Theology

If you read my last post, the title of this article reveals how I came to grips with the assertion that God is responsible for evil. We have to ask ourselves the question, “Does God know everything?” If He does, the following syllogism reveals that God is responsible for evil:

Major premise: God knows everything including all future events.
Minor premise: God created humans who sinned.
Conclusion: Therefore, God is responsible for introducing sin into the world.

Nearly all Christians believe that God knows everything there is to know. In fact, most Christians believe that omniscience is an inherent trait of being God. They are sometimes shocked that anyone might consider God to not be all-knowing. This assumption creates a very thorny problem, doesn’t it? The next question we should be asking is, “Does the Bible really teach that God knows everything”?

There is a statement in Genesis 22 which is related to the assertion that God is responsible for evil. Before I share with you what that statement in Genesis 22 is (in the next post), allow me to tell you a little story of one of the most puzzling theological challenges I have ever wrestled with.

Many years ago a friend presented me with a problem in logic and theology that took me months to sort out. A fellow soldier in the US Army posed a challenge that I was ill prepared for. My friend’s name was Demetrios. We worked together and we were also roommates in the barracks. This provided us with many hours of time to talk. 

Demetrios did not believe in God and presented points of view I had never been exposed to before. We spent a great deal of time debating science, philosophy, the Bible, you name it. We were soldiers with time to kill and we made the most of our conversations. I truly enjoyed his company and our debates.

A mysterious being called “the angel of the LORD” is an important character in the story of the binding of Isaac. Genesis 22 is not the first time the angel of the LORD has appeared (Gen 16), but this is the earliest indication that he was not an ordinary angel. The angel of the LORD makes lots of appearances in the Old Testament. Who is he and what is special about him?

Abraham and the angel of the LORD

If you haven’t read Genesis 22:10-17 recently, take a moment to read it now. If you were paying attention as you read, you probably noticed that the angel’s language kept shifting back and forth. He starts out by speaking of himself, but by the end of his sentence he seems to be referring to himself as if he was God.