Christian Apologetics: Answering the Hard Questions

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Christian ApologeticsAnswering the Hard
Questions

• John Oakes ARS
• Feb 26, March 5, 2011

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Outline

• I. Hard Questions Which Are Not Theological
• II. Hard Questions Which Are Theological
• A. The Trinity and Christology
• B. The Nature of God
• C. Predestination, Foreknowledge, Free Will
• D. The Question of Evil
• E. The Problem of Pain and Suffering
• F. The Problems of Violence and Slavery
• G. The Question of Justice and the Problem of
  Hell

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Required Reading

• The Problem of Suffering by C. S. Lewis
• Essay The Problem of Pain and Suffering. John
  Oakes
• Extra Credit (on approval)
• Suggestions Life in the Son Robert Shank
• Troubling Questions for Calvinists by F. Lagard
  Smith

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Grading (if you are getting credit)

• The Reading 30
• Exam 30
• Paper 40 A research paper of 5 or more
  pages on a special topic of your choice (by
  approval)

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Two Cagegories of Apologetic Topics

• Defending the Faith
• History and Archaeology
• How We Got the Bible (including response to form
  criticism, etc.)
• Science
• Supposed Contradictions in the Bible

• Creating Faith
• World View
• Prophecy
• Miracles/Resurrection
• Claims of Jesus

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Hard Questions Which Are Not Theological

• The vast majority of critics non-theological
  questions about Christianity are very easily
  answered.
• But There are a few hard ones

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Hard Questions?

• Jesus
• His Claims No significant question
• Fulfilled Prophecy No significant question
• Miracles Claim that miracles do not happen
• Resurrection No significant question.
• The Jesus Myth claim is a red herring.
• History and Archaeology
• Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack
• The case of Quirinius. When did he reign as
  governor? AD 6 or 6 BC?

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More Hard Questions?

• Science
• No science errors in the Bible!
• But Anthropology Who were Adam and Eve? This
  is a hard question!
• Existence of God
• No significant arguments against God. (Shermer
  vs. Jacoby)
• Who Created God?
• How We Got the Bible
• Very bad scholarshipanother red herring.
• Scribes and translators are not inspired.
• Minor textual issues.

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More Hard Questions?

• Supposed Contradictions
• Hundreds claimed. Of those, only two stand out.
• Matt 1010 vs Mark 68 take a staff or do not
  take a staff?
• Matthew 279-10 As spoken by Jeremiah the
  prophet.
• Biblical World View
• Evil done in the name of Christianity.
• Those who do so violate everything Jesus stood
  for.
• What about the good done in the name of
  Christianity which is consistent with the life
  and teaching of Jesus?
• That is it!!!

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II. Hard Questions Which Are TheologicalorA
Defense of Christian Theology

• World View When we discuss the difficult
  question, remember that we are not doing this in
  a vacuum. What is the answer of other world
  views?

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World View

• One's world view is the perspective one uses to
  process and interpret information received about
  the world. 
• James W. Sire put it this way, "A world view is a
  set of presuppositions (ie. assumptions) which we
  hold about the basic makeup of our world." 
• James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door
  (InterVarsity Press, 1997)

A Jain World View
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A Good World View Defined

• A. It is true.
• It is consistent with reality. It works.
• B. It answers satisfactorily the questions people
  really want answered.
• What is my value as a human being?
• What happens to a person at death?
• How do we know what is right and wrong?
• What is my purpose?
• Why is there suffering?
• Why is there evil?
• C. It causes those who hold to it to be better
  people than they would otherwise have been if
  they held to competing alternative world views.

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The Christian World View

• 1. The physical world is a. real b.
  created out of nothing (ex nihilo) and c.
  essentially good.
• 2. There exists an unseen spiritual reality which
  is not limited to or defined by the physical
  reality. Human beings have a spiritual aspect to
  their nature.
• 3. The creator of both the physical and spiritual
  realm is the God who reveals himself in the
  Bible.
• 4. Human beings have both a physical and a
  spiritual nature, The spiritual nature is more
  essential as it is eternal.
• 5. God is not easily defined but he can be
  characterized by certain qualities. God is a
  person. God is love, God is just, God is holy,
  God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.

