A THEODICY

Pat Vesperman
&
Jenny Jeffrey

Philosophy of Religion
March 1, 2006
 If a horrific tragedy befell us, what follows is our belief of the justification of God’s allowing
the suffering to occur, thus comforting us in our affliction. As classical theists, we use faith
seeking understanding to develop our theodicy. We hold strongly to these four characteristics of
God:
1. Omni-competence:
(a) God is aware of every logically possible sequence of events;
(b) God can bring about any one of these logically possible sequence of events.
2. Perfect goodness: Everything that God ordains and chooses, and every act of God, is
righteous, blameless, and beyond our human understanding (Romans 11:33-36).
3. Transcendent: “…able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph.
3:20). (Deut. 29:29)
4. Trinitarian: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all united as one, resulting in a self-
sustaining, self-satisfied fullness of being.
Other beliefs:
1. Evil Exists
(a) Natural evil – suffering from natural events
(b) Moral evil – suffering from the actions of man
2. Some evil is necessary, but none are gratuitous.

From these aspects of God’s being we believe and understand that God created all and
sustains all ex nihilo. God’s purpose in creation is God’s Trinitarian glory known, loved, and
treasure by all creatures for an eternity. We believe that “all” is the crucial word in the
statement because of the passage in 1 Timothy 2:3-4, “God our Savior, who desires all people to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The issue here is how God’s goodness
applies to His ability to bring about His desire that all be saved. If this is God’s purpose in
creation and His desire, why does He not bring it to pass? While God is able to do anything, He
is then logically not willing. Thus we must give an account of God’s goodness in the face of
evil.
We hold to the Augustinian/Calvinist defense to support God’s sovereignty and goodness
(except for 4):
1. God is sovereign – exhaustive, meticulous control over everything and event.
2. God is good.
3. Persons are morally responsible.
4. LFW3: some events are CF and some are LFc.
We mean by this (4) that we are free to take an action or refrain from that action. The cause
of our taking the action is because of who we are based on our mental states and dispositions.
Some actions are controlled by God after the intention to take or refrain has begun (proximal
intention). He then prevents the action before we decide to do an action, but after we have
intended to do it. This view of free will gives us complete freedom within the sovereignty of
God.
In view of LFW3, God’s sovereignty is evident, yet we are still morally responsible for every
action. God is not limited by our free will. However, God’s goodness is still in question. If He
is able to prevent every evil, why doesn’t He?
God is perfectly good. He knows that for us to experience Him, in His fullness, would be
our ultimate good. Therefore, if and when God allows/ordains/chooses to let us go through
suffering and continue to sin, that must somehow be connected to God’s goodness. We believe
He calls us to certain things in our lives that allow us to experience His perfect goodness, so that
we may be completely happy. In all this, God is ultimately good. Yet, we still struggle with
seeing how exactly God’s goodness and evil tie together.