Justice? (Part 2)

So I have been reading the book of Habakkuk lately. At New Horizon we have been discussing God and the problem of evil (you know, why does God let bad things happen to good people?) and the prophet Habakkuk addresses this question to a certain degree. He just doesn't do so in a way that suits my western, post-enlightenment sensibilities.

What I mean is he doesn't articulate a logical, linear, apologetic for the problem. He simply records a somewhat oblique discussion of justice between himself and the God he assumes can/should do something about evil in the world.

The "can do/should do" component is important to me (being western, post-enlightenment and having a penchant for logical, linear apologetics). In my mind, the issue of God and evil can be reduced to the point that there are two possible solutions:

1) God is able to do something about evil, but not willing to.
2) God is willing to do something about evil, but is unable to.

Of course many of my fellow evangelicals look at the issue and offer up a third solution: God is able, but not willing to do something about it now, rather, he is in the process of doing something about it. I think this viewpoint is what Ivan is dismantling in The Brothers Karamazov (see previous post).

Maybe God's motives just don't make sense, in which case the discussion is futile, or at least not logical or linear.

Justice? (Part 1)

One of the more dazzling encounters with the dark side of God that I have ever had came the first time I tried to read "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Specifically that famous chapter in book five titled "The Grand Inquisitor."

What an absolute sucker punch.

For those of you who have never read it, part of the chapter is a poignant and somewhat disturbing discussion of God and the problem of evil. You know, why do so many BAD things happen if there is a God out there who supposedly loves us and has the power to do something about it?

It is a tough question to wrestle, especially if the tried and true Christian answers leave you wanting more. Things like "God doesn't want bad things to happen, he just chooses to allow bad things to happen."

That one doesn't work for me. The way I look at it, the difference between "allowing" and "wanting" is so small as to afford little or no moral absolution for a deity who is supposed to be all powerful. If God could stop children from starving to death, why doesn't he?

It makes you want to cry out along side the prophet Habakkuk. "Where's the Justice?"