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The Christian World View (cont.)

• 6. Although all Gods creation, including the
  physical world is good, evil does exist. Such
  evil is the result of freedom of will given to
  created beings and their subsequent decision to
  use that freedom to rebel--to sin
• 7. Because of Gods justice and his holiness,
  those who choose to rebel against him will
  ultimately be judged and separated from God for
  eternity.
• 8. The solution to evil, to sin and its eternal
  consequences is provided by God through the
  atoning substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus
  Christ.

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Competing World Views for Us

• Naturalism/Materialism
• Postmodernism
• Deism
• Pantheism/Eastern Religions
• Islamic Worldview
• Dualism
• Biblical Theism

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A Question Who reaches out to whom?
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Initiative

• Human approach Truth
• God God
• Mankind Mankind

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Works Salvation Man reaches out to
God. Islam Hinduism Jaina Sikkhism Gnosticism New
Age Buddhism?
Salvation by Grace God reaches out to
man. Judaism Christianity
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THE TRINITY
Emmanuel Emeh Evangelist, ICOC Nigeria
emmanuelemeh_at_yahoo.co.uk
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THE TRINITY

• The Most Important Apologetic Issue in the First
  Five Centuries of Christianit.

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The Trinity as an Apologetic Issue

• A stumbling block to the Greeks.
• God distant, unchanging, impassive
• A major stumbling block to Muslims.
• Tritheism/Polytheism
• A problem for unbelievers in general.
• Not logical/not rational
• Question What is the trinity?
• Do you believe in the trinity doctine?

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The Trinity is not logical!

• John 11
• John 114 Not only not logicala scandal!!!
• Peter Chacon Its not logical, its Godgical
• Q Is the goal of apologetics to present
  Christianity as rational?
• The nature of God is a mystery!

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The Mystery

• 1Timothy 316
• Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness
  is great
• He God appeared in the body,
• was vindicated by the Spirit,
• Was seen by angels,
• was preached among the nations,
• Was believed on in the world,
• was taken up in glory.
• A possible "early creed" of the church

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What is 1Tim. 316 saying?

• This scripture is telling us that we cannot
  completely understand the infinite God with our
  finite minds.
• We will get into trouble if we try to make God
  "reasonable", or "easily understood". God is
  complex. His thoughts are higher than our
  thoughts as the prophet pointed out in
• Isaiah 55 9
• "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so
  are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
  than your thoughts.
• Nevertheless, God has made a revelation of
  Himself in the Bible, which we can accept or
  reject as we please.

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The Mystery of God.

• I Cor 119-20. Where is the philosopher, Where
  is the wise man of this age?
• Ezekiel 1825 Whose way is unjust?
• Mystery Romans 1625 gospel a mystery,
  Ephesians 19, Ephesians 33-9 The Messiah a
  mystery, Colossians 126-27 the mystery Christ
  in you Colossians 22 Christ a mystery.

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Monotheism in the Bible

• There is no one like Yahweh our God." Exodus
  810
• "Yahweh, He is God there is no other besides
  Him." Deuteronomy 435
• "Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the
  earth below there is no other." Deuteronomy 439
• "See now that I, I am He, And there is no god
  besides Me" Deuteronomy 3239
• "Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one
  echad!" Deuteronomy 64
• "You are great, O Lord God for there is none
  like You, and there is no God besides You" 2
  Samuel 722

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1. "For who is God, besides Yahweh? And who is a
   rock, besides our God?" 2 Samuel 2232
2. "Yahweh is God there is no one else." 1 Kings
   860
3. You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms
   of the earth..." 2 Kings 1915
4. "O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any
   God besides You" 1 Chronicles 1720
5. "You alone are Yahweh." Nehemiah 96
6. "For who is God, but Yahweh? And who is a rock,
   except our God" Psalm 1831
7. "You alone, Lord, are God." Isaiah 3720
8. "Before Me there was no God formed, And there
   will be none after Me." Isaiah 4310

