God does not reject those who possess honest doubt about Himself and His Son. Need proof? If you are a Christian today, take a look in the mirror, once upon a time, before they believed, every current believer was doubtful about God. One needs to go no further than what the Bible says of the man some have called “doubting Thomas” to see that the Lord will entertain (or kindly address) the honest doubts of men:
“Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”” (John 20:24–29)
Thomas wasn’t alone in his doubt; only a few days earlier, as Mary and the women who had been with her also declared that she had seen the Lord, the disciples doubted as well; (Luke 24:11) records that they considered the account of the women as “idle tales (literally nonsense) , and they did not believe them.” Only after they saw the empty tomb and later that day, the risen Lord, did the disciples believe the report; until then they too, doubted. No one, since the day of the Lord’s return (ascension) to His Father (Acts 1:9-11) has ever seen Jesus in the flesh, yet many have believed in Him and many more will, based on the testimony of the Bible, the work of the Holy Spirit and the evidence of change in the lives of those who have already believed.
Like Thomas, we all have doubts about various things concerning God sometimes. Some of our doubts take the form of innocent questions, like the one asked by many children – “Who made God?” Of course the short answer is that God has always existed and that He has, as the Bible says, no beginning and no end: (Psalm 90:2) states that “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” But then there are the more argumentative questions and dishonest doubts, questions which arise from certain beliefs and which call into question some attribute of God if not His very existence. Questions like, “If God exists (or if God is good), why is there so much evil in the world? Or “If God is a loving God, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?” And “How could a loving God send anyone to hell?”
Addressing these questions comes in two forms: An apologetic, which is the term given to defending religious doctrine largely through debate; and the other form called a Theodicy, which is simply to vindicate God, or His divine goodness and providence (by what can be known of Him through His word) in view of the existence of evil. At first blush, I would say that because God is sovereign, He is not obliged, which is to say that He is neither morally or legally obligated to explain, vindicate or justify Himself to anyone. But, because God is good, He exists, and He wants us to know Him, He entertains even the doubts of the skeptic, agnostic and atheist, teaching anyone who really wants to know how to recognize His character, His attributes and tendencies through His word.
To begin with I’d like to address the argument put forth by the majority of atheists who insist that God does not exist; the question of “If God exists, why is there so much evil in the world?” What I intend to attempt will not be an exhaustive exposition on the subject, and while the best debater will focus on logic alone to win, I am not debating but rather presenting a defense from God’s word alone. My hope is that the reader will carefully read and consider this Biblical response…
Join me next time as together we unpack what the Bible says on this important question.
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