Author Archives: lewinkler

About lewinkler

I am a professor of theology and ethics at the East Asia School of Theology in Singapore.

I Am Not Ashamed

Why I Don’t Drink

In recent years, it has become increasingly common—even trendy and vogue—for contemporary evangelicals to imbibe the produce of the vine and extoll the virtues of craft beers and specialty mixed drinks.

Growing up, my parents weren’t drinkers, but I still understood that the Bible didn’t strictly forbid drinking alcohol. Paul exhorted Timothy to take some wine to aid in digestion (1 Timothy 5:23) and Jesus’ first miracle was winemaking at a wedding celebration in Canaan (John 2:1-11). It was wine—not Welch’s grape juice—the disciples drank at the last supper with the Lord as part of the inauguration of the New Covenant.

It was clear enough to me that a Christian could be a social drinker and not necessarily sin—provided drunkenness was not the result (e.g. Ephesians 5:18) and the drinker was of legal age. But in my mind, it was an ill-advised behavior nonetheless. I had heard too many stories of people whose lives and families had been shattered by the abuse of alcohol. So in the end, I never really gave much thought to the idea that I would take up drinking.

In particular, I was never all that tempted because, 1) I was able to have fun and blow off steam without it, 2) I didn’t like the taste, 3) I had seen too much from the side of sobriety to want to find myself a victim of some of the situations my drinking friends found themselves in, and 4) I somehow saw abstinence as linked to my walk with and witness for the Lord. In short, not drinking was one of the distinctive ways I demonstrated to others that I was a Christian.

Now regarding the fourth reason above, I admit that on the face of it, this is a bad argument. There is no direct-line relationship between abstaining from alcohol and being a godly Christian. To my defense, I did need to wait until I was 21 in college before I was technically “legal,” and it did give me an opportunity to explain why I was different. But it also gave the wrong impression that the only good Christian was one who abstained from all alcoholic beverages.

Additionally, there were many other ways—better ways—I could have been a witness for Christ with my peers. I honestly hope I was. But at the time, I was only vaguely aware of a concept made explicit by Paul in Romans 14, namely the stumbling block principle. Here Paul speaks about the concern every Christian must have for those around us who are watching, especially other believers.

Verse 14 is clear enough: alcohol (for example) is not “unclean in itself.” However, love for one another does create boundaries around our freedom. Paul suggests that the real point of our walk with God is not license, but the pursuit of love and “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (vs. 17). We have liberty in Jesus, but our passion should be godliness and loving concern for others. That’s a good place to start when considering any behavior.

But then Paul goes on to make a curious appeal to what could be called the “privacy principle.” Verses 21-22 state it this way: “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.” In other words, if you do something you know to be morally permissible that has the potential to be a bad witness or cause a fellow believer to stumble in their young faith, it’s better to keep that practice private—between yourself and God.

In view of this principle, I am concerned that some evangelicals, in their desire to be culturally “cool” in an increasingly hostile climate, have lost sight of this important principle of concern for the welfare of others, especially those believers who believe drinking alcohol is a sinful activity.

Does this mean that in view of the dangers, we must not drink anymore? Of course not! But drinking alcohol is neither strictly personal, nor merely social. It requires a genuine concern for personal and social responsibility that takes into account the possibility that others might come to harm or stumble in their faith over the choices that we make.

In short, as mature Christians, we must be wise and circumspect in our exercise of Christian freedom. Whether we like it or not, people are watching, and Romans 14 makes it clear that we are accountable not only to God, but also to others. With regard to drinking, He calls us to show real care for others because we are called to a higher standard of social propriety and concern.

I’m not tempted to drink irresponsibly. My temptations come in several other socially acceptable and unacceptable forms. But many others are greatly tempted by the dangers of drinking too much and are often led away from God and toward the ungodly when they drink. We have to keep that ever in mind as we exercise our Christian liberty. We have freedom, but we must use it in service of and concern for others, not merely ourselves.

God of the Unexpected

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When people hear the word, “Christmas” it brings many things to mind, but I have to confess, one of the words that comes to my mind is expectations. I feel the expectations from every side.

Society expects us to buy lots of stuff, our neighbors expect us to decorate our homes, our friends and family expect us to send them gifts and cards. Our church expects us to attend extra concerts, plays, and productions, make shoeboxes for the needy, and reach out to our non-believing friends and relations.

Sometimes the highest expectations come from ourselves as we try to become superheroes and fulfill these expectations while still managing to make the perfect meal, complete with all the trimmings, deserts, and specialty items.

