscience is different from the Classic Christian view. The Classic Christian understanding, held by most Augustinians and Irenaeans, is that God is all-knowing, knowing all things past, present, and future with absolute certainty. The RST view holds that God knows all things past and present with absolute certainty, but not the future.
(See: Addendum 10 Freewill Theism p. 281
Addendum 11 The Future Has Not Been Decided p. 294)
However, RST agrees with the Classic Christian view of God’s omnipotence in that God can do anything logically possible, but God cannot do the illogical. For example, God cannot create a married bachelor, a square circle, a freewill that can be overruled, or a freewill that can be revoked. As C.S. Lewis said, we may attribute miracles to God, but not nonsense.
The Classic Christian understanding of God’s omniscience and omnipotence comes largely from the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD). He incorporated some of the widely accepted ideas of Greek philosophy, especially Greek Neo-Platonism, into his knowledge of Scripture to make Christianity more acceptable to his time’s intelligentsia and upper classes.
However, this Classic view of God’s omniscience can be problematic for some Christians. For example, suppose God knew in advance with absolute certainty that a person was about to harm another person, and did not stop them, then, somehow, God would be blameworthy for harm coming to that other person. And since it is known that God helps people, being blameworthy for such harm suggests God’s Kingdom is a house divided against itself. (Matthew 12:25)
Also, if God knew in advance that a person would love Him, then that person would not have the freedom not to love Him. And without the freedom to not love Him, there can be no genuine love for God, until the freedom to not love Him has been voluntarily relinquished.
However, the Classic view of God’s omniscience may be thought of in the following way. Perhaps it is not so much a question of what God can know about the future, but rather what God can choose to know. If God would like to know with certainty people’s future choices, then, of course, God could.
However, maybe God created the world so that God’s certain knowledge of it is limited to the past and present, but not the future. It may be well within God’s omnipotence and intelligence to create a world where God can choose what to know and what not to know about the future.
Therefore, maybe it is more important to God that people should be able to freely love Him than for Him to have absolute and certain knowledge of their future choices. And by God choosing not to have such knowledge, people can have a freewill essential for loving God.
It is proposed then that God created this world so that God’s absolute certain knowledge of all things is limited to the past and present, but not the future. And to suggest that God cannot do this is to question God’s omnipotence and intelligence to do that which is logically possible.
(See: Addendum 11 The Future Has Not Been Decided p. 294)
If that can be accepted, then God cannot be held accountable or responsible for human choices. And then, of the utmost importance, people are genuinely free to choose to love and obey God and fulfill their highest calling, including their freedom to love and obey God by relinquishing their libertarian power to disobey Him.
Testing and Temptation
From the RST point of view that God has chosen not to have meticulous knowledge of the future, He must test people to determine their willingness to obey Him and join the bride of Christ by giving them commands to obey. And He also had to create them open to temptation to disobey Him to determine their willingness not to disobey Him.
In these two ways, testing and tempting, God can determine who would and who would not be a worthy member of the bride of Christ. Only those who would always obey and never disobey God could God consider worthy of being a member of Jesus’ bride. It is important to note that God will test people to determine their willingness to obey, but God will never tempt them to determine their willingness not to disobey Him.
If people thought that God was tempting them to disobey, it would be difficult for them to believe that God would also help them endure the temptation and provide them with ‘the way of escape’ from it. There is already enough temptation that arises from the world, the flesh, and the devil, that God does not need to tempt anyone.
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB)
Every person struggles with their power to obey God and their separate power to disobey Him, and the focus of this theodicy centers on this struggle.
“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. . . . For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15,16,19,24,25 NASB)
Later in this theodicy, it is suggested that almost everyone will realize that by exercising their freewill to disobey God, they are a source of evil and a source of their own suffering and the suffering of others close to them and far away. And with this realization, they will come to hate their power to disobey God and strongly desire to have it removed by being born-again without it.
“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” (John 12:25 NASB)
Paraphrasing this verse, “The person who loves their freewill power to disobey God remains apart from God. And the person who hates their power to disobey will give it up by freely asking God that they be born-again into Paradise without it, while still keeping their freewill power to obey, and therefore love God in Paradise.”
