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Claim 2 of 8 · Case 06 · Problem of Evil

Scripture presents a world made good and then broken by human rebellion, so it diagnoses evil rather than pretending it is not there.

One claim from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.

Suggest a correction
A common charge is that faith ignores how bad things are. The opening chapters of the Bible do the opposite. They present a world that was made good, then damaged by a human turn away from God, with the damage spreading into relationships and into creation itself. On this reading, evil is not a surprise the system cannot absorb. It is part of the diagnosis, and a diagnosis is the first step toward a cure. One honest note. This is a theological reading of these texts. It is well grounded in what the passages say and it is the historic Christian understanding, but it is an interpretation of scripture, not a finding from outside it.

Backed by 4 pieces of evidence

  1. The book of Genesis, the creation account

    You cannot say the world was broken unless it was once unbroken. This passage gives that baseline plainly, which is what lets us say evil is a corruption of good rather than a permanent feature of reality.

    1 source · 2 objections

  2. The book of Genesis, the account of the fall

    The story locates the origin of evil in a misused freedom, which connects directly to the free will argument elsewhere on this site. It also lets a Christian tell a skeptic, honestly, that we agree something has gone deeply wrong, and we think we know when and how.

    1 source · 2 objections

  3. Paul’s letter to the Romans on sin and death

    This shows the diagnosis is not a one off in Genesis but a settled part of the Bible’s account of the world. It ties the origin of evil to a single turning point, which is what gives the Christian story its shape, a good beginning, a real break, and a repair to come.

    1 source · 1 objection

  4. Paul’s letter to the Romans on creation groaning

    This extends the diagnosis to natural evil too, including the earthquakes and diseases that human choices did not directly cause. Scripture presents the whole created order as knocked off course and awaiting repair, folding natural disasters into the same diagnosis rather than leaving them unexplained.

    1 source · 1 objection

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