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1. "I am the first and I am the last, And there is
   no God besides Me." Isaiah 446
2. "Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any
   other Rock? I know of none." Isaiah 448
3. "I am Yahweh, and there is no other Besides Me
   there is no God." Isaiah 455
4. "Surely, God is with you, and there is none else,
   No other God." Isaiah 4514
5. "I am Yahweh, and there is none else." Isaiah
   4518

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1. "Is it not I, Yahweh? And there is no other God
   besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior There
   is none except Me." Isaiah 4521
2. "I am God, and there is no other I am God, and
   there is no one like Me" Isaiah 469
3. "And Yahweh will be king over all the earth in
   that day Yahweh will be the only one, and His
   name the only one." Zechariah 149

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1. "The foremost is, Hear, O Israel! The Lord our
   God is one Lord " Mark 1229
2. "you do not seek the glory that is from the one
   and only God?" John 544
3. "No one can serve two masters for either he will
   hate the one and love the other, or he will be
   devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot
   serve God and wealth." Matthew 624

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1. "I and the Father are one." John 1030
2. "This is eternal life, that they may know You,
   the only true God" John 173
3. "The glory which You have given Me I have given
   to them, that they may be one, just as We are
   one" John 1722
4. "since indeed God is one" Romans 330
5. "to the only wise God, Amen." Romans 1627
6. "there is no God but one" 1 Corinthians 84

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1. "yet for us there is but one God, the Father,
   from whom are all things and we exist for Him
   and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all
   things, and we exist through Him." 1 Corinthians
   86
2. "Now a mediator is not for one party only
   whereas God is only one." Galatians 320
3. "There is one body and one Spirit, one hope, one
   Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
   of all who is over all and through all and in
   all." Ephesians 44-6
4. "You believe that God is one. You do well the
   demons also believe, and shudder." James 219

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• "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible,
  the only God" 1 Timothy 117
• "which He will bring about at the proper timeHe
  who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King
  of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses
  immortality and dwells in unapproachable light,
  whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor
  and eternal dominion! Amen." 1 Timothy 616
• "For there is one God, and one mediator also
  between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"
• 1 Timothy 25
• "the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ
  our Lord. Amen." Jude 25

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The Deity of Jesus Christ
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Jesus created the universe Gen 11 1 In the
beginning God created the heavens and the
earth. John 13 3 Through him all things were
made without him nothing was made that has been
made. Heb 12 2 but in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir
of all things, and through whom he made the
universe. Col 116-17 16 For by him all things
were created things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities all things were created
by him and for him. 17 He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
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The Divinity of Jesus
John 11 In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was
with God in the beginning. John 13 Through him
all things were made without him nothing was
made that has been made. John 856-58 Your
father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing
my day he saw it and was glad." "You are not
yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and
you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth,"
Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
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• Col 29 the fullness of deity
• For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives
  in bodily form,
• Heb 13 exact representation of His nature
• The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the
  exact representation of his being, sustaining all
  things by his powerful word. After he had
  provided purification for sins, he sat down at
  the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
• Jn 148-10 He who sees Me sees the Father.
• Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that
  will be enough for us." 9 Jesus answered "Don't
  you know me, Philip, even after I have been among
  you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has
  seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the
  Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the
  Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I
  say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the
  Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

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• Jesus is called God
• Heb 18 When God brings his firstborn into the
  world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship
  him." In speaking of the angels he says, "He
  makes his angels winds, his servants flames of
  fire." But about the Son he says, "Your
  throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and
  righteousness will be the scepter of your
  kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated
  wickedness therefore God, your God, has set you
  above your companions by anointing you with the
  oil of joy."

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• Phil 26-8 Jesus existed in the form of God
• 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of
  Christ Jesus
• 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not
  consider equality with God something to be
  grasped,
• Jn 2028 'My Lord and My God
• 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!
• Isa 714 A Child Will Be Born And His Name
  Is Called" "Emanuel God with us
• Isa 96 "A Child Will Be Born And His Name Is
  Called" "Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of
  Peace"

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Creeds

• A second century Roman creed (said at baptism)
• I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
  and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our
  Lord, and in the Holy Ghost, the holy church and
  the resurrection of the flesh.

