Open theists would claim that the essence of God is love. Greg Boyd is a leading theologian who takes the stance of Open Theism. Greg has written many books to explain God in the midst of evil. Is God to Blame is a book Boyd wrote to help compress many volume books into a smaller collection, which is filled with questions that open theism tries to answer about the problem of evil. Not all open theists agree completely with Greg Boyd. The reason being is Boyd goes into much more detail about spiritual forces. People would disagree with Boyd on his emphasis on the spiritual realm. Open theist are very oppose to the view of Calvin and Augustine, especially when it comes to the topic of free will. Boyd believes it would be nonsense to believe …show more content…
Although God does not know the future he is still all knowing, which helps keep him more divine than humans. This does not mean God does not intervene. “Taking Jesus Christ as our standpoint, we can’t avoid concluding that God intervenes in the world” (Pg.109). No matter what a person decides to do with their free will God is able to work in every situation. God is so sovereign that he is able to work in the midst of mistakes and use them to relieve him and bring about his purpose. Prayer is an active tool in open theism! Prayer is God’s way of giving us the say- so on evil. We can’t God to respond the way we wish for every situation. It is not that God wishes to see hurt, pain, and suffering on his people. God just can’t always get his way. God is capable of eliminating all evil. The problem of that elimination is that he would also have to eliminate freewill and love. Lastly, something that makes open theism stand out is its view of hell. Boyd believes the depictions of hell as eternal torture is just symbolism. Instead, hell will be only real from the inside. Humans who come to hell will be completely alone and dammed to only themselves. Hell is not a creation of evil by God because people can choose to not go to …show more content…
The first positive aspect of open theism is prayer. “Scripture encourages us to believe that prayer really changes what God does. Indeed, it sometimes changes what God can do in a particular situation” (Pg. 126). Imagine knowing that just by asking God it could have the potential to change an outcome. Although not everything will be answered in prayer like we would like, but it is still a beautiful gift from God. Prayer is a way to build intimacy with God. Some theologies believe prayer is a waste because it doesn’t change anything. The belief that prayer is powerful and God can use it shows a beautiful side of God. Since we don’t know what the outcome will be with our prayers it builds faith. It takes guts to spill out everything to God and then trust that he will do the best thing for that situation. Also knowing that God can make his purpose happen regardless of an outcome is also encouraging in a spiritual practice like prayer. Faith and prayer need to be hand-in-hand and this theology does a good job at encouraging believers to participate in prayer because it is a way we can change the
The need of theodicy in the ongoing face of suffering the world is ever apparent for Christians. The Christian faith being based on grace demands a response to evil in the world. However, the Christian response is that hope for the theist is based on the age to come. For that to happen God must be good and just. Theist must continue to deal with the difficult question of evil in the world to reach an understanding that address the attempts of atheist to dismiss God complete on this single issue. In the end, theodicy is the only path to possibly address the problem of evil from a theistic
Black theologians believe the questions about God's principles are futile. Instead they are more focused on how
Gregory Boyd in “Is God to Blame” talked about how God limits His own power by giving humans freedom of choice meaning God can not foresee some of events (Boyd 72). From reading the book, I felt that Boyd’s theodicy is open theism because throughout the book he tells stories about real life suffering events and how it impacts their life which can show that God allows evil things to happen because of a hidden purpose (Boyd 185). This is another example of a good theodicy because it shows that suffering does happen from freedom of choice like the women who rushed into having a child without really praying and waiting for God’s answer (Boyd 13).
Under all religions there are common attributes associated with god. God is known to be all good (omnibenevolent), all powerful (omnipotent) and all knowing (omniscient), which together form t...
The problem of reconciling an omnipotent, perfectly just, perfectly benevolent god with a world full of evil and suffering has plagued believers since the beginning of religious thought. Atheists often site this paradox in order to demonstrate that such a god cannot exist and, therefore, that theism is an invalid position. Theodicy is a branch of philosophy that seeks to defend religion by reconciling the supposed existence of an omnipotent, perfectly just God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. In fact, the word “theodicy” consists of the Greek words “theos,” or God, and “dike,” or justice (Knox 1981, 1). Thus, theodicy seeks to find a sense of divine justice in a world filled with suffering.
this world, and he is good, theists must then ask themselves what evil is and
1. What does he mean by calling himself an optimistic skeptic with respect to free will?
Neely opened her paper with a powerful but yet simple scripture from the Bible. “God is Love.” (1 John 4.16) I believe this is one of the many important scriptures to look back on when talking about a Christian worldview. Love is the core of my Christian worldview. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus mentions this "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” He says, "Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back…” (Luke 6:30-36) Christian love is giving to others what you would want them to give to you in that situation, even if they can’t give it back.
To start with, Transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that all people were born innately good, and this is proven in his writing, “Self-Reliance,” when he states that people should “trust thyself… [and] accept the place the divine Providence has found for [them]” (246). By saying this, Emerson is stating that when one is true to themself and their goodness, they will live a good life. By embracing the natural goodness in oneself, people are able to live out the greatest version of life. Another point is that besides the fact that Transcendentalists did not believe in God, they also did not believe in Satan. Transcendentalists instead put their faith into nature, which guided them through life and it is shown when Emerson claims that when he is in nature, he becomes “a transparent eyeball. [He is]
Throughout the world, most people believe in some type of god or gods, and the majority of them understand God as all-good, all-knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent). However, there is a major objection to the latter belief: the “problem of evil” (P.O.E.) argument. According to this theory, God’s existence is unlikely, if not illogical, because a good, omniscient, and omnipotent being would not allow unnecessary suffering, of which there are enormous amounts.
The problem of evil is a difficult objection to contend with for theists. Indeed, major crises of faith can occur after observing or experiencing the wide variety and depths of suffering in the world. It also stands that these “evils” of suffering call into question the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The “greater good defense” tries to account for some of the issues presented, but still has flaws of its own.
Moreover, classic theology is a doctrine that is most commonly received in the western churches because it describe the fundamental aspect of religious beliefs and doctrine as it relates to Christianity. This theological system is the innovation that secure a believer’s thoughts on the nature of God without having to compromise with religious ideologies that tends to oppose biblical facts in favor of some enticing or deceptive truth that could lead to uncertainty religious conviction. According to Vanhoozer,”Classical theism pictures God, not as a utilitarian or pragmatist who delights in results, but rather as a Kantian, a modern, Stoic, who takes pleasure simply in his good will; Classical theism pictures God as spiritual, personal substance
...lized by – God, Dr. Roth’s Divine Dichotomy of the Christian God is now comparable to the duality of the Eastern yin-yang. “Good” and “Evil” are clearly inherent in the universe, and are inevitably built into the fabric of all models of the Divine.
Ecumenical spirits influence various religions to lay aside theological differences, and accept and tolerate diverse beliefs coming together and forming ecclesiastical bonds. Historically, Catholics and Protestants fought each other, and not only through verbal exchange, but through physical means as well. World and religious leaders today advocate accepting all faiths and tolerance of differing viewpoints. For the most part they reflect the ideals of the general consensus. Popular opinion suggests that there are various paths to God, and it is narrow minded to believe there is only on...
When it comes to the secular world, one of the hardest attributes that God has instilled in us is the ability to be just benevolent as God is. As humans it seems difficult for you to love everyone and everything on this planet. Some state that it is impossible, but from a theistic point of view, if God is able to be benevolent to all and we are made in his exact image, it should be relatively same for us. One of popular verses that show that ...