Objection · Case 06 · Problem of Evil
Patience “so that all may reach repentance” is undercut if most people never do. Two thousand years of delay have produced billions of deaths without conversion. Isn’t the delay just extending the suffering?
One objection from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Response
This is a serious objection, and it depends on what one believes about the fate of those who never hear or never believe, a question on which Christians are divided. 2 Peter’s stated purpose for the delay is what it is. The objection is really an objection to the doctrine of hell, or to the view that only explicit believers are saved, and neither can be settled in a sentence here. What can be said is that the text presents the delay as mercy toward the living, not indifference to the dead.
About this exhibit
This objection is to The second letter of Peter on God’s patience.
The letter answers people who ask why God is slow to act by saying God is patient, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” The delay that looks like absence is…
Under Claim 05: Scripture presents evil as running through every person, and God’s delay in ending it as patience that leaves room for people to turn back.