If God, Why Evil?: A New Way to Think about the Question
Overview
In this clear, concise, and thorough book, Norman L. Geisler carefully answers tough questions about the existence of evil. Using step-by-step explanations and compelling examples, he walks the reader through time-tested answers but also provides a new approach that revolves around whether or not this world is the “best of all possible worlds.” This all adds up to comforting news for believers: we can rest assured that God is both loving and all-powerful.
Top Highlights
“rational and moral choices are only possible in a world of regular events.” (Page 88)
“The best way to comprehend the basis of a free act is to examine the three possible alternatives. A free act is either uncaused, caused by another, or self-caused. That is, it is undetermined, determined by another, or self-determined.” (Pages 30–31)
“‘[When I was an atheist] my argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line’” (Page 13)
“There is nothing that happens apart from God knowing, planning, and controlling it for His purposes” (Page 23)
“we can only know something is evil (not good) if we know what is good” (Page 13)
- Title: If God, Why Evil?: A New Way to Think about the Question
- Author: Norman Geisler
- Publisher: Bethany House
- Print Publication Date: 2011
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Theodicy
- ISBNs: 9781441230232, 9780764208126, 1441230238, 0764208128
- Resource ID: LLS:IFGODWHYEVIL
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:42:17Z
Norman L. Geisler (1932– 2019) has taught at the university and graduate level for over 50 years. He holds degrees from Wheaton College, William Tyndale College, and Loyola University, and is known for his scholarly contributions to the subjects of Christian apologetics, theology, and philosophy.
After his studies, he became Wheaton's graduate assistant in the Bible-Philosophy department. He has since taught theology, apologetics, and philosophy at Detroit Bible College, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Dallas Theological Seminary, and was dean of Liberty Center for Research and Scholarship in Lynchburg, VA.
In 1992, Geisler co-founded Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2007, he co-founded Veritas Evangelical Seminary in Murrieta, California, where he serves as chancellor and distinguished professor of Apologetics.
Geisler is the author or co-author of over 80 books, including the books in the Norman L. Geisler Collection, The Norman L. Geisler Apologetics Library, and his three-volume Systematic Theology.