The problem of why God allows bad things to happen to good people is a common preoccupation of comfortable, modern Westerners. Associated with this presumption that God owes us health, wealth and comfort is a distaste for the ideas of judgment, eternal punishment and hell. For comfortable, well-off people, the idea of hell is a problem. We ask "How could a loving God eternally punish people in hell? How is that consistent with His goodness?"
On the other hand, for people who are being oppressed and killed by lawless megalomaniacs, the idea of hell takes on a different hue. For them, the problem of evil consists of wondering why the evil ones get away with it while the righteous and innocent suffer so horrendously. For people in such a situation, the idea that God is Just and though His judgment may be delayed it is nonetheless certain, is a great comfort. If we can but endure a little while, we will see the justice of the Righteous God.
The real problem of evil is why God allows evil to run rampant throughout His creation without so much as lifting a finger to stop it. The question is: "Is this a moral universe under the government of a good and wise Creator or is it the product of random chance and thus meaningless?" If there is no judgment of evil and reward of good, then this universe resembles more closely the chaotic and meaningless universe of modern materialistic Darwinism than the cosmos pictured in historic Christianity.
If there is no hell or judgment, then this life is just a meaningless succession of random events including horrifically evil ones from which God apparently is either unwilling or unable to rescue us. But the Day of Judgment is a symbol of the sovereignty of God and the ultimate meaningfulness of the creation. For those who suffer the predations of the wicked, hell is a highly comforting doctrine.
By comparison, the Marxist Utopian classless society somewhere far off in the future is just pie in the sky by and by and the Progressivist vision of an eternally improving world is utterly meaningless to me here and now.
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"By comparison, the Marxist Utopian classless society somewhere far off in the future is just pie in the sky by and by and the Progressivist vision of an eternally improving world is utterly meaningless to me here and now."
Yes, because I won't be around to see it or benefit from it, whereas the doctrine of future resurrection and judgement offers me the hope of experiencing God's justice.
Tim Keller addresses the issue of hell and judgement in "The Reason For God," basically saying that in many places in the world, it is not God's judgement, but God's mercy that is a stumbling block for people. Because of their daily experience of suffering, injustice and evil, they understand and embrace the idea of a God who judges evil, but struggle with the idea of God forgiving those who commit such acts of evil and injustice.
Meanwhile, over here in the largely comfortable western world where acute suffering, evil, and injustice are much less a part of our daily experience, we take God's mercy for granted (or consider it something which we don't even need) and are offended at the idea of a God who judges. Then we imperialistically project our perspective onto the cosmos and act as if our view of the matter should be the morally determinative for all of reality.
Gordon,
Well said.
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