WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.919 Hello and welcome to my podcast. This is an audio 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.719 version of my videos available to make listening to my 3 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:10.000 stuff in the background easier than YouTube makes it. But 4 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.640 since my videos are primarily made for YouTube, there may 5 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:16.920 be occasional references to visual materials. If you'd like this 6 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:19.960 podcast ad free, you can join us on Patreon Apppatreon 7 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.800 dot com, slash Vice Rhino. Please enjoy. 8 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:27.879 Hello and welcome to my channel, Vice Rhino. Here. Today 9 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:30.920 we're back at the Christianity Engage channel that y'all remember 10 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:34.359 from the Skeptics Journey series. Today we're not listening to 11 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:38.119 them tell a fabricated story about Natheis they claim was real. Instead, 12 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:40.280 we are going to hear them explain their view on 13 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:42.719 the problem of evil. So let's take a look. 14 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:52.560 How could a good God allow evil and suffering? 15 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.560 Well, As philosopher Philip Goff has suggested, God could be 16 00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:59.200 a god of limited power, thus leaving him unable to 17 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.159 prevent it. But usually the only time apologist turned to 18 00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:05.040 that explanation is when engaged in definition fights that they 19 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:07.480 attempt to win on technicalities. But I'm not sure the 20 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:09.959 Christian God would appreciate being thrown under the bus in 21 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:12.239 order to technically win a definition fight. 22 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:16.840 To paraphrase the ancient philosopher Epicurus, if God is willing 23 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:19.719 to prevent evil but not able, then he is not 24 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:23.680 all powerful. If he is able but not willing, then 25 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:27.000 he is not good. If he is both able and willing, 26 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:30.439 why does evil exist? And if he is neither able 27 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:33.040 nor willing, why call him God? 28 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:36.239 Yes? And I appreciate that you point out that this 29 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.439 is a paraphrase, not a quote. Epicurus was not an 30 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:42.359 atheist and likely would not have appreciated the why call 31 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:44.159 him god bit that was tacked on at the end. 32 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:46.920 He just believed that whatever gods might exist, they were 33 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:50.120 clearly either unable to do anything about human suffering or 34 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:52.560 didn't care about human suffering any more than a person 35 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:54.920 cares about the suffering happening in the ant colony under 36 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:57.879 their house. Chances are the gods aren't even aware of 37 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:00.200 our suffering, and if presented with the fact of our suffering, 38 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:01.680 would be indifferent at best. 39 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:06.120 Evil and suffering is a very difficult topic, and not 40 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:09.000 just for Christians, even atheists to have a hard time 41 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:10.199 with the concept of evil. 42 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.599 Notice how he suddenly transitioned from talking about evil and 43 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:16.800 suffering to just the concept of evil when bringing up 44 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:19.479 this problem for atheists. This is a common slight of 45 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:21.639 hand tactic that apologists use when talking about the problem 46 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.639 of evil. Evil as a concept is very easily tied 47 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:28.719 to religious ideas, but suffering is just suffering. A Christian 48 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:32.240 might call fornication evil, and I might, with some caveats, 49 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:35.240 call that same act good, and the difference there is 50 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.759 tied to religion. But stub in your toe hurts just 51 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:41.199 the same whether you're a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, or whatever. 52 00:02:41.479 --> 00:02:43.560 So I'm wagering that we're about to see him use 53 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:45.800 the view of evil as filtered through a Christian lens 54 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:48.199 to say that atheists have a problem with it. But 55 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:51.080 he'll completely ignore the fact that atheists are perfectly capable 56 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.560 of understanding that suffering is bad without Christianity. 57 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:58.120 Because without God, there's no logical basis for a definitive 58 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.759 moral code. If you take God one of the equation 59 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:04.879 right and wrong are completely subjective, and absolute values for 60 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:06.680 good and evil don't exist. 