This act of a person sacrificing their freewill power to disobey God by asking to be born-again without it is considered a decisive act of freely choosing to love God by laying down their life for Him.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his Cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” (Matthew 16:24,25 NASB)
Further, it is suggested that being born-again is a process that begins when a person believes in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and then makes Him their Lord and Savior by inviting the Holy Spirit into their life. And this process can begin in this life or in Hades.
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” ( Lk 11:13 NASB)
Then, the born-again process is completed in Hades, with God removing the person’s power to disobey, and ushering them to Paradise.
In Hades, everyone can ask to have their power to disobey God removed, and God will remove it. But first, God must fully inform them of the consequences of no longer being able to disobey Him in Paradise. After which, if they still want to, God will remove this power, as it will have served its purpose. Its purpose having been to provide a way for people to love and obey Him by laying down their life for Him by denying themselves the power to disobey Him.
In Paradise, they will finally be free from the suffering of temptation in that temptation can no longer affect them since they no longer have the power to give in to it.
Further, it is proposed that from the beginning, it was God’s plan for Adam & Eve to ask Him to have their freewill power to disobey removed when faced with the excruciating and unrelenting temptation from Satan to disobey in the Garden. Therefore, it is conceivable, and it only seems right and fair, that God had explained to them, in advance of them being tempted, how to escape the suffering of temptation when it came by being born-again without the power to disobey Him.
And if Adam & Eve had accepted God’s offer, they would have been the first members of the bride of Christ, and Satan would not have been given rulership of the world. Also, it is thought that if any of Adam & Eve’s children disobeyed God, then there would have been consequences for the children, but Satan would not have acquired rulership of the world because only Adan & Eve had it to give away, not their children.
Adam & Eve, having first been born in the image of God, would then have been gradually transformed into a likeness of God, a likeness of Jesus Christ, but without ever becoming perfect like Him. However, instead of obeying God, Adam & Eve, freely, selfishly, and with a complete understanding of the consequences, chose to disobey Him and instead obeyed Satan. And this allowed evil to enter the world, bringing pain, suffering, hardship, and physical death upon themselves, their descendants, and the entire world.
“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it.” (Romans 8:19-25 NASB)
Following the disobedience and fall of Adam & Eve, God now uses both the suffering that comes from giving in to temptation, and the suffering of temptation itself, to encourage people to love God by laying down their life for Him. And people lay down their life for Him decisively by asking to be born-again without the power to disobey Him.
The RST Response to the Evidential Problem of Evil
In the section The Evidential Argument From Evil (p. 12), William Rowe claims that it is reasonable to think that God could have prevented at least some suffering in the world without losing some good or without allowing an equally bad or worse evil to occur in its place. And since such evils are not prevented, he believes he has reasonable evidence, reasonable grounds for atheism.
Rowe’s argument prevails if there has been even one instance of pointless, gratuitous, unnecessary evil in world history. Conversely, if a good reason or justification can be found for God allowing every instance of evil that has ever occurred, then Rowe’s argument would seem to fail.
RST proposes that every instance of evil is rooted in human disobedience to God. Therefore, every instance of evil that has ever occurred is there to help people understand that human disobedience to God is its cause. And as people come to this realization, they are to ask God to change them so they can no longer disobey Him.
Such a change in a person is what Jesus might have meant when He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 NASB)
If this can be accepted, then every instance of evil, small or great, moral or natural, serves the very good purpose of encouraging people to ask God that they be born-again without the power to disobey. In which case, Rowe’s evidential argument for atheism would seem to fail, and the terms gratuitous or unnecessary acts of evil appear a misnomer.
However, in some cases, good things may result from an instance of evil, but they are accidental or incidental to the good of encouraging people to ask God to change them by being born-again without the power to disobey.
Also, it is suggested that people should not think because, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28), that the good mentioned here is anything other than the good of askng to have their power to disobey God removed.
RST proposes that people can decisively demonstrate their love for God by asking God to remove their power to disobey by being born-again without it. And God will grant their request once they fully understand what it means to live without the power to disobey, and to live only with the power to obey God in Paradise.
