Personal Narrative: My Understanding Of Evil

This evil does not spell our doom, however. Instead, it ensures our survival. If the thirty-eight people who watched Kitty Genovese die had rushed outside to help her, they might have ended up dead too. Instead, their selfish wishes to save themselves allowed them to commit acts of evil and keep on living. If David Cash had tried to stop his friend, his friend might have turned around and attacked him too. Instead, his selfish desire to stay out of trouble allowed him to also stay alive. This desire to survive has allowed people to stay out of dangerous situations and allowed humans to live through thousands of years of warfare and danger. Therefore, humans are not doomed and will continue to persist for many generations.

Walter A Elwell the author of “Evangelical Dictionary of Theology,” defines grace as, “Underserved blessing freely bestowed on humans by God. Grace is a concept that is at the heart not only of Christian theology, but also of all genuinely Christian experience.”1 The word “Grace” was first mentioned in Genesis 6:8, “But Noah Found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” This is the first time in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament that can be seen as the Greek word for grace is charis. God’s grace is one of the prima attribute that formalizes the purpose of Him sending His son Jesus into a sinful world to redeem humanity back into Him. Although this statement has been spoken in various forms such as Sunday morning sermons, chapters

Evil is in the eye of the beholder, sometimes a daily reality. To present the problem of evil you must first know that evil exists. Since God reveals himself as the all-powerful, all knowing and all good, how can the same God allow evil to exist and for bad things to happen to good people? Our suffering, as well as the suffering of others, vividly marks the presence of evil in our world. The majority of us struggle at one time or another in life with why evil happens to our family, friends, nation and ourselves. In recent news we also hear about particularly disturbing instances—a child raped, a school shooting, genocide in another country, a terrorist bombing. In this paper, I will review the literature from authors Robert M. Adams,

God’s grace is a word frequently used to refer to “gift from God”. In many circles, it is theological defined as God’s unmerited favor (Hughes, 1998, Ryrie, 1963). Within this

The answer to the first question is found in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God[.]” One must have faith in Jesus Christ by accepting who He claims to be, the Son of God who is God. (John 1:1-4, 3:16-17, 14:6) In accepting God’s grace, one rejects the Roman Catholic belief of

Grace peregrinates from auricular discerning, to reading, to lecture, and praying. Venturing into these channels opens us up to be crafted by the Spirit. Enrolling in the means of grace, opposed to passively waiting on God, is a kind of unique investment. Moreover, accepting grace is not about standing by waiting on God. This elucidates why Wesley was an advocate of “all who desire an increase of the grace of God are to wait for it in partaking of the Lord’s Supper.”

John Winthrop and Jonathon Edwards both present examples of irresistible grace in their sermons. Winthrop does this in “A Model of Christian Society” by explaining that with God’s grace and one’s own ability to live according to his plan they will be successful. Edwards does this in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by showing the sinners that it is only God’s irresistible grace that is keeping them from being cast into hell. Although Edwards portrays God as “angry,” both Winthrop and Edwards believe that He is a just God, they just want their people to live right.

Meaning, Edwards can freely diffuse grace throughout his sermon without the need to worry about the cause of grace since grace displays itself as an afterthought. According to Sang Hyun Lee, “God’s grace, for Edwards is efficacious: God brings about the effect of grace without depending upon any factors other than his own sovereign will. God alone is the author of grace and of the unfailing execution of its effects” (45). According to Lee, he terms “grace” itself as an effect (45). To Lee, grace spurns into an afterthought as well. In relation to time, faith comes first and reappears as the last concept that Edwards deals with in this sermon. He writes, “James ii. 19, 20.-- Thou believest that there is one God. The devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (Works 137). Edwards, again, creates a cycle back to the beginning of his sermon as this sermon is based on James 19. By ending this sermon on faith, it “justifies grace given through faith” (Chun 187). It is through the word faith that grace can appear. Grace squeezes in nicely but it holds its place in the sermon by introducing faith at the beginning and reappearing at the end. Grace is the meat but faith holds grace together—like a sandwich