61 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.719 Yep, there we go. Now I have explained how atheist 62 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.479 morality can work in previous videos, but I do want 63 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:16.319 to say I disagree with that personally, I think that 64 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:19.159 even with a God, his opinion should not be automatically 65 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:22.159 accepted as the absolute standard for right and wrong, especially 66 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:24.759 given that his opinion has frequently landed on genocide being 67 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.199 an acceptable solution to what he considers to be the 68 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:29.759 problem of religious freedom. Or there's the time when he 69 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.240 landed on genocide being an acceptable solution to the problem 70 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:34.879 of some men committing a brutal murder, but then just 71 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:37.360 before the genocide was completed, he changed his mind on 72 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:39.280 that one. But now whys needed to be found for 73 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:41.240 all the surviving men of that tribe since all the 74 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:44.000 women and children had already been killed. So the solution 75 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:46.360 God landed on for that problem was to do a 76 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.599 mini genocide against the town of Jibeshkiliad and then subject 77 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:52.759 the surviving virgin girls to sex slavery. In my own 78 00:03:52.759 --> 00:03:57.680 subjective view, genocide and slavery, sexual or otherwise are always wrong, 79 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:59.879 So I don't see why I should have to act 80 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:03.520 to God's moral opinions here, because honestly, if we're defining 81 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:06.280 good in a way that could potentially include genocide and slavery, 82 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:08.120 then I wouldn't want to be good. 83 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:13.319 According to evolutionary biologist and pronounced atheist Richard Dawkins. 84 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:16.279 There will come a day when Christian apologists will fail 85 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:18.480 to bring up Richardawkins in one of their videos, But 86 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:19.680 it is not this day. 87 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:24.000 The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should 88 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:28.040 expect if there is at bottom no design, no purpose, 89 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:32.279 no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. 90 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.839 Yes, and clearly he is referring to good and evil 91 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:38.079 in the religious sense. There his point is that the 92 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:40.720 world we live in is rife with suffering, which is 93 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:42.879 the kind of world we would expect to exist if 94 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:45.079 there were not an all powerful and benevolent being in 95 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:45.959 charge of things. 96 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:51.959 The atheist worldview doesn't have any foundation to condemn. War, oppression, 97 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:53.240 or crime is evil. 98 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:55.959 Can't condemn them as evil in the religious sense, maybe, 99 00:04:56.199 --> 00:04:58.360 but we can absolutely condemn them as evil in the 100 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:03.160 suffering sense. Suffering is bad. Those things cause suffering, so 101 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:07.439 those things are bad. Why is suffering bad because we 102 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:11.040 don't like it? It really is that simple. Sure, you 103 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:13.519 can get into the weeds about specific scenarios and whatnot, 104 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.720 but this is the foundation upon which atheist morality is built, 105 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:20.560 and notably Christians can't condemn wars evil either, because there's 106 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:24.199 so many wars in the Bible that God explicitly condoned. 107 00:05:25.079 --> 00:05:28.639 Someone may believe the Holocaust was wrong, but their opinion 108 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:31.399 isn't more valid than the Nazi soldiers believe that it 109 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:32.240 was good. 110 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.319 The Holocaust caused lots of suffering. The suffering far outweighed 111 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:38.680 any positives that such a person might have seen in it, 112 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:42.040 or go, the Holocaust was bad, and those that think 113 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:44.360 that it was bad have the better justification for that 114 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:46.920 position than those who thought that it was good, many 115 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:48.680 of whom were Christians who thought that they were doing 116 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:51.639 God's will, by the way, which kind of undermines the 117 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:54.160 idea that Christians can, on the basis of their absolute 118 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:56.920 moral standard, condemn the Holocaust is wrong and have their 119 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:59.759 combination be more valid than the Nazi soldiers, some of 120 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:02.360 whom believed, on the basis of their absolute moral standard 121 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:05.800 grounded in the Christian God, that the Holocaust was not wrong. Now, 122 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:08.839 to be clear, the relationship between Nazis and religion is 123 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:12.439 not a straightforward one. There were definitely anti Christian sentiments 124 00:06:12.439 --> 00:06:15.360 among some of the higher ups, including Hitler himself, but 125 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.560 Germany at the time was an intensely Christian nation. In 126 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:20.959 nineteen thirty nine, when Nazi Germany was nearing its peak, 127 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.240 the population was ninety four percent Christian of some flavor 128 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.560 or other, and the public message from the higher ups 129 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:29.680 was very much a pro Christian one, with Hitler explicitly 130 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:32.759 saying that their movement is Christian. So don't pretend like 131 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:35.639 the condemnation of the Holocaust is an automatic conclusion of 132 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:39.360 Christianity based on their absolute moral standard, when Christians can't 133 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:41.920 even unanimously agree on what their absolute standard has to 134 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:44.879 say about pretty much anything. And heads up, there is 135 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:46.319 some mild goore in the next pit. They used a 136 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:48.720 clip of a lion eating another animal, So if that 137 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:50.639 sort of thing bothers you, look away until you hear 138 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:52.759 me talking again. It's only about five seconds. 