Now don’t get me wrong. Many of these expectations are wonderful things. But when they overwhelm and pull us away from the real reason for the season, we have allowed them to become one more idol that draws us away from our Lord, Jesus Christ.

When contemplating the first Christmas, you begin to realize that it actually did not fulfill a lot of expectations—in fact, quite the opposite. Through Christmas, God reveals Himself to be the God of the unexpected.

Mary expected to get pregnant only after getting married. She did not expect to be visited by an angel, impregnated by the Holy Spirit, or to have her baby—the God of the universe in human flesh—in a feeding trough. The angel Gabriel told her that her son, Jesus, was the One who would “reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” It consequently seems unlikely Mary would have expected to watch Him die an ignoble criminal’s death on a cross.

As an honorable man, Joseph expected to marry a virgin who hadn’t already been pregnant and birthed a child. He expected to be the biological father of his first-born son. He did not expect to have to take his pregnant virgin wife not only down to Bethlehem, but also to flee for their lives down Egypt and back. Nor did he expect to be father to the Son of God.

The shepherds expected to spend a quiet night like any other watching their sheep in the hills overlooking Bethlehem. They did not expect to have a terrifying divine visitation. Nor did they anticipate being granted the honor of seeing the Christ Child or being the first to proclaim His coming to a waiting world. They were the outcasts and rabble of society, and yet beyond all expectation, God chose them to hear and proclaim the gospel before any of the influential and wealthy in society had the chance.

Throughout His life, Jesus did not feel obligated to fulfill everyone else’s expectations. Instead, He was constantly failing to meet them. He castigated the rejected religious establishment while eating and hanging out with sinners and whores. He embarrassed and confounded His own family while creating a new community and a new way of loving one another. He perplexed and reproached His disciples but then entrusted them with the monumentally important task of taking the message of His love and forgiveness to the ends of the earth.

In the end, no one expected Jesus to die and rise from the grave to save the world from sin. But that’s exactly what He did, because Jesus had only one expectation to fulfill in this life. And according to His own account in John 17:4, He fulfilled it when He said to the Father, “I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do.” He did everything God asked Him to do—nothing more and nothing less. He obeyed, even to the point of dying on a cross.

Christmas is a time filled with expectations, but there is only one expectation that really matters, namely what the God of the unexpected expects of us. Micah 6:8 gives us a clue as to what that actually is: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him, not merely at Christmas, but each and every day He gives us life.

Is Jesus worth it? Counting the Cost for Christ

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When I heard God’s call and went into full-time Christian ministry back in 1987, I was only 22 and fresh out of university. Young and idealistic about God’s plans for me and how I might used by Him to change the world, I thought I was willing to go anywhere and do anything for Jesus.

At the time, I didn’t have much. My parents gave me a nice used car for college graduation and everything I owned in the world fit inside. Following Jesus into the great unknown cost me nearly nothing in terms of worldly goods and treasures. I had almost nothing to lose because I had almost nothing.

After being in ministry for almost three decades, I’ve met several people who have left comfortable, respected, and lucrative jobs to answer the call of Christ and go into full-time ministry. Many took huge pay cuts and had to radically alter their former ways of life. When Jesus calls, He bids us come and die—die to sin, die to self. But wrapped up in that simple call is the reality that this death includes a lot of forsaking and leaving behind the things of this world as well.

When I went into ministry, I didn’t yet know what it would ultimately cost me. In many ways, I still don’t. But those who leave good jobs, material wealth, and comfortable lifestyles know all too well what they are leaving behind. And they choose to follow Jesus anyway.

James—the names are fictitious, the situations are not—was offered a rare and coveted teaching position at a Christian university near friends and family in the US. He turned it down so he could continue to raise his own meager support and teach at an obscure and struggling school in Asia instead. After ten years of living and teaching there, his wife nearly died, suffering permanent lung damage because of the perpetual toxic air pollution.

Mark left a successful and lucrative medical career and joined a Christian ministry where he had to raise his own salary—enough for his family of nine! He not only left behind the perks and privileges of a comfortable life, he moved his wife and seven children to a crowded, polluted, and “developing” country overseas where he didn’t speak the language.

Luke left a prestigious teaching position at a respected world-class university where his three children would have been able to attend for free. Why? So he could raise support to teach at a university in Asia no one has ever heard of. To add insult to injury, the school disrespected and discounted his area of research expertise. But he knew he was called and remained steadfast in the midst of the discouraging trials.