Then, in Paradise, a born-again person’s character gradually develops and matues into a unique Christlike character as they obey God more and more selflessly, but without them ever becoming perfect like Christ.
It is important to note that a person in Paradise without the power to disobey will not be like a robot, only able to obey God’s commands if, when, and as given. Instead, they will be free to choose from among the myriad of ways God has provided for them to obey, ranging from the most selfless to the least selfless of ways.
Of course, some human acts may be neither obedient nor disobedient to God, such as choosing between peas and carrots for dinner or between playing golf or tennis this afternoon. An unlimited number of these non-moral choices may also be available in Paradise for people’s enjoyment and well-being.
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Cor 2:9 NASB)
By Adam & Eve’s one act of disobedience, they and their progeny became slaves to disobedience. Now those who are enslaved to disobedience can set themselves free with one act of obedience on their part by asking God that they be born-again without the power to disobey this time.
To be made righteous and set free from disobedience is not a matter of the person doing something on their own to set themselves free. It is a matter of them asking God to help them to stop doing something, to stop disobeying Him, and be set free from being a source of evil and suffering.
Jesus has done everything required for people to be made righteous and set free from disobedience. Without the finished atoning work of Christ’s perfect obedience to the Father in all things, including His obedience to death on a cross, humanity’s freedom from disobedience would not be possible.
But now that Jesus has made the way to freedom from disobedience possible, it is only a matter of people freely choosing to ask God to change them so that they can no longer disobey. The person is only asking to be changed; it is God who is doing the work of changing them.
“And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:23-26 NASB)
Jesus has made salvation from disobedience and evil possible. Therefore, for everyone who suffers, God has put the remedy for their suffering into their own hands. Everyone gets what they want most, an obedient life in Paradise with Jesus free from disobedience and suffering, or a life apart from God enslaved to disobedience and suffering.
What may help a person lay down their life for God by being born-again is to realize that they cannot always control their power to disobey, no matter how hard they try.
“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. … For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. … Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15,16,19,24,25 NASB)
Nevertheless, it is good to try hard to resist temptation and to ask for and receive the Holy Spirit’s help, thereby reducing the amount of evil and suffering in the world. And as a result of this trying, people’s moral character may improve and develop in real and lasting ways, but not to the point of never disobeying God. People must come to see they carry within themselves the seeds of discord and destruction and that they cannot help but sow these seeds wherever they go.
When a person sacrifices any other aspect or attribute of their life for God, like their time, money, or even their body, they still retain in their soul the power to disobey and remain apart from God. Therefore, people must come to hate their libertarian freewill power to disobey God and ask God to remove it by being born-again. This decision is considered the greatest possible act of sacrifice and obedience a person can make for God.
‘Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”‘ (1 Samuel 15:22 NASB)
When people ask God to have their power to disobey removed by being born-again, they fully comply with the command of Jesus to deny themselves by laying down their life for His sake.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his Cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.'” (Matthew 16:24,25 NASB)
In the Garden of Eden, before giving in to temptation, Adam & Eve could have escaped the temptation to disobey God by asking God to remove their power to disobey, and God would have granted their request.
Without the power to disobey, temptation could no longer affect them, and they would no longer have been a potential source of evil. Then Adam & Eve could have continued fulfilling God’s purpose for their lives by joining them to Christ as His bride and proceeding to transform them into a likeness of Christ without them ever having disobeyed.
Therefore, it was neither essential nor inevitable for evil to enter the world for God’s CP to succeed. If Lucifer in Heaven and Adam & Eve in the Garden had asked God to remove their power to disobey when tempted by something inside or outside themselves, God would have granted their request. And if they had done so, evil would not have entered Heaven or the Garden. Instead, they gave in to temptation, disobeyed God, and evil entered Heaven and the Garden of Eden.
Nevertheless, since evil has entered the world, God uses the consequent pain and suffering to help show each person the necessity of asking to have their power to disobey removed by being born-again without it. And when God grants them their request, they will be ushered by God to Paradise.
In Paradise, the person will receive their new body and their renewed soul within the community of saints in the bride of Christ. There they will enjoy living and working for all eternity in the presence of Jesus, within the beatific vision of God and God’s glory.