139 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:57.000 Survival of the Fittest doesn't condemn such behavior. 140 00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:00.560 No, it doesn't, because survival of the fittest is not 141 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:03.480 a moral or ethical framework. It is just an oversimplified 142 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:06.680 and somewhat incorrect description of how natural selection works. The 143 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:09.199 organism that is the best fit for its environment is 144 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:12.120 most likely to survive long enough to reproduce. It doesn't 145 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:14.839 actually mean the biggest or strongest win. In fact, by 146 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:16.959 the numbers the ones that are typically thought of as 147 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:20.160 the weaker ones, the prey animals do better than the predators, 148 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.560 like the line from their clip. If the predators are 149 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:26.399 too successful, then they eat themselves to extinction. Now has 150 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:28.680 a misunderstanding of the concept of survival of the fit 151 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:30.879 has been used as a moral or ethical framework by 152 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:34.079 social Darwinists. Of course it has. Has it turned out 153 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:38.040 well for anyone? Obviously not heir go, it isn't a 154 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:39.639 good moral or ethical framework. 155 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:43.959 Sometimes atheists use evil and suffering as proof of God's 156 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.040 non existence without realizing their worldview doesn't account for evil, 157 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:51.720 and by validating the idea of an inherent moral code, 158 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.160 they would actually be supporting God's existence, not the other 159 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:56.120 way around. 160 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.519 Okay, but the answer was in the second word you 161 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:02.920 used it the beginning of that statement, suffering. I don't 162 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:05.560 need to account for the religious concept of evil, but 163 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:07.519 I don't need a god to tell me that feeling 164 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:10.519 bad feels bad, and a benevolent God would surely have 165 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:13.160 designed a world where feeling bad didn't happen, at least 166 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:14.600 not to the degree that it does in the world 167 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:15.240 that we live in. 168 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:19.319 Just as Darkness is defined as the absence of light. 169 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.399 Evil is the opposite or absence of good. 170 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:27.240 Opposite sure absence. No, there are plenty of things that 171 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:30.000 I would not describe as good, but which don't rise 172 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:32.919 to the level of evil. There is no good in 173 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:34.919 a long way at a traffic light when I really 174 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:37.200 have to pee, But I don't think that anyone would 175 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:39.200 describe that as evil on the basis that there is 176 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:43.279 an absence of good. There even completely neutral things. Right now, 177 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:46.679 there are countless photons traveling through the vast expanse of 178 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:50.600 space which will never interact with anything. They will just 179 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.720 keep going until the end of time. There is no 180 00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:56.840 good in that, but it's not evil. It's just the 181 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:59.799 way it is. So no, evil is not the ab 182 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:02.000 sense of good in the same way that dark is 183 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:02.919 the absence of light. 184 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:09.519 In Biblical terms, it's often defined as unrighteousness, injustice and ungodliness. 185 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.559 And because real beings act out real evil, evil is 186 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.519 very real and its effects are devastating. 187 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:19.200 So you move from talking about evil in the religious 188 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:22.440 sense to evil in the practical sense. You define evil 189 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:25.759 as unrighteous. Now, to take it back to my formication example, 190 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.320 I have no doubt that you would consider that to 191 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:32.519 be unrighteous and therefore evil. And while unsafe sex certainly 192 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.159 does have some potential ramifications that could be described as 193 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:38.639 devastating effects, what about my situation? I live with my 194 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.879 partner and we are unmarried. According to most Christians, we 195 00:09:41.960 --> 00:09:44.519 are living in sin. But where are the real and 196 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:48.759 devastating effects of our evil transgression? I have yet defined 197 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:51.240 any Honestly, the worst part about our sex life is 198 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:53.519 how infrequent it is, because between the two of us 199 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:57.519 we got five kids, and kids are a really good contraceptive. 