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Why is the existence of Evil and

Suffering a problem for


Christians?

Because they believe that God is all


Loving, All Powerful and All Knowing…
So, Why is there Evil and Suffering in the
world?
Maybe God doesn’t Maybe God isn’t all-
care about Human loving
suffering

Maybe God can’t do Maybe God isn’t


anything about human all-powerful
Suffering

Maybe God isn’t


Maybe God doesn’t
all-Knowing
know about Human
Suffering
Definitions you need…
 Omnipotent – All Powerful
 Omniscient – All Knowing

 benevolent – All Loving and kind

Write a sentence using one of these words


Conclusion?
Maybe there isn’t a God

Hang on!
What does the
Bible say…maybe it
can help, sort out
this problem!
1) SUFFERING IS A TEST
God is allowing us to be tested to see if we
loses faith
2) SUFFERING IS PUNISHMENT
God is punishing us for sins
3) SUFFERING IS ALL PART OF THE
MASTER PLAN
God has a large plan which we don’t
understand, but it involves suffering.
“God works in mysterious ways”.
Freedom of choice?

 Like the creature you created at the


start of the lesson, would you want it to
be free?
 To defy you, and treat other of its kind
badly? What would you, as God do?
 How would you want your creature to
behave? How would you make it do what
you want?
The Freewill defence
When God made humans he did not want us to
be like puppets on strings, only doing what he
wanted.

So instead he made humans


to have a choice; to chose
how we want to behave.
Basically he wanted us to
have the FREEDOM to be
Good or Bad.
I wouldn’t
lie!

Unfortunately humans often choose to behave


badly,
And this, Christians say, is why there is so
much pain in the world.
Therefore pain is our fault for misusing our
FREE WILL.

THIS IS CALLED ‘THE FREE WILL DEFENCE’


What do you think?
 Write a paragraph explaining the
problem for Christians and one of the
reason they give for the existence of
Evil and Suffering.
 Remember to use your KEY WORDS
Peter, Edmund, Susan & Lucy
evacuate to an old house in the
house they find a wardrobe that
leads to a magical country Narnia.

.
In Narnia Edmund meets the
evil White Witch and decides
to betray his brother and
sisters.

Edmund is rescued by the Lord


of Narnia, Aslan, and his
brother and sisters.

The next day the Witch says that Edmund must die
as he is a traitor.

Aslan agrees and makes a secret deal with the


witch.
Watch Clip
Who do the characters represent.
 Aslan represents___________ ______ __
because___________________________

 The White Witch represents ___________


because___________________________

 The Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea represents ________


because__________________
Extension :
Stories/Films often about the fight between good and evil. Write down
three heroes and three villains. Explain how do the studios show the
character is evil/good. Think about how they look.
Task 2: Answer the following questions
 How was the treatment of Aslan like that of Jesus?
 Why did Aslan come back from the dead?
 Why did Jesus come back from the dead?
 What is similar about what happened after Jesus’ death and what
happened after Aslan’s death
 The Witch represents Satan  Aslan rose from the death
& Aslan represents Jesus. just like Jesus did.
 The treatment of Aslan just
before he is put to death is  After the battle (which they
similar to way Jesus was win) Aslan brings his
treated. followers back to life.
 Aslan chose to die in
Edmund’s place so that
could survive, so Christians
believe Jesus died for
people’s sins.

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