One of the best books in 2017 for Christian apologetics which I have come across is Why Does God Allow Evil? Compelling Answers for Life’s Toughest Questions by Clay Jones, associate professor of Christian apologetics at Biola University. Every Christian comes face to face with the problem of resolving the goodness of God and the evil which permeates the world. I am still reading through this one, but here is what has struck me so far with this one.
A way the problem of evil is dealt with is in developing a theodicy to offer justification for why God would allow evil to exist. Jones starts off with pointing out that “the Bible is largely about the knowledge of good and evil. We learn from it that God is good, that evil is horrific, and how to overcome evil with good. There is a problem of evil, all right. But it’s not God’s problem: It’s ours” (19). This is a good way to put things in order. We are prone to peek into the abyss of evil and immediately suppose it is God is the one to blame for it. But, we rarely see the evil as the result of our own wrongdoing. None of us are eager to say, “I’m wrong,” especially when that is the case.
Jones even contends that “those who do genocide are not inhuman monsters — they’re all too human. They are precisely human. Genocide is what the race of Adam does” (48). We are prone to sin. Jones moreover finds that human evil is never just limited to a few depraved individuals, and provides significant examples from the twentieth century, albeit recognizing are others examples prior to that. One that stuck out for me occurred “in December of 1937 when the Japanese army raped, tortured, and murdered more that 300,000 Chinese in the city of Nanking” (54). Jones quotes from Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking, who wrote,
The Rape of Nanking should be remembered not only for the number of people slaughtered but for the cruel manner in which many met their deaths. Chinese men were used for bayonet practice and in decapitation contests. An estimated 20,000-80,000 Chinese women were raped. Many soldiers went beyond rape to disembowel women, slice off their breast, nail them alive to walls. Fathers were forced to rape their daughters, and sons their mothers, as other family members watched. Not only did live burials, castration, the carving of organs, and the roasting of people become routine, but more diabolical tortures were practiced (54).
It is also pointed out that “The Rape of Nanking…was front-page news across the world, yet most of the world did nothing to stop it, and Japan officially denies it today” (54). It is this forthright appraisal of human sinfulness which needs to be taken into consideration in forging a robust theodicy. This is one of the attractive features of Jones’ Why Does God Allow Evil? “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” (Psa. 14:1, ESV).
All this is sort of a downer to bring up in Advent, but is this what is all about? Remember the words of the angel of the Lord? He said, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20-21). Humanity has gone astray. We have gone east of Eden. We are in exile from the goodness and glory of God. But, God has come to lead us out of exile and bring us back home. We are sinners in need of salvation, and a Savior has come. Immanuel — God with us.
— WGN
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