A Venture Into Theodicy

 Theodicy: "the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil."

Also, in simple terms, it's an argument to discern, assert, justify . . . how there can be evil permitted . . . in a creation where The Creator is love, good, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent--a God Almighty!  How in the heck and why did evil get a foothold and mixed into a Holy, Good, Loving, all-powerful God's Creation?

For me, that has been pretty much the crux of the matter.  As it is for any Truth seeker and curious mind. . . .

Many of "the great" thinkers and theologians, mystics, prodigies, and "salt-of-the earth" observers . . . over the centuries have wrestled with and struggled to justify God's purpose in this glaring existential crisis of sorts--how can there be such evil and suffering in a world created by a good, holy, omnipotent God?

It was one of my earliest questions.  I wrote a song about it, age 7, walking home from a friend's house after school--I came across a flat, weathered football sitting on the sidewalk.  I loved football--was already playing it and knew all the teams and players of the time!

Anyway, I was sad to see this fine football flat and forlorn on the grass, along the sidewalk.

I thought, "what happened to that?  Who's fault was it?" 

"Somebody or something made, or let that happen."

I thought, hmm, so ... whoever left the football out in the yard is to blame.  WAIT! No . . . if there wasn't a football in the first place . . . hmm . . . sooo . . . well, who bought the football . . . then, I thought . . . wait ... who made the football?  Then . . . I thought . . . well . . . a company made the football--IT'S THEIR FAULT! ... but then I kept tracing the lineage of the thing. . . . Sooo . . . people want footballs, maybe it's THEIR fault.  Then I started thinking about the materials that go into making a football . . . lol . . . and then I realized you would have to "blame" about a thousand people tangentially involved . . . for that flat, ruined football.

Eventually, I took the logical, non-stop searching for THE SOURCE OF ALL analysis all the way, to where, I realized it . . . "It's God's Fault".

As I continued walking back home I wrote a song about it.  Probably my first proper song.  I believe it is when I first (although I didn't know it at the time) became so-called "reformed".  Meaning, I traced back the reality in front of me all the way back to--to it has to be God Who is ultimately to answer for. 

He is sovereign.  HE has a purpose regarding all that is "fallen".  Since HE is Good . . . it MUST BE that!  So, for HIS purpose . . . and since He is perfect, just, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, love, just . . . IT HAS TO BE THAT IT IS (ultimately) GOOD, RIGHT, JUST, IN HIS HOLY PURPOSE that there is the existence of evil within the divine providence and goodness of THE CREATOR.