Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - June 30, 2023
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. The Problem of Evil, Part 5
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. The Problem of Evil, Part 5

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, #4, #5, and #6 from the list below problematic. Today, I will consider #1:

  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 between good and 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 sometimes seems like God is not good or that God is indifferent to the suffering in the world. Indeed, there is suffering and death throughout nature. It is hard to reconcile the notion of a compassionate God with the travails of nonhumans, most of whom die young and many of whom suffer severe hunger, thirst, or other maladies during their lifetimes and then die violently. Further, if God cared about the suffering of nonhumans, how would God permit humans to perpetrate massive crimes against nonhumans? In addition, humans have caused other humans to experience great suffering. This has been mitigated somewhat by pluralistic, democratic impulses, but the decline of both pluralism and the vitality of democratic institutions throughout the world illustrates how tenuous those gains have been.

Rabbi Harold Kushner, who wrote Why Bad Things Happen to Good People, reflected on the death of his 10-year-old son, who had a genetic disorder. Kushner said that, if God wanted his son to die, then he would choose not to worship God. We might find that we still abide by God’s dictates out of fear of divine retribution, but this would be an act of fear rather than love or respect.

While it is possible that God is not good, why would God go to the trouble of creating and/or impacting the universe? As Christians, we abide by Jesus’ teachings about the nature of God. Jesus described God as loving and compassionate. As a matter of faith, we accept this depiction of God. Is such a faith reasonable? As we turn to the last option in the list above, #2, we will consider this question.

Stephen R. Kaufman, MD

2. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry

We hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter. It includes undercover cameras on animals stream farmed animals’ POV — author Matthew A. King’s live interview — more AR philosophy from Tom Regan — former captive Dolphins’ rehab and retirement center — facts about Sheep and Lambs — debunking animal experiments because humans are not big mice — sweet Gibbon Chloe — poems: fireflies, frogs, humankind — Veda Stram podcast interview — lactose intolerance? — beyond leather cruelties — and more....

All-Creatures.org Newsletter, June 28, 2023

Do you have things that you would like to see included? Then send it to us at veda@all-creatures.org

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

and

Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Directress
All-Creatures.org

2023 Newsletters Archive