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Doctrine of the Trinity

• Tertullian AD 160-220
• Invented the (Latin) word trinity
• The Father and the Son are different not in
  condition, but in degree not in substance, but
  in form not in power, but in aspect

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Questions For Thought

• How can God be a baby?
• Who was taking care of the universe while God was
  a baby?
• Did Jesus know he was God when he was 3 years
  old?
• Did Jesus have the ability to work miracles at 5
  years?
• To what extent was the omnipotence/omniscience of
  the Son limited while he was incarnate?
• What happened at Jesus baptism?

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Heresies

• Most, if not all of these heresies were attempts
  to rationalize the relation between Father and
  Son and the nature of Jesus.
• Ebionites Jesus a mere man.
• Adoptionism God adopted the man Jesus at his
  baptism
• Gnosticism
• Jesus a spiritual emanation which occupied a
  human. Cerinthus, Valentinus
• Docetism Jesus only appeared to be human
• Arianism Jesus was not divinehe was a created
  demigod

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Early Heresies (cont.)

• Modalism The Father the Son and the Holy
  Spirit are different aspect of a single entity,
  appropriate to the situation.
• Monophysitism Two natures before, one nature
  after the union. God in a bod.
• Nestorianism Jesus virtually two persons one
  human and one divine. Sought to emphasize the
  humanity of Jesus.

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Modalism states that God has taken numerous forms
in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament,
and that God has manifested Himself in three
primary modes in regards to the salvation of
mankind. Thus God is Father in creation (God
created or begat a Son through the virgin birth),
Son in redemption (God manifested Himself into or
indwelt the begotten man Christ Jesus for the
purpose of His death upon the cross), and Holy
Spirit in regeneration (God's indwelling Spirit
within the souls of Christian believers). In
light of this view, God is not three separate
Persons, but rather one God manifesting Himself
in multiple ways. It is held by its proponents
that this view maintains the strict monotheism
found in Judaism and the Old Testament
scriptures.
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Church Councils

• Nicaea AD 325
• Condemned Arianism Jesus homoousios With the
  Father
• Constantinople AD 381
• Nicene Creed Holy Spirit also homoousious
• Ephesus AD 431
• Nestorianism condemned, Pelagius anathematized.
• Calchedon AD 451
• Define the two natures of Jesus
• Constantinople II AD 553
• Monophysitism (one nature)
• Constantinople III AD 680
• Monothelitism (one will)

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Nicene Creed We believe in one God, the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all
things visible and invisible. And in one Lord
Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all worlds God of
God, Light of Light, very God of very God
begotten, not made, being of one substance
(homoousios, of the same substance,
consubstantial as opposed to homoiousios) with
the Father, by whom all things were made. Who,
for us men and for our salvation, came down from
heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of
the virgin Mary, and was made man and was
crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate He
suffered and was buried and the third day He
rose again, according to the Scriptures and
ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand
of the Father and He shall come again, with
glory, to judge the quick and the dead whose
kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the
Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life who
proceeds from the Father and the Son who with
the Father and the Son together is worshipped and
glorified who spoke by the prophets. And I
believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I
acknowledge one baptism for the remission of
sins and I look for the resurrection of the
dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen. Is this what we believe?
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Chalcedon AD 451

• In agreement with the holy fathers we all
  unanimously teach that we should confess that our
  Lord Jesus Christ is one and the same Son the
  same perfect in Godhead and the same perfect in
  manhood, truly God and truly man, the same of a
  rational soul and body consubstantial with the
  Father in Godhead and the same consubstantial
  with us in manhood like us in all things except
  sin begotten of the Father before all ages as
  regards his Godhead and in the last days the
  same, for us and for our salvation, begotten of
  the Virgin Mary, the theotokos (as opposed to the
  Christotokos of the Nestorians) (the God-bearer,
  the mother of God) as regards his manhood one
  and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten,
  made known in two natures without confusion,
  without change, without division, without
  separation

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Chalcedon (cont.) Without confusion and without
change to oppose monophysitism/Coptic
Christianity Monophysite one nature Without
division, without separation to oppose
Nestorianism Q Are we splitting hairs here?
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Tritheism Catholic Trinity
Three Gods in One?
Tritheist by observation
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Norwegian-1300AD
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Apologetics and the Trinity

• Bottom line, the trinity is a mystery. We cannot
  defend it as a logical concept.
• It is not rational, but it is also not
  irrational.
• The apologetics of the trinity is that God
  became a man so that he could reach out to usso
  that we could know Him.