Of course, libertarian freedom in Hades allows a person to remain there and suffer for as long as they would like or request annihilation. And God will grant their request for annihilation, only after doing everything possible to persuade them to forgo making such a decision, but without going so far as to overrule their freewill power to make that decision. But rather than mercilessly allowing the person to continue suffering in Hades forever, God will grant them their request.
As C. S. Lewis said, ‘There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done.’ (Lewis, Divorce Chap 9)
In the end, people show their love for God by choosing Paradise and Christlikeness, and they show their hatred of God by choosing to remain apart from God in Hades or by choosing annihilation.
A Response to the Existential Problem of Evil
Stated in broad terms, the existential problem of evil addresses questions regarding specific instances of extremely destructive acts of evil happening to anything or anyone, anywhere in the world. In a more narrow sense, what will be addressed here, are those specific instances of painful, destructive events that happen to people.
In general, the evidential problem of evil asks questions from an impersonal, objective standpoint, whereas the existential problem asks questions from a more personal, subjective standpoint. The evidential problem asks: Why are there any painful acts of evil in the world? And the existential problem asks: Why did those specific incidents of evil happen to that specific person or those specific people?
Also, the response should apply to every instance of evil and suffering that has occurred to anyone in history; everyone’s tears should be remediated and made right.
In Paradise, God will ‘wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and every person will confirm that it was good to have lived, no matter what horrific instances of evil they may have experienced before Paradise.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, … “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Revelations 21:1-4 NASB)
So those in Paradise will have their tears remediated, made right, by being wiped away by God. But what about the tears of those who choose annihilation? How are their tears made right? It might be said these people have, in their own eyes, made right their own tears by choosing to hate God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength by asking to be annihilated. And they do so by refusing what would make them happy in the end, even against the best efforts of God to convince them to choose Paradise. In the end, those people place more value on their power to hate and disobey God than they do on a happy existence with God in Paradise.
And what happens to the tears of Innocents who suffer and die before being accountable for their choices? For example, the babies who were aborted? The RST theodicy can only imagine that God has made some provision for them in Hades. Perhaps such Innocents will go to Hades and somehow be nurtured there, and grow, and become accountable for their choices. Then, like everyone else, choose between Paradise, annihilation, or remaining in Hades.
For now, in this world, God will help people endure their tears. The tears of resisting temptation and the consequences of their own disobedience and the disobedience of others as they await rescue in Hades and relief in Paradise.
Conclusion
It is hoped that this theodicy has put forward a plausible, reasonable, justification, and life-satisfying explanation as to why the Omni-perfect God of the Bible permits evil in the very good world God created out of nothing.
From the beginning, it was in the heart of God the Father to provide a home and a bride for God’s one and only Son, Jesus, the Son of Man. And to prepare His bride, people needed to be tested to determine their willingness to always obey Jesus and tempted to determine their willingness never to disobey Him.
The only test that a person must pass if they are going to join the bride of Jesus is the test of demonstrating their love for Him by obeying Him and denying themselves their power to disobey Him.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” (Matthew 16:24,25 NASB)
And people deny themselves this power decisively by asking God to remove it from them, which God will do in Hades following death to this life.
Further, it is hoped that this theodicy can help people now in two ways: first, by encouraging them to ask the Holy Spirit to help them endure the suffering of temptation, as well as help them endure the suffering that comes from evil. And second, by preparing themselves to give up their power to disobey God in Hades. And people can prepare themselves in several ways; however, none is more important than becoming willing to forgive and love their enemies. What could a person do that is more disobedient to God than not being willing to forgive and love their enemies?
If it is the case that death does not absolve anyone of their responsibility to forgive and love others, then today is the day to begin. Only when someone becomes willing to forgive and love their enemies from their heart are they truly ready to have their power to disobey God removed.
Also, this theodicy applies to all people, Christian and non-Christian alike. It is proposed that all people go to Hades following death to this life where they can choose to remain there, request Paradise, or request annihilation. And people choose to love God by asking to be born-again into Paradise without the power to disobey Him, and people choose to hate God by remaining in Hades or asking to be annihilated.
