Griffin God Power And Evil Analysis

In God, Power, and Evil: A Process Theodicy by Davis Ray Griffin the author attempts to take an unbiased look at this age old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The author explores different theoretical beliefs in an attempt to answer this question. In most of the resources that I examined the base principle is, above all, a person’s personal belief in God, or lack of, will more than likely dictate how one is able to decipher and understand the logic of evil in the world.

Rather than spending time on trying to figure out why God allows evil to exist, the focus should be aimed at what is within our ability to control or to prevent the existence of evil and understand that without evil; good could not exist.

Griffin (2004) states that “the proper way to meet a practical problem is with a practical solution; that is, the question is not how we explain evil – for by definition it is an absurdity and hence inexplicable – but how we overcome it. In fact, preoccupation with theoretical questions only adds to the evil, since it prevents one from exerting all one’s energy to overcoming evil.” (p.15)

The author suggests that an effort in attempting to figure out “why” evil exists will not provide substantial answers, but more focus on understanding the necessity of evil to allow

good to prevail will perhaps provide more moral satisfaction. As stated by Griffin (2004) “for it seems to imply if God wanted to prevent all evil, God could.” (p.18)
It would seem that God does want to prevent all evils in the world, but He also knows that it is not all within in His power. It is not our responsibility as Christians to question His logic, but instead stand in our beliefs that good will prevail over evil. God tasks mankind with having unwavering faith that any suffering that is experienced is part of His divine plan and that humans will ultimately be rewarded by our existence in Heaven. We need to trust our beliefs and not question the evils in the world, since we don’t question the good in the world. The focus needs to be on what is within our control. We are as much in control of our destiny as we believe God is. If we live by his teachings and know that we are carrying out his will for us as his individual children.
In his writings Boyd (2001) states that “unlike God, who alone possesses goodness as an inherent quality, contingent beings such as angels and humans must bring it “to perfection…through their freedom of choice.”(p. 41)
We all have choices to make every day in regards to our salvation. We have the freedom to live our lives off of the basis of promoting “good” and accepting that there will always be evil to contest in the world or we can choose to succumb to the confusion that evil has to be explained and comprehended. Evil is a necessary component in our world. It seems that in order for us to be able to appreciate the “good” in the world, we have to have something tangible to compare it to. Without evil there would not be anything to gauge goodness against.
Griffin (2004) writes that “the other key premise is, of course, the doctrine that God is perfectly good. And the “goodness” that is relevant here is moral goodness, which can somewhat adequately be defined as the desire to promote good and prevent evil. Accordingly, if God is perfectly good morally, this seems to imply that God would want to prevent all evil.” (p.18)
Finally, I would challenge all of mankind to pay close attention to executing the scripture written in (Matthew 7:12 New International Version) “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
This could be the basis for which we can make heartfelt attempts at subjugating the evils in the world.

It would allow us the intimate control of our own salvation rather than trying to understand something that is outside of our control. We will never know the exact “why” in regards to wanting to know why bad things happen to good people. In my opinion, the authors were not able to provide a definitive answer for “why” bad things happen to good people. They tried their best to explain the foundation for how people try and answer this question based on their personal belief system. I feel that the only answer is to trust in God’s will and to live our lives based on His

doctrine.