To count the cost assumes you have something to count, and the more you have to count, the more it’s going to cost you. None of these opportunities and temptations ever crossed my path. Perhaps God knew if I ever was given the chance or found myself in a comfortable situation with an enjoyable job and a fat paycheck, I would never have had the strength to walk away. He saved me from myself and taught me I could live on less before I ever had much to hang on to or give up.

The Apostle Paul, like many of my friends, gave up a lucrative and promising career to follow Jesus. In Philippians 3 he describes all those earthly things as detritus and dung compared to what he gained: rich fellowship with Christ and deep spiritual maturity.

Paul understood that the life we’re truly made for is not one filled with earthly effects and custom comforts. We’re made for intimacy with God. And that only comes through obedience to His call to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus. Just as Jesus gave his life away, we are asked to also come and die.

No one understood this better than Jesus Himself. When He told his disciples that it profits a person nothing to gain the whole world and forfeit one’s soul, it was not a theoretical proposition. Satan, the god of the world, offered Jesus exactly that—the whole world—if He would only forsake His divine calling to give His life away for the salvation of the world.

This is the message of Christmas and this is why Jesus was later described by the author of Hebrews as enduring the cross for the glory and honor of obeying God even unto death. He understood the reasons for His death and so was able to face it with reluctant though still willing resolve.

Dying is never easy, but it’s easier when we understand not only the cost, but also the gain. As we obey, God promises sweet fellowship with Him and an eternal glory that far outweighs all other earthly gains. That’s a price worth paying, no matter the cost.

Were David and Jonathan gay?

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Some have recently argued that David and Jonathan must have been gay because (so they say) the biblical descriptions of their relationship could only be understood in sexually explicit ways. For example, 1 Samuel 18:1 says that the soul of Jonathan was “knit” to the soul of David. And in 2 Samuel 1:26 David says that Jonathan’s love for him was “more wonderful than that of women.”

The only way this argument gets any traction in today’s world is because we are the products of a very sexualized American pop culture. The concept of deep and meaningful love relationships has become so equated with sexual intercourse, it has become difficult for us to conceive of or understand what real friendship actually looks like.

We have confused sexual love with genuine love between friends, and so we cannot imagine how Jonathan and David could consider their love for one another to be better than the presumably sexual love they had experienced with women.

Part of the problem stems from the fact that in English we use the word, “love” both broadly and flippantly for all kinds of attitudes and actions toward people and things. We say we love chocolate, our children, God, our dog, and our local sports team all in the same breath without seeing any need to provide clarification concerning what we really mean by each use of the word.

The love between friends is a different kind of love than mere erotic interest. This is why the Greeks had several words that we translate into English as “love.” Erotic love was described in the Greek as “eros,” while affectionate love between friends was described by the word “phileo.” It was not sexual, but deeply meaningful and important nonetheless. It still is, but I fear Americans have lost their ability to discern the difference between having sex and loving another in a non-sexual way.

Men in India hold hands with one another and there is nothing sexual about it. It is simply a way to be together with another man and express appreciation for being a trusted friend. And it’s a beautiful thing to see. It’s nothing but a tragedy that men seen holding hands in western culture are immediately assumed to be homosexuals because that kind of benevolent physical touch is associated so strongly with purely sexual advances.

There are cultural nuances here, of course, but there is also something deeper. By buying into the sexual narrative of our time, we have severely diminished our capacity for deep and abiding friendship. We have become obsessed with sexual passions that have little or nothing to do with deep affection. We do not understand anymore how we can truly love someone without turning him or her into a sexual object for our personal gratification.

On the face of it, the bald act of sexual intercourse requires very little time or effort. This is why prostitution has always been a thriving worldwide industry. Total strangers who have never met and might never meet again can “make a transaction” in five to ten minutes if the conditions are right. What makes sex meaningful over the long haul is having it in the God-ordained context of a committed covenantal marriage relationship where deep friendship can grow and blossom alongside the simpler act of sex. Having sex is relatively easy. Becoming friends is not. It takes time and effort—a lot of it.

And even in marriage, and contrary to the conventional wisdom of today, the most important aspect of a genuinely meaningful relationship is not the sex itself. What makes our lives truly momentous and significant are the lasting friendships we have. Deep and enduring friendships have elements of richness and meaning that sex simply cannot provide.