200 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:00.159 But let's get petty about this, shall we. Let' look 201 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:02.120 at something that we both agree is wrong and is 202 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:04.399 in your list of big ten rules that you have 203 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:08.000 to follow. Stealing in my house is a spoon that 204 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:10.320 I stole from a restaurant that I worked at over 205 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:13.200 a decade ago. I mean, I guess technically I didn't 206 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:15.200 really steal it. It was just in a pocket of 207 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:17.279 my apron and I noticed it at home and just 208 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:20.600 never brought it back. The initial theft was accidental, but 209 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:22.960 I made the decision to keep it. All of my 210 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:25.919 former pastors would agree that this was an unrighteous decision 211 00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:28.559 that moved the act from an accidental slight into the 212 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:31.840 breaking of the no stealing commandment. So what were the 213 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:35.159 devastating effects of my thievery? The restaurant didn't even notice, 214 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:36.960 and I didn't really gain anything. 215 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:37.159 From the act. 216 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:39.519 It wasn't a particularly nice spoon, and we weren't in 217 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:41.720 need of spoons at the time. It was motivated more 218 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.360 by apathy than anything. But on the flip side, I 219 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.440 suffered zero consequences, and the victim of my evil act 220 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:51.399 is to this day unaware that such evil took place. Now, 221 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:53.879 I'm not bringing up this small, petty evil to say 222 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:57.000 that evil never has bad consequences, but rather to argue 223 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:00.000 the definition of evil. These sorts of actions are evil 224 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:02.960 in the religious sense, in that the Christian moral Code 225 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:06.039 says that they are wrong and they have had zero 226 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:09.919 devastating effects. So he switched to a more practical definition 227 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:12.440 that is centered around human suffering. The way I would 228 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:15.080 define evil is the intentional inflicting of suffering, or the 229 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.679 refusal to take action that would alleviate suffering, with the 230 00:11:17.720 --> 00:11:20.039 caveat that the action to alleviate the suffering actually has 231 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.799 to be possible for you, and you have to know 232 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:24.039 about the suffering. If there is a kid beating up 233 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:25.919 another kid on the other side of town, and I'm 234 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:28.039 not even aware of it, then it is not evil 235 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:30.000 for me to not stop it. But if it were 236 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.919 happening in my front yard, then it would be so. 237 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:36.320 With this definition, yes, I'd agree that evil is real 238 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:40.200 and has devastating effects. But also with this definition, the 239 00:11:40.279 --> 00:11:43.600 Christian God is inherently evil because he has the knowledge 240 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:47.080 and ability to stop any evil from happening, but chooses 241 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:47.440 not to. 242 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.639 So if God is good, why does he allow evil 243 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:53.240 and suffering? 244 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:56.840 Because he doesn't exist. But notice that now he slipped 245 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:59.799 back into the grouping of evil and suffering. Weird how 246 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:02.240 the word suffering just gets casually forgotten about when it 247 00:12:02.279 --> 00:12:03.799 becomes inconvenient for their argument. 248 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:07.840 Before we answer this, consider the difference between how a 249 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:10.840 doctor will approach the topic of cancer compared to a 250 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:13.399 patient who was just told they have less than six 251 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:17.000 months to live. In the same way. We can look 252 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:21.600 at this topic from a philosophical, theological, and intellectual point 253 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:25.879 of view, but at some point in our lives we 254 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.840 will all face this topic like the patient, in the 255 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:30.879 midst of deep rooted personal pain. 256 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:34.320 Yeah, suffering is a thing that everyone goes through at 257 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:37.960 some point though, two varying degrees. But I'm not sure 258 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:40.840 why the fact that suffering is universal is relevant here, 259 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:44.080 unless you're arguing on my side. Seems to me could 260 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:46.480 be a good argument for Christianity if Christians were actually 261 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.759 protected from suffering, But I'd argue that in such case, 262 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:51.879 God would still not be good, as he will only 263 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:54.440 stop your pain if you devote your life to him first. 264 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:56.240 But we also know from the Book of Job that 265 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:59.360 sometimes the suffering of God's most devoted followers could just 266 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:01.279 be the result of God gambling with the devil. So 267 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:03.360 I guess Christians don't get protection. 