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Outline

• I. Hard Questions Which Are Not Theological
• II. Hard Questions Which Are Theological
• A. The Trinity and Christology
• B. The Nature of God
• C. Predestination, Foreknowledge, Free Will
• D. The Question of Evil
• E. The Problem of Pain and Suffering
• F. The Problems of Violence and Slavery
• G. The Question of Justice and the Problem of
  Hell

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Predestination, Foreknowledge, Free Will

• How can God foreknow without predetermining?
• Critic The Biblical God is the source of evil.
• If God already knows what I will do, why do I
  need to take responsibility for my actions?

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Attributes of God

• Eternal
• Omnipresent
• Omniscient
• Omnipotent
• Righteous, Holy
• Sovereign
• Love
• Justice
• God is not merely loving, he is love
• Is it logical for God to be omniscient, loving
  and just?

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Sin, Redemption, Salvation

• Augustine!!!!!
• The City of God Soveriegnty
• Total depravity
• Monoergism (only God)
• Predestination
• Original Sin
• Infant baptism required for salvation
• City and State
• Opposed Donatists

Augustine of Hippo (from 6th century)
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Augustine Evil and Free Will

• About Augustine Evil arises from the
  corruption of a nature which is essentially good.
  What is called evil is good corrupted if it
  were not corrupted it would be wholly good but
  even when it is corrupted, it is good in so far
  as it remains a natural thing, and bad only in so
  far as it is corrupted.
• A mans free will avails for nothing except to
  sin.

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Augustine

• Strong emphasis on depravity of man.
• The Sovereignty of God The City of God
• Monergism.
• Very logical!
• Augustine An infant who dies unbaptized is
  damned even where no baptism is possible.
• Rightly, therefore, by virtue of that
  condemnation which runs throughout the mass of
  humanity is he not admitted into the kingdom of
  heaven, although he was not only not a Christian,
  but was unable to become one.

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Pelagius AD c. 354-430
Works Salvation? Affirmed the existence of free
will. Evil is not born with us, and we are
procreated without fault. Rejected infant
baptism. Taught that we become holy through our
own effort? Adam was not immortal We are
procreated without fault
60

• Q What is the nature of the Fall of mankind?
  What happened in the garden?
• Puritans In Adams fall we sinned all.
• Romans 512-19 What death is this in v. 12

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Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 Aristotle Revelation by
reason Scholasticism Arguments for existence of
God Natural Theology Summa Theologica
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Thomas Aquinas God, therefore, is the first
cause, who moves causes both natural and
voluntary. And just as by moving natural causes
He does not prevent their actions from being
natural, so by moving voluntary causes He does
not deprive their actions of being voluntary but
rather is He the cause of this very thing in
them, for He operates in each thing according to
his own nature. In other words, Aquinas
believed in free will and not a strict monergism.
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Question Do you believe in Predestination?
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History of the Doctrine of Predestination

• Augustine of Hippo AD 354-430 The City of God
• Martin Luther (1483-1546) an Augustinian monk.
• Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) Reformed Theology.
• John Calvin (1509-1564) Institutes of the
  Christian Religion
• The key A profound belief in the sovereignty of
  God
• Double Predestination and TULIP

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Martin Luther 1483-1541 Augustinian Monk Faith
Alone Grace Alone Scripture Alone Predestination
66
Martin Luther Away with James His authority is
not great enough to cause me to abandon the
doctrine of faith alone and to deviate from the
authority of the other apostles and the entire
Scripture. St. James epistle is really an
epistle of straw, compared to these others
(Romans, Galatians, John) for it has nothing of
the nature of the gospel about it.
67
Ulrich Zwingli 1484-1531 Opposed baptismal
regeneration Double Predestination Reformed
Theology Those individuals who end up damned
forever in hell are also eternally determined by
God for that fate.
68
The Radical Reformation

• Separation of Church and State
• Opposed strict predestination
• Opposed infant baptism
• Believed in baptismal regeneration

Menno Simmons
69
John Calvin 1509-1564 Institutes of Christian
Religion His emphasis the sovereignty of
God TULIP
70
TULIP

• Total depravity
• Unconditional election
• Limited atonement
• Irresistable grace
• Perseverence of the saint (once saved, always
  saved)

71
Jacob Arminius (1560-1609) Opposed Reformed
idea of predestination. Are we Arminians?
72

• Q Scriptures which appear to support the
  doctrine of predestination?
• Q Scriptures which prove free will and refute
  predestination?