On page 91 of The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis puts it this way: “Those who cannot conceive Friendship as a substantive love but only as a disguise or elaboration of Eros betray the fact that they have never had a Friend.” This is perhaps one of the reasons that gay men have so many sexual partners during their lifetime. They are looking for the joy of real friendship, but have been deceived into thinking they will find it in nothing more than sex.

David and Jonathan were not gay. They were friends, and possessed a depth of emotional intimacy that is rare indeed. When Jesus called His disciples “friends” and spoke of a love so great that He would lay down His life for them, He meant it literally. He laid down His life to atone for sin—theirs and ours, yours and mine. Sex was never in the equation. Only genuine love was.

God is Quite the Artist

Does God exist?

Does God want you to be healthy and wealthy?

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One of the most pervasive and dangerous philosophies to invade the church of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century has been called the “health and wealth” or “prosperity” gospel. With the help of global media, almost no one has been untouched by these teachings.

It is hard to generalize this theological perspective, but the typical tenets of this so-called “gospel” include: 1) God does not want you to be unhappy or unhealthy in any way, 2) poverty, disease, hardships, etc. are a nothing more than the result of sin or a direct attack from Satan and his demonic forces of darkness, and 3) it lies within the authority of the believer to overcome these things, especially through faith.

God is characterized not so much as the God of the universe who does as He sees fit, but rather as the God of all wealth and health. He might better be described as more of a cosmic Santa Claus or perhaps a “great vending machine in the sky.” All I have to do is be good, punch the right buttons, fulfill the right requirements, have enough faith, and God will necessarily “deliver the goods” to me.

Since health and wealth teachers try to justify and vindicate their positions using scripture, how, do these teachings coincide and differ with biblical truth? I cannot give an extensive exegetical analysis of the entire Bible on the subject of health, wealth, and hardship, but I will share some of the clearer passages to support the claim that the health and wealth “gospel” is no gospel at all but only a heresy, a godless “get rich quick” scam cleverly clothed in spiritual language.

First we turn to the life of Christ. Jesus, who never sinned, never succumbed to Satan, and lived a holy and perfect life, was rejected by His family and hated by many of the leaders and adherents of His own religious heritage. He was homeless, threatened, mocked, scorned, spit upon, beaten, and ultimately crucified—all because He was perfect God in human flesh, not because He didn’t have enough faith!

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Paul speaks of “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me.” When he asked the Lord to remove it three times, God answered: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” It was actually part of God’s perfect plan that “a messenger of Satan” buffeted Paul with some sort of physical disability.

In 1 Peter 2:20-24, Peter explains that as followers of Jesus, we are called to suffer because Christ also suffered. Later on in chapter 4:12-16 he says we should not be surprised when we suffer for righteousness, but rather rejoice! As James 1:2-4 says, we are to consider trials “all joy” because they make us more like Christ. The purpose of the Christian life is to be holy—like Christ—letting this be a witness to the world. It is not to be healthy and wealthy and avoid all suffering and poverty, but rather to face it with faith and joy, recognizing that it is a critical part of God’s plan to mature us and share in the sufferings of Christ (Philippians 3:10).

In 1 Timothy 6:9-10, Paul says, “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many a pang.” Christ clearly says in Matthew 6:19-24, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also . . . . You cannot serve God and riches.”

This is not to say that health and wealth are inherently evil. 1 Timothy 6:10 says that it’s the love of money (not money itself) that is the root of all sorts of evil. And certainly, health is a gift from the Lord when we have it, but we must not be fooled into believing that we ought to be healthy and wealthy all the time, simply because we are God-honoring Christians. We must not seek after health and wealth, but rather, “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness,” (Matthew 6:33) and God will provide what we need—even if that means times of poverty and sickness—to make us more like Christ.

Jesus warns us to guard against the teachings of false prophets in Matthew 7:15, and 2 Peter 2:1-3 puts the warning this way: “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words.”

Paul gives this solution to false teaching in Titus 1:9-11: “Hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that [you] may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.”

The tragedy is that many have been led astray by these heretical doctrines. It is one evidence (among many) that we do not really know God or adequately consult the whole counsel of His word. Consequently, we have been duped into believing that what will bring us lasting peace, joy, and “the good life,” is nothing more than physical health and wealth. This is a thin and paltry substitute for knowing, loving, and serving our good and righteous God. We worship and adore Him not for what He can give to and do for us, but simply for who He is—love itself.

As Psalm 73:25-26 and 28 reminds us: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. . . . [A]s for me, it is good to be near my God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge.” Amen, Lord Jesus, amen. Let this continually be the cry of my own heart as well.

