Resolution of The Problem of Evil [“the Meaning of Life”] — Short Version

Introduction

Elsewhere in this blog, I have posted my 6000-word paper that • presents my resolution of The [Formal] Problem of Evil and • fleshes out the attendant picture of Heaven and Earth.

My core argument is a philosophical argument. The idea is that… if you can not fault the premises, and you can not fault the formal argumentation, you must accept the conclusion. That is why people make philosophical arguments. [I am presupposing that the Bible is appropriate and sufficient to establish a premise.]

The rest [the fleshing out] depends on the core argument. The first step, then, is to take in the core argument, and either • fault it, • accept it, or • give your subconscious time to process the picture (and then accept it).

I therefore present here only the core argument — the [original] full argument of it [for convenience], preceded by a terse version [the core material of this post].

Core Argument — Short Version

Satan (and billions of other angels) fell.

God then must destroy evil.

There must be a Reason why God did not destroy evil immediately.

God then must address that Reason.

{Addressing this Reason} requires time, because otherwise God would have destroyed evil immediately.

We know that God could address, and will have addressed, that Reason, because we know that God will have destroyed evil.

Given that God intended to create the physical realm… it is absolutely indefensible for Him to create it during the period when evil exists, when He could have created it after that period. …Unless it is part of, or constitutes {God addressing the Reason at issue}.

The chronology is as follows. • God created Satan, • Satan fell, • God formulated a Plan, • God created the world.

[From the Bible…] God’s Plan is about evil.

The Cross is the centre-piece of God’s Plan, but it is not the whole Plan on its own; the Old Testament age [the failure of {saving Israel by works}] and the New Testament age [the Church enduring under Satan] are also necessary elements. (Otherwise they would have been taking unnecessary time.)

That is why you suffer.

[Off-topic. God will recompense you for your suffering. He can, and He will.]

The Full [Original] Argument

When Did Evil Come into Existence?

The Bible tells us that things are running according to a plan of God that goes back to before the creation of this world (John 17: 24, Acts 2: 23, Rom 8: 29, 1 Cor. 2: 7–8, Eph 1: 4–5, Eph 3: 8–9, Eph 3: 10–11, 2 Tim 1: 9–10, 1 Pet 1: 20, [Rev 13: 8], Rev 17: 8).  This plan revolves around the Cross… and the Cross was the addressing of evil.

Thus, the chronology is as follows: • God created Satan, • Satan fell, • God formulated a Plan, • God created the world.

The Creation in a Context of Evil

We know that evil came into existence at some point, and will have been annihilated, a some later point. That is, the existence of evil is for a significant, but finite, period of time.

This gives rise to two questions: “Why did God not instantaneously destroy evil at the moment of its coming-into-existence?”, and (given that He did not, but would later), “Why did God create the world during the existence of evil?”.

The Timing Viewpoint

We will consider the possibility of a connection between evil and the creation from the point of view of when God might deal with evil.  There are three possibilities: • instantaneously, • never or
• something between those two.

Never is not an option, because God is holy, because He has declared that He most certainly will destroy evil, and because, in a sense, He already has.

The first option — instantaneously — does not obtain, but is the interesting one, because it is what we would have expected. In both the first and second cases, God annihilates evil; why did He not do so immediately?

The Reason

God is holy; His will is to annihilate evil… but He did not do so. We can be certain that this requires a Reason.

We can deduce something else, as well.

Failing Him being able to instantaneously annihilate evil, because of a certain Reason, His course is set: He must address the Reason.  When the Reason has been addressed, He will immediately annihilate evil. (We know that this is possible, since we know that evil will be destroyed.)

Reconciling the Plan and the Reason

Ephesians 1: 9-10 tells us that God’s purpose was a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in the Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.  Colossians 1: 20 says that, through the Christ (by the blood of His Cross), God has reconciled all things (on earth and in heaven) to Himself.

This creation was made through and for the Christ (John 1: 3, 1 Corinthians 8: 6, Colossians 1: 15 – 20, Hebrews 1: 2). All this is according to a Plan of God that was formulated before the foundation of the world.

However… the Cross is not, itself, the means by which God brings about the annihilation of evil. This follows from the fact that evil exists for a significant time both before and after the Cross; God’s holiness would require that there be no delay.

The Cross is certainly the centrepiece of the annihilation of evil. However, it is as a part of this creation that it achieves its purpose. Revelation 12: 11 tells us that the accuser is conquered by the saints, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Ephesians 3: 1 – 12 talks about the mystery of Christ; we see in verses 9 – 11 that the hidden mystery of God’s plan was that His manifold wisdom, “might… be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places”, “through the church”. Verse 11 tells us that this was according to the eternal purpose which God has realised in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The reason that this physical world was created during the existence of evil is that it is to bring about the destruction of evil that we exist. (Hence Colossians 1: 24.)