73
Jonathan Edwards A Sinner in the Hands of an
Angry God. How do we know we are of the elect?
74
1800s America Predestination LightOnce Saved,
Always Saved

• Preservation of the Saints
• Believers Prayer.
• Once God saves you, in is impossible to lose your
  salvation, no matter what.

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Predestination?

• Romans 828-30
• Romans 831-39 Nothing can separate us (except
  we ourselves because we
• 
  have free will)
• John 1027-29 No one can snatch them out of my
  hands
• Romans 910-21 (read v. 14-18)

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Hebrews and Falling Away

• They shall never enter my rest 311, 45
• We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly
  to the end the confidence we had at first. 314
• They were not able to enter because of their
  unbelief 319
• Be careful not to be found to have fallen short
  of it. 41
• Some did not go in because of their obedience
  46
• Let us make every effort to enter that rest so
  that no one will fall by following their example
  of disobedience 411
• Do you get the point?

77
Hebrews 64-6 Who is he talking to?

• a. been enlightened (NT church enlightened
  baptized)
• b. tasted the heavenly gift (salvation?)
• c. shared in the Holy Spirit
• d. tasted the goodness of the word
• e. tasted the coming age (saved)
• Yes, you can fall away! Conclusion You had
  better move on toward maturity in Christ.

78
Hebrews 64-8

• It is impossible if they fall away, to be
  brought back to repentance.
• They are crucifying the Son of God all over
  again.
• Land that produces thorns will be burned.

79
Falling Away Hebrews 1026-31

• Crucifying the Son of God all over again.
• Subjecting Jesus to public disgrace
• Trampling the Son of God under foot. (Heb 1029)
• Insulted the Holy Spirit (Heb 1029)
• Blasphemed (spoken against) the Holy Spirit (Matt
  1232)
• Committed the unforgivable sin (1 John 516 )
• What is the unforgivable sin? To willfully,
  deliberately continue in sin. (Hebrews 1026)
• Also Hebrews 1214-17, 1225 you will not
  escape if you turn away

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Biblical Predestination

• God predestined all of us for salvation.
• Gods sovereign will is that we have free will to
  choose to accept or refuse the offer.
• God predestined that Jesus would come and die to
  provide salvation for our sins.
• God intervened in history to make this happen.
• But God did not steal free will from anyone.
• God can perfectly predestine and perfectly give
  free will at the same time. God is awesome!!!

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Summary

• Correct theology (God, Jesus, salvation) is
  harder to find than you think.
• Do not fall into the trap of relying on human
  reason too heavily.
• Always protect the mystery.
• Trinity
• Jesus
• Faith, Works and Grace

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D. The Problem of Evil
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Augustine on Evil

• When accordingly it is inquired, whence is evil,
  it must first be inquired what is evil, which is
  nothing else than corruption, either of the
  measure, or the form or the order, that belong to
  nature. Nature therefore which has been
  corrupted, is called evil, for assuredly when
  incorrupt it is good but even when corrupt, so
  far as it is nature, it is good, so far as it is
  corrupted it is evil.
• Sin is not the striving after an evil nature, but
  the desertion of a better, and so the deed itself
  is evil, not the nature which the sinner uses
  amiss. For it is evil to use amiss that which is
  good.

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Apologetics and Evil What are the alternatives?

• Dualism Good and Evil in an unending more or
  less equal balance
• Pantheism The physical world is evil. Evil is
  being tied down to the physicalit is missing the
  god-likeness in you.
• Naturalism There is no evil.
• Postmodernism Evil???
• Determinism/Fate God is the cause of evil.