Paul the Poke

A question often posed, or a variant thereof goes like this… “If there’s a God, then why does He allow evil?”

My response is, “Is evil real? Or is it just a figment of your imagination?”

If it’s not real, then what is your concern?

But if it is real, should it be punished?

Have you yourself committed evil? Do you think any evil you’ve done is not as bad as someone else’s evil and therefore you’re good by comparison?

Because evil is real and evil should be punished, that means there is a good that is contrast to evil. Therefore, we have free will to choose good or evil.

And since there is a good to contrast evil proving that it should be punished, then it’s because of a violation of the Moral Law.

The Moral Law comes from the objective Moral Law Giver. Man has proven his morality is subjective relative to his situation or perception of someone else’s evil, and probability of getting caught. This is more proof of evil.

So evil is real.
Evil should be punished.
All have committed evil.
Evil is in contrast to good.
Good is defined by the Moral Law.
The Moral Law is given by an Objective Giver.

The last realization is our accountability to the Objective Moral Law Giver.

As determined earlier evil must be punished.
The penalty is Death.

Plato said, “The Deity may be able to forgive sin. But I do not see how.”

Plato understood that an Objective Moral Law Giver must be Justice. And Justice must be impersonal. So, the Moral Law Giver is obligated to punish sin.

Imagine for a moment sitting before you is a glass filled half way with water. While you’re watching, I place one drop of lethal poison in the glass. There is no antidote. Would you drink it? No, if you’re in your right mind you wouldn’t. What if I filled the glass with more water all the way to full? Now would you drink it? No, you wouldn’t, because the lethal dose of poison is still in the glass.

Your life is the glass of water. And the lethal poison is the evil you’ve done in your life. The additional water is the remainder of your life. Even without more evil, you can’t change the evil of the past. You are doomed.

But the Objective Moral Law Giver provided a way for you. He sent His Son who drank your glass of water and left His glass of water without the poison for you to drink. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s done.

All that remains is for you to drink it and contemplate what that means to you.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, what whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

And the proof of that eternal life, the power over death, is the Resurrection of His Son.

Drink up.