268 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:07.200 And in that moment, let's be honest, there is no 269 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:11.279 answer to this question that will be truly satisfying, because 270 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:15.879 knowledge won't heal the hurt. We believe the Christian worldview 271 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:17.080 provides the most hope. 272 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:20.200 The worldview that your personal suffering could just be God 273 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:23.759 gambling with your well being provides the most hope. Well, 274 00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:25.919 that's a bit of a moot point anyway, because how 275 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:29.120 satisfying or hopeful an answer is isn't actually relevant to 276 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:31.679 whether or not that answer is true. If I were 277 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:33.879 asked how much money is in my bank account right now. 278 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.879 The hopeful and satisfying answer would be at least a 279 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:40.039 million dollars. The real answer of barely enough to last 280 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:41.639 until my next payday as long as I figure out 281 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:43.759 which bills I can be laid on is much less 282 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.559 satisfying and hopeful, but it is unfortunately the true one. 283 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:50.320 So yeah, the answer after you die you go to 284 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:52.480 a magical happy place where you'll never feel bad again, 285 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:55.080 is a lot more hopeful than suffering is just a 286 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:57.919 fact of life. But wishing for a magical happy place 287 00:13:58.120 --> 00:13:59.120 doesn't make it real. 288 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:02.360 No worldview will shield you from the pain. 289 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:05.200 That is the problem of evil in a nutshell doesn't 290 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.039 matter what your worldview is. Reality behaves as though there 291 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:11.120 is no benevolent God watching out for anyone. 292 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:13.320 So why does God allow it? 293 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:17.080 Well, remember, according to Isaiah forty five to seven, God 294 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:20.919 doesn't just allow evil, God creates it. The cause of 295 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.600 evil in the world, according to the Bible, is the 296 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:24.600 God of the Bible. 297 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:29.159 The Bible teaches God created human beings and his image. 298 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:31.679 This is where we get our inherent value. And while 299 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:33.480 we cringe itto heinous crimes. 300 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:35.960 So let me get this straight. We don't cringe it 301 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:39.320 hainous crimes because we have empathy. We cringe it heinous 302 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:41.759 crimes because it's not actually just a crime against a 303 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:44.799 thinking and feeling being. It's also a crime against a 304 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:48.159 being who can't possibly be harmed in any way. That 305 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:50.039 sounds rather heinous in and of itself. 306 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:54.480 Actions like rape, murder, and child abuse are not just 307 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:01.000 socially unproductive behaviors. They are moral abominations, not subject to interpretation. 308 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:03.600 Except that in the Bible, rape is a property crime 309 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:05.639 committed against the man whose woman is raped, and there 310 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:08.679 are no provisions protecting men from rape. Also, child abuse 311 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:10.919 is commanded as a thing you must do if you 312 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:13.720 love your children. As for murder, the only reason you 313 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.559 can escape from that one is on a technicality. Murder 314 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:19.120 is unlawful killing. If God is the one deciding what 315 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:21.679 is considered lawful and what is not, then anytime he 316 00:15:21.799 --> 00:15:24.960 kills people or has people killed, it can't be murder 317 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:27.200 because it doesn't break the law that he set out. 318 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:29.919 Never mind that he commanded the Israelis to commit heinous 319 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:33.399 atrocities in his name. It's not technically murder, so it 320 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:36.120 must be okay. So two out of three of those 321 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:38.559 are subject to interpretation, and the third one you are 322 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:41.240 only capable of winning by defining yourself as the winner 323 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:43.759 in advance some moral system you've got there. 324 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:47.799 God gives us the freedom to do both good and evil. 325 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:51.320 He created us with the capacity, but not the obligation 326 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:52.000 to do both. 327 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:55.000 If we don't have the obligation not to do evil, 328 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:57.399 then hell wouldn't exist as a punishment for those who 329 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:01.720 fail to do good. Wait a minute, it doesn't actually 330 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:03.679 matter if you do good or evil? Does it? You 331 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:05.519 get into heaven based solely on the question of whether 332 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:08.919 you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior. So yeah, 333 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:11.399 I guess that tracks. It also explains why the most 334 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:14.399 vocally Christian politicians are also the ones most likely to 335 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.399 vote against the criminalization of child marriage in the United States. 