Natural Evils (Three Statements)

From 2003

The Problem of Evil: Anglican and Baptist Perspectives: MPhil thesis, Bangor University

MPhil 2003 

Statements twenty-three, twenty-four and twenty-five: My next three statements dealt with natural evils. 

My position is that there are definitely natural evils. Those occurring within a fallen creation as a result of the fall, and the curses in Genesis 3, however, the extent of these curses is not completely known.

For example, for Adam and Eve to survive before the fall it appeared they ate plants, as did the animals, Genesis 1:29-31. These plants still experienced some type of death and renewal since clearly organic creatures such as human beings and animals can only survive by eating other living organic creatures. So death, in some way, existed before the fall but this was the natural created order. Creation became corrupted after the fall, and the death which occurred was not part of God’s original perfect order of things.

Henry Clarence Thiessen stated on this issue:

Here even inanimate nature is represented as suffering the curse of man’s sin. In view of this the Scriptures tell us elsewhere that the time is coming when "the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom. 8:21, 22). All creation has been "subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope" (v. 20). Isa. 35 speaks of the restoration of nature to its pristine condition and beauty. And again, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden and forced to make their way in this fallen world. At the first they were in the most beautiful and perfect environment; now they were obliged to get along in an imperfect and almost hostile one. Their environment was decidedly changed because of sin. Thiessen, Henry Clarence (1956), Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology (p. 258).

Plant life was consumed for food before the fall, but the post fall world outside of the Garden of Eden was one filled with the eventual death of all creatures. These are natural evils which were somehow initiated by the human sin of Adam and Eve. It appears that Adam and Eve had been given dominion over creation by God, and when they fell, their creation did as well.

Statement twenty-three stated: 

Natural evils (earthquakes, hurricanes, floods etc) are a direct result of the fall and curses in Genesis. For Anglicans 36% agreed, 20% were not certain, 44% disagreed. For Baptists 62% agreed, 22% were not certain, and 16% disagreed.

Statement twenty-four stated: 

Natural evils are a necessary aspect of God’s creation. For Anglicans 26% agreed, 26% were not certain, 48% disagreed. For Baptists 14% agreed, 26% were not certain, and 60% disagreed. 

Statement twenty-five stated: 

Natural evils as such are not covered by Christ’s atoning work. For Anglicans 20% agreed, 30% were not certain, 50% disagreed. For Baptists 20% agreed, 26% were not certain, and 54% disagreed. I am in agreement with the majority of responders that Christ’s atoning work does cover natural evils, as I believe Christ’s restoration work reverses the destructive workings of Adam and Eve through the fall.

From 2010

2010 Theodicy and Practical Theology: PhD thesis, the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter

Natural Evils PhD and forward

I stated in the entry post-PhD in 2011...

Therefore, I would tend to place most Natural Evils in the category of natural forces due to the laws of the nature that overpower human beings subject to suffering, death and decay, as opposed to from Satanic beings, while always allowing that as a possibility as is a combination. 

November 18 2019

The new heaven, new earth (Revelation 21-22) shall feature resurrected humanity that is covered by the atoning (justification, sanctification and related) and resurrection work of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15 from the New American Standard Bible...

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown [l]a perishable body, it is raised [m]an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

l.1 Corinthians 15:42 Lit in corruption
m.1 Corinthians 15:42 Lit in incorruption

Imperishable defined in context

From

Bible Hub



From

Greek New Testament

egeiretai en afqarsia

raised in incorruption (There is agreement with versions presented)

From Strong's

incorruptibility, indestructibility, incorruptibility; hence: immortality.

The human immortal, imperishable, finitely, perfected body, will be protected from natural evils. In the future the concept of natural evils causing human suffering and death will be obsolete.

(Perhaps certain animal life that may end up part of the culminated Kingdom of God would also be immortal and imperishable, such as the desired animals (pets) of the citizens of the Kingdom of God from the original fallen realm.)
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AUGUSTINE (388-395)(1964) On Free Choice of the Will, Translated by Anna S.Benjamin and L.H. Hackstaff, Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice Hall.

BAUER, W. (1979) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Translated by Eric H. Wahlstrom, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.

CRANFIELD, C.E.B. (1992) Romans: A Shorter Commentary, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

FEINBERG, JOHN.S. (1994) The Many Faces of Evil, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House. 

KREEFT, PETER AND RONALD K. TACELLI (1994) Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press.

MOUNCE, ROBERT H. (1995) The New American Commentary: Romans, Nashville, Broadman & Holman Publishers.

MOUNCE, ROBERT H. (1990) The Book of Revelation, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. PHILLIPS, D.Z. (2005) The Problem of Evil and the Problem of God, Fortress Press, Minneapolis. 

PLANTINGA, ALVIN.C. (1977)(2002) God, Freedom, and Evil, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

PLANTINGA, ALVIN.C. (1982) The Nature of Necessity, Oxford, Clarendon Press.

QUINN, PHILIP L. (1996) ‘Philosophy of Religion’, Robert Audi (ed.), in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

RICHARDSON, ALAN (1999) ‘Satan’, in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (eds.), A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, Kent, SCM Press Ltd.

STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Pickering, Ontario, Welch Publishing Company.

THEISSEN, HENRY, CLARENCE (1956) Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans.

WOODS, B.W. (1974) Christians in Pain, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.