Johannes Moreelse, Heraclitus (1630) I. An Anatomy of Tragedy Man knows two things: how things are (the World), and how they should be (the Ideal). I don’t mean that he knows these things perfectly, or that every man completely agrees with every other man about what is or what ought to be. But everyone has… Continue reading The Tragic Case for Christ
Tag: theodicy
Turning the Problem of Evil On Its Head
Atheists are fond of using the argument from evil to debunk the notion of God. It goes something like this: If God is all-powerful (omnipotent), He could stop evil. If God is all-loving (omnibenevolent), He would stop evil if He could. Therefore, if an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God existed, evil would not. Evil exists; therefore, an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God does not.… Continue reading Turning the Problem of Evil On Its Head
The Problems of Free Will, Evil, and Hell
Today, I want to talk about probably the three most important interrelated problems facing Christianity: the problem of free will, the problem of evil, and the problem of Hell. These are not only the issues which drive people away from Christianity, but they’re issues which have divided even Christians, with some Christians denying that free… Continue reading The Problems of Free Will, Evil, and Hell
One Lazarus, or Two?
In this morning’s post, I mentioned the parable of Lazarus and the rich man from Luke 16:19-3. Mark Shea discusses that today with a particularly interesting theory: that the “parable” might be actually be the true story of the real-life Lazarus. After all, this is the only person ever named in any of Jesus’ parables,… Continue reading One Lazarus, or Two?
On the Goodness of Punishing Sin
We live in a culture which has lost sight of the goodness of retributive punishment, and the whole thing seems suspicious. But I think that we’re still aware of this truth in some way, deepy down. There’s a famous law hypothetical: a man robs and rapes a woman. In the week before he’s arrested, a… Continue reading On the Goodness of Punishing Sin