You Must Be Born Again
Even though everyone goes to Hades following death to this life, and there can make a choice for Paradise, it is thought that the advantage of living well in this present life, and then quickly escaping Hades, goes to the Christian.
Christians, better than others, have been shown from the Bible how they can experience and enjoy the presence of God in this life through prayer, thanksgiving, praise, worship, service to others, and obedience to God. As well as how they can better prepare themselves to give up their power to disobey God and be born-again into Paradise, because Christians should know better than most:
“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you” (Micah 6:8 NASB)
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.” (John 3:1-11 NASB)
RST proposes that when God removes a person’s power to disobey, they are born-again into Paradise, a new creation, a new type of human being, but this time with only the power to obey God. And they will not be like robots but can obey God in any of the myriads of ways God has made available to them in Paradise, from the least to the most selfless of ways.
Further, it is suggested that being born-again begins when a person believes in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and then makes Him the Lord and Savior of their life by requesting and receiving the Holy Spirit.
And then, the born-again process can be completed in Hades when the person fully understands the consequences of God removing their libertarian freewill power to disobey. Once the fully informed person agrees, God will usher them to Paradise with their libertarian freewill power to obey God intact.
Possible Objections to the Conclusion
Objection 1: Philosophers such as Anthony Flew and J. L. Mackie, along with the great theologian and religious reformer Martin Luther, have argued that an omnipotent God should be able to create a world containing only moral good and no immoral evil. And given that a world with no moral evil is like Heaven, Why didn’t God create people directly in Heaven and avoid all the pain and suffering in this life?
A1: In a debate, William Lane Craig was asked this question. He responded that it may not have been possible for God to create a meaningful Heaven of free creatures who will not choose against Him, in isolation from an antecedent world such as ours, which has these same free creatures who have already chosen for Him. The latter meaningful situation in Heaven may have been rendered possible by the fact that it was chosen freely in this world first in the face of great temptation.
Objection 2: Since there will be no temptation to disobey God in Paradise, why can’t a person keep their freewill power to disobey since they will not be tempted to do so?
A2: It is agreed that there will be no temptation to disobey God in Paradise that comes from outside a person. However, there is still the potential for temptation to come from within them.
Lucifer was not tempted by anything or anyone outside himself in Heaven, but from pride within himself. And like Lucifer, if a person in Paradise has the power to disobey, then the possibility of them giving in to pride and wanting to be like God is always present. Therefore, a person with the power to disobey God cannot be in Paradise.
Objection 3: Won’t people who do not have the power to disobey God in Paradise be like robots or automatons and not be real people able to make real choices?
A3: The key to understanding life in Paradise is that once a person has been born-again without the power to disobey God, they still retain their power to obey Him in any way they want.
The power to obey God allows them to choose from among the myriad ways to obey Him in Paradise. Although God will always gently encourage a person to obey in more and more selfless ways, God will never force them to obey in any particular way. People will be free to obey in any way they wish.
Therefore, it is proposed that the never-ending process of a person being transformed into their own particular likeness of Christ takes place in Paradise as the person chooses the more selfless of ways to obey God from among the wide range of selfless ways available.
Likewise, the non-moral will gives a person the power to choose from among what may be an unlimited number of things and activities to do in Paradise which have nothing to do with either obeying or disobeying God. These things and activities are available for the person’s enjoyment and well-being, like choosing between peas and carrots for dinner.
Objection 4: Won’t life in Paradise eventually become monotonous or boring?
A4: It is expected that people in Paradise will retain their ability to experience love, joy, and happiness, and love, joy, and happiness make no room for boredom or monotony.
Love and joy are the results of a moral lifestyle. They may be experienced when witnessing or achieving selflessness to the point of personal sacrifice and feeling connected spiritually to God and people.
“In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Psalms 16:11 NASB)
Happiness is based on outward circumstances; happiness can be experienced from any good thing or activity.
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Cor 2:9 NASB)
And since a person’s transformation into a likeness of Christ in Paradise is asymptotic, it is conceivable that their capacity to experience love, joy, and happiness may also increase asymptotically toward the perfect love, joy, and happiness known by Jesus Christ.
