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Daily Archives: 21/07/2011
Towards a good creation theodicy
If, as I have tried to show over several posts, the Bible teaches that the creation as we see it today is not dysfunctional, either through sin or through evolution, and God is worthy of praise both for it and from it, it may seem odd to be thinking again about theodicy, the justification of God’s actions. But the undeniable truth is that we do not experience the natural world as unreservedly benevolent, and a number of “moral shortcomings” are also often pointed out in its workings over the last 4 billion years or so, before mankind ever came on the scene.
A good creation reduced to vanity – but not evil
One more passage and I’m through. Romans 8.18ff is often used both by Creationists to show that death resulted from the fall, and by others to show that the death and decay in it is not God’s will. A careful study shows that this is a complete misinterpretation, and here is an essay by me, and a rather better one by Dan Leiphart demonstrating this. In summary, the Bible contains no doctrine of a fallen natural creation, but rather that now, as at the beginning, it is good and entirely the work of God. The small number of passages often used to deny this actually don’t do so. I don’t … Continue reading
A better creation in Isaiah
Another set of passages urged in support of the doctrine of a fallen natural world is Isaiah chs 11 and 65. The first is in the context of a Messianic prophecy, in which the Branch of Jesse will defeat Israel’s enemies and unite them, judging the wicked in favour of the righteous. Verse 6 begins: The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant … Continue reading