336 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:20.120 Actions don't matter, after all, you don't get into paradise 337 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.960 by being a good person, so why bother? In this sense, 338 00:16:23.320 --> 00:16:25.080 I actually find the atheist answer to be the more 339 00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:28.240 hopeful and satisfying one. This is the only life we have, 340 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:30.279 so we'd better make the best of it and do 341 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:32.600 what we can make other people's lives better as well. 342 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:34.879 None of this, this life doesn't matter, so why bother 343 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:38.759 making things better, just empathetic people working to help each other. 344 00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:40.519 The world would be a much better place if we 345 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.480 could make the performative Christians behave this way. But sadly, 346 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:45.519 it seems as though the Christians most likely to actually 347 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:48.039 want to do good don't end up in prominent or 348 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:51.279 powerful positions, So the unethical, power hungry monsters like Pete 349 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:54.039 Hegseth fill those spaces and seem to be hell bent 350 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:56.440 on making life as miserable as possible for as many 351 00:16:56.440 --> 00:17:01.000 people as possible. Is he a true Christian? Don't care 352 00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:04.039 he's using Christianity to spread violence and misery. The effect 353 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:06.720 is the same regardless of what's in his heart of hearts. 354 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:10.400 He has given clear instructions on how we should live, 355 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:13.079 and it pains him to see us bring destruction on 356 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.960 ourselves and others when we violate his rules. 357 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:19.400 Can we really call his instructions clear when Christians can't 358 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.160 even agree on them? For example, there are plenty of 359 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:26.279 progressive churches that are LGBTQ affirming, and I've seen several 360 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:29.240 apologists laugh at the idea that they could ever be 361 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.640 considered the same as those people. Each side of that 362 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.640 debate will have Christians claiming that God's instructions on this 363 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:38.119 matter are clear, and they will each be able to 364 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:40.519 bring Bible verses to the table to support their position 365 00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:43.000 and explanations as to why the Bible verses brought by 366 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:45.720 the other side don't work for their argument. As an 367 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:48.680 outsider looking in, it looks to be anything but clear. 368 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.559 Many opponents to the Christian faith claim that because life 369 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.920 on earth isn't heaven on earth, God must not exist. 370 00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:58.839 But the Bible never teaches this life will be perfect. 371 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:01.240 I know of no one who claims that it does. 372 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:03.200 That would actually be a bit of a failing on 373 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:05.799 the human author's part if it did. After all, religion 374 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:08.319 developed at least partially as a way of explaining the 375 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:11.400 human condition, and suffering is a part of that. That's 376 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.640 why there's a whole lass book in the Bible explaining 377 00:18:13.640 --> 00:18:16.200 that bad things happen to good people. I just happened 378 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.240 to think the explanation of God was gambling with the 379 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:21.200 evil being he created isn't a very good one. Though. 380 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:23.440 To be fair, God was less powerful to the author 381 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:25.960 of job than he is to modernay Christians, and Satan 382 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.559 hadn't graduated to the Christian caricature that he is today. 383 00:18:28.920 --> 00:18:31.160 He was just a member of God's heavenly court. So, 384 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:33.680 now that I think about it, this was actually in 385 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:35.680 line with some of the pagan ideas about gods who 386 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:37.440 interfere with our lives for entertainment. 387 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:41.960 In fact, Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble, 388 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:46.480 but take heart, I have overcome the world. 389 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.480 A statement that makes it seem like after Jesus there 390 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:51.240 will be no more trouble in the world because you know, 391 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:55.160 Jesus overcame it. But realistically that actually sounds like something 392 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:56.799 written by a Christian who is convinced that they were 393 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.279 living in the end times. Jesus has overcome the world, 394 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:01.960 so we're all moving on to the post apocalyptic paradise 395 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:05.039 that he promised us. Of course, for modern Christians, it's 396 00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:07.279 just interpreted so that Jesus just providing a way for 397 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:10.480 humans to access Heaven counts as having overcome the world, 398 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:12.960 even though the world is still chugging along same as 399 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:14.359 it was before he came into this thing. 400 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:18.119 The truth is we may not always understand why God 401 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:21.519