Objection 5: There are many sayings of Jesus in the Bible that strongly suggest that people who confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior in this present life are assured of eternal life later in Paradise, with no other decision required on their part following death. Here are a few of these sayings:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 NASB)
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life;” (John 3:36a NASB)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24 NASB)
“And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life;” (John 6:40 NASB)
“… but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31 NASB)
A5: These sayings would seem to conflict with the main idea of RST that eternal life in Paradise will only come following the fully informed decision of a person in Hades to be born-again by having their power to disobey God removed by God. After which, God will usher them to Paradise. However, this conflict may be resolved if the following can be accepted.
a) Believing in Jesus and being saved by Him requires more than a person’s approval and agreement with what He said and did, and more than asking and receiving Him into their life as Lord and Savior. Such are required for salvation but are not sufficient.
b) Believing in Jesus also requires a person’s obedience to Him by laying down their life for Him.
c) Repentance, a person changing their mind, changing the direction of their life for the better, and sincere regret and remorse for bad choices made are essential for growth in Christlikeness. However, they are insufficient when it comes to laying down their life for Christ.
d) The only way a person can decisively lay down their life for Jesus and be fit and ready for Paradise is to be born-again without the power to disobey Him.
If these propositions can be accepted, then all that remains for people who have confessed Christ in this present life to enter Paradise is to lay down their life for Him, as mentioned in the following scriptures.
“… but he who does not obey the Son will not see life,” (John 3:36b NASB)
“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” (John 12:2 NASB)
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:13,14 NASB)
“One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 10:21 NASB)
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’ ” (Matthew 16:24,25 NASB)
And RST proposes that people in Hades, following death to this present life, can deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him by asking God to remove their power to disobey Him.
Objection 6: If a person believes they can go to Paradise when they die, no matter how they live their life in this world, wouldn’t this encourage people to live selfishly now and even encourage suicide to get to Hades quickly, so that they can then quickly request to be born-again to Paradise?
A6: It is thought that the most difficult and most selfless decision a fully informed person can ever make is to lay down their life for God by asking God to remove their power to disobey Him.
“Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.” (John 13:36-38 NASB)
“Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” All the disciples said the same thing too.” (Matthew 26:35 NASB)
And yet, Peter denied knowing Jesus, and the other disciples deserted Him. If it was difficult for Peter and the other disciples to lay down their physical life for Jesus at that time, it might also be difficult for others to lay down their life of disobedience for Him.
And the longer it takes for a person in Hades to lay down their life of disobedience for Him, the more pain and suffering they will have to witness and endure by being present there. Therefore, living selfishly now may not well prepare a person to make the most selfless of all decisions of laying down their life, their power to disobey God, in Hades.
As for encouraging suicide, it may be that suicide can be either a selfish or selfless act. The more selfless the act the more prepared the person will be to selflessly lay down their life for Him in Hades, and more quickly avoid the pain and suffering present there. But the more selfish the act, the more pain and suffering they may have to endure in Hades before they are ready to make the most selfless decision a person can ever make of laying down their life for God by asking Him to o remove their power to disobey Him.
Objection 7: If a person believes they can go to Paradise when they die, no matter how they live their life in this world, might this remove a moral restraint to killing another person?
A7: Like suicide, the killing of another person may be either a selfish or selfless act. The more selfless the act the more prepared the person may be to lay down their own life for Jesus in Hades. But the more selfish the act the more pain and suffering they most assuredly will have to endure in Hades before they are ready to lay down their own life, their power to disobey God. And no one should underestimate the pain and suffering a person may have to endure in Hades before selflessly laying down their own life after selfishly taking the life of another.
Objection 8: Is it possible for a person to be born into this world with a defect that prevents them from making a fully informed rational decision regarding their future?
A8: Although that may be possible, it may also be possible for God to heal or correct that person’s defect in this world or in Hades, restoring them to proper working order and enabling them to make a rational, fully informed decision between remaining in Hades, going to Paradise, or being annihilated.
Objection 9: Didn’t God overrule the libertarian freedom of the evildoers in Noah’s time by destroying them in the Great Flood?