Are you good or are you godly? The Duplicity of Josh Duggar

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The recent Josh Duggar sexual scandal is another sobering reminder that Christians are not immune to exhibiting exceptional hypocrisy. It might be relatively easy to look good on the outside, but what’s going on deep inside the heart matters infinitely more.

In college, I appeared to be a basically good and moral person on the outside. I didn’t drink, sleep around, smoke, take drugs, cuss (much), or get into fistfights. And I didn’t date anyone who did either—mostly because I didn’t date!

But as I began walking more closely with Christ during my junior year, I quickly noticed that being truly holy—as God is holy—goes so far beyond our common concepts of merely being “good,” the two are almost of a different order. I saw more clearly than ever just how far away from true godliness my life really was.

Prior to this spiritual reawakening, most of my moral standards were in place by sheer force of habit. I simply wasn’t very tempted to do most of the things I mentioned. But deep underneath, much more insidious traits were lurking that I didn’t want to face or acknowledge. As God opened up these deeper chambers, I was appalled and ashamed by what I saw—self-congratulatory pride, egotistical indifference, malicious cruelty, covetous cupidity, timorous timidity, insidious impurity, and so much more.

It forced me to ask some very hard questions: What kind of person am I really? How truly Christ-like is my character? Is my heart tender and humble toward God or am I just pretending to be godly? How deep is my love for Jesus? How passionate is my heart for His holiness? Am I serving Him out of gratitude or just going through the motions?

As I looked more closely at Jesus, I began to come to grips with the intensity of His intimacy with God, the superlative purity of His inner character, the great genuineness of His compassion, the sweet winsomeness of His witness, the cavernous confidence of His faith. These characteristics were all deeply embedded in His inner being, grounded in a set of enduring virtues he actually possessed. To me, these qualities seemed to be nearly unattainable, things I could only dream about. They were light years away from in my inner life. I suddenly dawned on me that it would take a lifetime of walking closely with God on a daily, moment-by-moment basis to even begin approaching such a depth of godly character.

This realization set me on a quest to become godly from the inside out, but it’s been a long and difficult journey with many personal failures and setbacks along the way. While God sometimes brings rapid life transformation, for the most part, genuine holiness is not formed or proven overnight.

Josh Duggar has a long and demanding road ahead if he ever hopes to be like Jesus, but the same is also true for us. Godly character is only forged over the course of months, years, and decades of hard-fought faithfulness. We must continually choose to do the arduous moral work required to become genuinely wise and righteous. And we must daily live in deep and humble dependence upon the Holy Spirit of God.

Praise Jesus, at the end of the day there is always hope. Trajectory matters most. Little by little—sometimes three steps forward, two steps back—as we recognize our sin, humbly confessing and forsaking it, over time, Christ cleanses the filth, repairs the damage, transforms the hideous into the beautiful, and converts the base into the sacred. We need only submit to the process, endure the difficulty and hardship with Spirit-dependent perseverance and persistence, and continue on the journey with other struggling saints, so that one day God might finally declare that Christ is truly formed in us—and even perhaps in people like Josh Duggar too.

Answering the Problem of Evil

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Any number of recent world events could serve as an example of a situation where something truly evil occurred. For example, not long ago, my wife returned from a tour of the infamous death camp in Auschwitz, Poland on the 70^th anniversary of its liberation from Nazi forces. Before the end of World War II, in this camp alone, well over one million people died for no justifiable reason.

This (and other tragedies like it) raises one of the most difficult questions for the Christian faith, the so-called “problem of evil.” In the wake of such a horrendous event, many people were left to ponder this perplexing dilemma: “How could a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good allow something like this happen?”

It’s a fair question and one that is not new. Many great minds across the ages have wrestled to find an adequate answer. Is there really a satisfying solution to this problem of evil in the world? I believe there is.

Two Inadequate Answers

Before endeavoring to give a good answer, it might be helpful to survey two inadequate answers repeatedly offered through the centuries. One, articulated by the late Rabbi Harold S. Kushner in his book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, is that God is not really all-powerful. He feels for and with us, and weeps with us in our pain and loss, but He is essentially powerless to prevent these or any other types of tragedies. In my estimation, this is not true to God or His word, and makes Him into a God who is less than worthy of worship. Here, God is empathetic and compassionate, perhaps, but He is certainly not Almighty God, able to bring about genuine change in the situation.

Another answer is given by the atheist. He or she simply says that since there is evil in the world, God does not exist. Otherwise, if He did exist and as truly good, wise, and powerful, He would, by necessity, prevent it and make this world a perfect—or at least a little better—place.

