Give the three common solutions to the problem of evil, and your evaluation of Erickson’s response to these solutions.<\/p>\n
The problem of evil, and more importantly, the explanation of its source has been the source of debates for many generations and will continue to be for many generations to come.\u00a0 Many of the most intellectual Christian minds still disagree on a solution for how to explain the problem of evil.<\/p>\n
There are three solutions that have been proposed in order to make an attempt at some explanation.\u00a0 The first is finitism, which would reject the idea that God is omnipotent.\u00a0 The second involves modifying the idea of God\u2019s goodness.\u00a0 The third solution is to deny that evil exists.<\/p>\n
Finitism is well represented in the work of Edgar Brightman.\u00a0 In the video, Dr. Mitchell pointed out that the idea of limiting God\u2019s omniscience proposes dualism which would say that there is a power out there that God cannot control.\u00a0 This position would make it hard for someone to place their faith in a God that may or may not be able to follow through on His plan for their life.<\/p>\n
The second solution, which calls for modifying the idea of God\u2019s goodness, is well represented in the work of Gordon Clark, a well-known Calvinist.\u00a0 He makes the point that he doesn\u2019t believe that human\u2019s have free will and that God is the cause of everything.\u00a0 Our book quotes Clark, \u201cLet it be unequivocally said that this view certainly makes God the cause of sin.\u00a0 God is the sole ultimate cause of everything.\u00a0 There is absolutely nothing independent of him.\u00a0 He alone is the eternal being.\u00a0 He alone is omnipotent.\u00a0 He alone is sovereign.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, one funny thing to point out is that Clark\u2019s position on the problem of evil is in direct contradiction to Brightman\u2019s idea of finitism.<\/p>\n
The third proposed solution is simply to deny the existence of evil.\u00a0 Dr. Mitchell used Mary Baker Eddy as a great example of this point of view.\u00a0 As a Christian Scientist, she believed that evil is a false belief.\u00a0 She did not believe in disease or death and even promised to call her followers from the grave just to let them know that she was alright and there was no such thing as death.\u00a0 The phone company finally cut the service off to the phone when she never called!\u00a0 Erickson points out that this solution doesn\u2019t address the fact that even if you deny the existence of evil, you can\u2019t deny that the illusion of evil exists.<\/p>\n
After the explanation of each of the three solutions, Erickson goes on to talk about the fact that these solutions really aren\u2019t that plausible because of a variety of reasons.\u00a0 First, he points out \u201cnot all instances of evil are of the same fundamental type.\u201d\u00a0 Second, he points out that \u201cwe must not overemphasize one type of evil to the neglect of others.\u201d\u00a0 Erickson concludes by pointing out that \u201cthe problem of evil is a result of a misunderstanding or overstatement of one or more of these factors.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his lecture, Dr. Mitchell made a great point when he said, \u201cEvil is a great laboratory experience which provides the opportunity to refine the soul.\u201d\u00a0 When we encounter evil, it is an opportunity for us to share Christ and to see His glory triumph.\u00a0 I heard a preacher ask one time if we consider evil and the problems we encounter to be more like a prison, a hospital, or a seminary?\u00a0 I hope that we can all say a seminary.\u00a0 I know that looking back on my life, some of the most growth has occurred when evil entered a situation and tried to steal my joy and tried to hold me back from the perfect plan that God has laid out for my life.\u00a0 The problem of evil is one that we will always have to deal with, but it started when Adam made the choice to sin and we have all continued sinning.\u00a0 We will never be able to avoid evil until we are in heaven and reunited with God in a place where sin is not even possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Give the three common solutions to the problem of evil, and your evaluation of Erickson’s response to these solutions. The problem of evil, and more importantly, the explanation of its source has been the source of debates for many generations and will continue to be for many generations to come.\u00a0 Many of the most intellectual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}