A9: God did destroy the physical bodies of those evildoers, but not their souls and not their libertarian freedom to either obey or disobey God. God took the extraordinary measure of destroying their bodies and sending their souls to Hades because of their extreme and widespread disobedience, which posed a real threat to God’s CP.
However, God did not overrule or revoke their libertarian freedom. The souls of those evildoers went to Hades with their freewill power to obey or disobey God intact. In Hades, following the atoning work of Jesus Christ, they could freely decide where they wanted to go.
Following the Atonement, where Jesus saved and secured His bride forever, under no circumstance will God ever again need to take a person’s physical life. People today remain free to disobey God without fearing God. It was only before the Atonement, before God’s CP was assured, that people should have feared God when tempted to disobey Him.
Objection 10: If God is already doing everything possible to help everyone, everywhere, what is the purpose of prayer?
A10: It is good for people to pray for others and themselves. In prayer, people can have their most profound communion with God. In prayer, people can hear and understand how they can cooperate and co-labor with God to help others and help themselves as well. And from the Sermon on the Mount:
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’] “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:9-15 NASB)
Objection 11: Why does a person have to wait until Hades to have their freewill power to disobey God removed? Why can’t it be removed from them now in this world, and then God usher them to Paradise?
A11: This is a good question that RST struggles to answer. Nevertheless, here is RST’s best effort.
The Bible records two instances of God translating someone to Heaven without them first dying physically in this world, Enoch and Elija. So, it may be possible, although seemingly rare, for a person to go to Heaven/Paradise directly from this life.
One possible reason for this rarity might be that it takes time and circumstances in this world for a person to come to the point of asking God to remove their libertarian freewill power to disobey. And then time and circumstances for God to fully inform them of the consequences of making such a decision, and then even more time for personal deliberation. Such time and circumstances may be more available in Hades than in this world.
Nevertheless, given Enoch and Elija, the possibility of God removing a person’s power to disobey Him in this world and then ushering them to Paradise, born-again a new creation, can not be discounted.
However, removing a person’s power to disobey and then leaving them in this world may not be as reasonable. In that case, the world would seem untenably asymmetric, with some unable to disobey God and others able to.
How Are People To Obey and Therefore Love God Today?
People in this world have the libertarian freedom to obey and therefore love God today in two mutually exclusive ways. First, people can love God by obeying Him in the ways He has commanded in the Bible. And second, they can love God by not disobeying Him in the ways He has commanded.
So, people love God when they obey and do what God has commanded them to do, and they also love God when they obey and do not do what God has commanded them not to do. (See: The Ten Commandments)
But how are people to obey God in all the ways commanded in the Old and New Testaments? The proposed answer begins in the Old and ends in the New.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’” (Matthew 22:36-40 NASB)
Therefore, beginning with the Old Testament, people keep and obey ‘the whole Law and the Prophets’ when they love God first; and second, when they love their neighbor as they love themselves.
The second commandment was given initially in Leviticus 19:18, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself;’ However, in John 13:34, Jesus gave the new second commandment,
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
Then, in John 15:9, Jesus says how He loves people, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you;”
Therefore, Jesus the Son of Man loves people in the same way that God the Father loves Him, and now people are to love one another as Jesus loves them, which is how the Father loves Him.
As Jesus the Son of Man redefined other Old Testament Laws, imagine Him redefining the second commandment by saying,
‘You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, but I say to you, you shall love your neighbor as the Father loves Me.’
With this in mind, what Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40 could be reworded as follows:
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as the Father loves Me. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets, and all of My commandments to you.’
And taking this approach with the Great Commission given by Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20:
‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, to love themselves and one another in the same way that the Father loves Me; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’
To some extent, each of us can understand and imagine how Father God must love Jesus, the Son of Man, the perfect Son, the perfect Person, and what Father God must think and feel about Him. Then put yourself in Jesus’ place. He put Himself in our place on the Cross so that we could put ourselves in His place in the heart of Father God.
How Then Shall We Live Now, Today?
“God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16 NASB)
“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” (Jn 14:21-24 NASB)
“Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you,” “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” “… the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
(John 6:27,29, Matthew 4:4, John 6:63 NASB)
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit [love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control], He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it [of fear, uncertainty, and doubt] so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.” (John 15:1-17 NASB)