In opposition to this position, however, it can be argued that the atheist has a deeper problem with evil if, in fact, God does not exist. Without God, it is virtually impossible to find an objective standard to determine what is actually evil and good. The atheist may express personal aversions to certain so-called “moral” activities and actions, but these emotional expressions have no transcendent or logical reference point to stand upon. The act may violate the atheist’s own moral sensibilities, but if all that life is comprised of is non-moral matter and energy in their various forms, then there is no adequate way to independently judge between what seems right and wrong. And so for the atheist, the problem of evil becomes this: why am I so offended by so many things when the whole of the material universe is inherently non-moral? Atheists have yet to articulate a good answer to this formidable dilemma.

But since it is easier to refute a position than to present and defend one, I will proceed to the more difficult task of providing a preliminary answer to the problem of evil.

Are we good or are we bad?

First, it must be noted that part of the problem our world has today with understanding such realities as the Auschwitz death camp is that we do not always possess an adequate view of human nature. There is a deeply held humanistic assumption that human beings are essentially good, and that faulty socialization and similar factors produce evil in the hearts of basically good people. Biblically, nothing could be further from the truth. Romans 3 (and other scripture passages) clearly teaches there is sin in the heart of every person, even from the very earliest stages of life. And while our personal pride wants to deny and ridicule this fact, history—our personal history included—is full of confirming examples of this sad reality. As it has been said, in light of humanity’s sin nature, what is remarkable is not that such atrocities occur. What is more amazing is that they do not happen with greater frequency.

Thankfully, I think this is the case because although we are fallen and corrupted, the moral image of God in human beings has not yet been destroyed. And the vestiges of it, along with God’s Spirit in the world and in the church, restrain and limit us from doing even worse things to our world and to others than we could do and already have already done. Human beings are not as bad as they could be, but they are still very bad indeed. And some, by the nature of our free choices, are worse than others.

Are we free or are we slaves?

This raises another important issue in the problem of evil discussion. God has made us, to a limited but real extent, both morally free and therefore morally corruptible. The ability of human beings to choose to do good or evil did not bring about the necessity of evil. After all, Adam and Eve were not required to sin. But free will did bring about the possibility of evil. And so, as we read with sadness in Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve did sin. In a world where we are really free, evil is not necessary, but it is possible. And sadly, in the case of Adolf Hitler and his evil network, this possibility once again became a reality.

Could God have prevented what happened at Auschwitz? Theoretically, yes. But if God were to prevent all evil from happening, He would be removing something far more valuable. First and foremost, He would be removing human freedom. And a world where freedom is real is better than a world where we are essentially slaves or robots. I would rather love and be loved freely than to love and be loved by obligation, for then love is no longer love, but merely a pretentious and subtle form of manipulative coercion. And the tragic irony of living in a world which openly rejects transcendent moral standards is painfully clear. We expect goodness from free individuals, but we reject the foundations upon which moral restraints are both built and maintained. C. S. Lewis put it this way: “And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. . . . We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful” (The Abolition of Man, 35).

Making Good from Evil and Setting the Wrong to Right

Beyond these prior thoughts, a world where there is some evil also allows for certain “higher” moral virtues that could not be exercised in a world without it. For example, praiseworthy things, like moral development, courage, and self-sacrifice, can hardly be imagined in a setting devoid of evil, challenges and hardships. This maturing process is what John Hick calls “soul-making.”

Two more thoughts can be raised. First, God is able to take any situation and cause it to work together for good (Romans 8:28). While the action may be evil, God is not overcome by it, but can overcome it by the power of His will working in and through the reality of life in a fallen world. Nowhere is this idea more evident than in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. In a strange and wonderful twist of reality (what C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien call a “eucatastrophe,” or “good tragedy”), God takes the ultimate act of evil and makes it into the triumphal moment of greatest good in all of human history! By means of a hideously evil act, God brings about the final forgiveness and righteous reconciliation of all who will trust in Jesus.

One final note should be shared. Our ultimate hope and cry for justice will not be wholly fulfilled in this life. The Bible is clear: Jesus Christ will return someday in glory and will, once and for all, right all wrongs (Matthew 16:27). Justice will be served. But until then, we labor and strive for goodness and justice in a free and fallen world, seeking to know Him and make Him known to those in desperate need of a Savior from the problem of evil that still lurks in the heart and mind of every individual—yours and mine included.