The theological definition of “grace” is that of free favor of God towards humans and is necessary for salvation. God moves heaven and earth to save us as sinners because we cannot save ourselves and He sent His only Son to descend into hell on the cross so that the guilty can be reconciled to God and be received into heaven. The Bible says that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Many people equate (grace) with the idea that it is some special help from God, but it is not just to help us, it is to make us part of the inner life of the Trinity. We should identify grace with divine love and place it in our daily lives where it belongs because it is an invitation to eternal life. I have a better understanding of how generous our God is and how ungrateful we are as a people if we resist what God has given to us and lose the divine gift of life and love He has for us. For me this has become more realistic and I have more work to do on myself to become better at my works for God.

Everyday it is possible to read a newspaper, or turn on TV or radio news and learn about evil going on in our world. Banks are robbed, cars are stolen, violent murders and rapes are committed. Somewhere in the world the aftershock of an earthquake is being felt. Cancer is killing millions of people each year, while other debilitating conditions continue to affect many with no cure to end their suffering. President Bush said that our country is fighting a war against evil. We all agree that evil is real and cannot be ignored; the problem comes when we try and rationalize the concept of God and evil coexisting.

In our world, Evil is a problem that is present everywhere. So many people have been affected by evil in this world and it can be a very sensitive subject. There are a lot of people that believe that God created evil but he did not create it, he tolerates it to be a part of our existence. Evil exists because people let it exist. God just allows it to be in our world. Good and evil is something that has been a big discussion over time and how it was even made. I will be discussing why evil exists, why evil can be a good thing, some solutions to evil, and why it is a problem for the traditional conception of God.

The word ‘grace’ is the word translated for ‘Charis’ in the Greek scriptures. Because it is the grace that comes from God, it is called, ‘Charis-to-theo,’ which is “the grace of God.” The word ‘grace’ is a word that points to the grace of God’s redemption that came to us in Christ. The mercy of God who loves the sinner is the grace. Grace is the love of God who sent Jesus to this earth to save sinners. The grace of God is that we have changed through Jesus Christ, in other words, the gospel, and that we live in this earth as the children of God. Taking a breath today is the grace of God. Coming to church and enjoying worship are the grace of God.

I remember, as a young child, my family gathering for scrumptious holiday meals. Before we partook in the poultry or swine, without fail, a family member would yell out, “Who’s saying grace?” In unison the rest of us would exclaim, “GRACE!” We would all chuckle heartily and begin to chow down. Years later, grace took on a brand-new meaning to me. Today, I realize grace is such a poetic, yet, powerful word. When you speak of God’s grace, it becomes one of the most compelling forces on planet Earth. In a sermon several years ago, my pastor, Dr. Rob Ervin, offered this definition, “grace is getting something you do not deserve.” Similarly, an article found on Auburn University’s website (The Grace of God, n.d. Retrieved from http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/fbf/grace.html) says this, “Grace is, therefore, God's unmerited favor - His goodness toward those who have no claim on, nor reason to expect, divine favor.” Defining God’s grace is one thing, but experiencing the effects of God’s grace is on an entirely different level.

To understand this deeper meaning of grace we have to first establish some basic concepts about grace. First, we need to understand that grace is not earned. We can understand this concept when we see that the Bible tells us that salvation is given as grace through faith. The apostle Paul tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (English Standard Version, Eph. 2.8-9). As we can see, God's grace resulted in Him giving us salvation, not us earning salvation. If we have to earn something it is no longer a gift, but compensation. It is no longer grace at all. Second, we need to understand that God alone is the sovereign author

This relationship of evil takes place over many years. I had a lot of ups and downs to overcome and conquer. This relationship was not the best, but it surely was the worst that I have ever been through. It took a toll on me in so many ways. Some of which I still currently struggle with to this day.