Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - May 31, 2023
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. The Problem of Evil, Part 3
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. The Problem of Evil, Part 3

I have been exploring the question: If God is good and God is all-powerful, why is there evil in the world? I have found #3 and #4 from the list below problematic. Today, I will consider #5:

  1. God is not good.
  2. God is not all-powerful.
  3. There is no evil. In other words, while perhaps imperfect, this is the best of all possible worlds.
  4. Without the option to choose to do evil, humans could never exercise free will. Free will is important for, among other things, discerning who deserves heavenly reward and who deserves punishment in hell.
  5. There is no contradiction, because God’s truth is different from human truth.
  6. There is no God, and therefore there is no theodicy problem.

It is possible that #5 is correct, but if that were the case it would put humans in a real bind. It would mean that what we have learned about how we should treat each other is untrue. We generally agree that showing compassion, kindness, and love for everyone are virtues, but perhaps that is wrong. If it were wrong, then how do we discern right from wrong? In the end, we would have to either defy God or adopt what we think is God’s moral code. How would we discern God’s moral code?

There are several possibilities, including an intuitive sense of what God is telling us, our interpretation of Scripture, or the interpretation of Scripture by one or more authorities. All these carry the great risk that people claiming to be doing God’s work are actually serving self-interests. Indeed, it has always been tempting to believe that God hates the same people we despise. At the end of the day, if #5 is correct, then our faith would seem to be an impediment to our efforts to do good and to prevent harm.

2. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry

Dear Friends,

We hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter. It includes how feathers work! — who else betrays wild Horses? — a vegan’s view of the Envigo Beagle rescue — UN development goals must be veganized or fail — learning from and preserving animal rights movement history — poems for Gnats and Dragonflies and Tigers and Hawks — ALF frees thousands more Minks — Preakness attendance keeps dropping — brave new farms? factories come, farms go — in memory of Ellie — and more...


All-Creatures.org Newsletter for May 24

In the Love of the Lord,
Frank L Hoffman
All-Creatures.org

and

Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Directress
All-Creatures.org 

2023 Newsletters Archive