Exploring Mormon Thought: God's Plan to Heal Evil

The problem of evil is perhaps the greatest challenge to belief in a loving and personal God. The challenge naturally leads us to ask, "Why, God, has this happened to me, to my loved ones, to my enemies?" Or, to ask with the Psalmist, "Where art thou God?" Or, to perhaps echo Jesus, "My God, my God, why hast thou abandoned me?"

In this fourth volume of the Exploring Mormon Thought series, God's Plan to Heal Evil, Blake T. Ostler examines how others in the Christian and Mormon traditions have attempted to provide solutions to this challenge and the shortcomings they contain. Ostler then looks to Mormon theology to offer what he calls the Plan of Agape, or what is perhaps the most robust explanation of how belief in a loving, personal God can be had in light of all of the suffering that exists in the world.

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Exploring Mormon Thought: God's Plan to Heal Evil

The problem of evil is perhaps the greatest challenge to belief in a loving and personal God. The challenge naturally leads us to ask, "Why, God, has this happened to me, to my loved ones, to my enemies?" Or, to ask with the Psalmist, "Where art thou God?" Or, to perhaps echo Jesus, "My God, my God, why hast thou abandoned me?"

In this fourth volume of the Exploring Mormon Thought series, God's Plan to Heal Evil, Blake T. Ostler examines how others in the Christian and Mormon traditions have attempted to provide solutions to this challenge and the shortcomings they contain. Ostler then looks to Mormon theology to offer what he calls the Plan of Agape, or what is perhaps the most robust explanation of how belief in a loving, personal God can be had in light of all of the suffering that exists in the world.

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Exploring Mormon Thought: God's Plan to Heal Evil

Exploring Mormon Thought: God's Plan to Heal Evil

by Blake T Ostler
Exploring Mormon Thought: God's Plan to Heal Evil

Exploring Mormon Thought: God's Plan to Heal Evil

by Blake T Ostler

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Overview

The problem of evil is perhaps the greatest challenge to belief in a loving and personal God. The challenge naturally leads us to ask, "Why, God, has this happened to me, to my loved ones, to my enemies?" Or, to ask with the Psalmist, "Where art thou God?" Or, to perhaps echo Jesus, "My God, my God, why hast thou abandoned me?"

In this fourth volume of the Exploring Mormon Thought series, God's Plan to Heal Evil, Blake T. Ostler examines how others in the Christian and Mormon traditions have attempted to provide solutions to this challenge and the shortcomings they contain. Ostler then looks to Mormon theology to offer what he calls the Plan of Agape, or what is perhaps the most robust explanation of how belief in a loving, personal God can be had in light of all of the suffering that exists in the world.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781589586482
Publisher: Greg Kofford Books, Inc.
Publication date: 11/05/2020
Series: Exploring Mormon Thought , #4
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.61(d)

Table of Contents

PREFACE ix

Chapter 1

WHAT WE LEARN FROM THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 1

Radical Evils 2

The Problem of Evil: The Argument 4

Human Cognitive Limitations 9

The Problem of Moral Quietude for Skeptical Theism 15

The Problem of Moral Quietude and Meticulous Providence 18

Chapter 2

THE NO MINIMUM EVIL DEFENSE 29

Chapter 3

THE FREE WILL DEFENSE 37

Chapter 4

THE LESS EVIL OPTIONS ARGUMENT 47

Objection #1 50

Objection #2 51

Objection #3 55

Objection #4 56

Objection #5 58

Chapter 5

NATURAL LAW THEODICIES 61

God's Relation to Natural Regularities in the Tradition of Creation Out of Nothing 63

Prospects of a Natural Law Theodicy in the Tradition of Ex Nihilo Creation 66

Chapter 6

A MORMON FINITISTIC THEODICY 71

Chapter 7

A MORMON PROCESS THEODICY 83

Precedents in Mormon Thought for a Process Theodicy 83

Basic Commitments of a Mormon Process Theodicy 90

An Outline of a Mormon Process Theodicy 102

Criticisms of Process Theodicy 105

Chapter 8

A RELATIONAL AGAPE THEODICY 113

The Nature of God's Providence 117

An Outline of the Agape Theodicy 135

Chapter 9

THE PLAN OF AGAPE 141

Can Radical Evils Benefit the Victims as an Essential Feature of God's Plan of Agape? 148

Chapter 10

IS IT JUSTIFIABLE TO PERMIT CONSENT TO PERSONALITY-DESTROYING EVILS? 155

Is General Consent Sufficient or Must There Be Specific Consent

to the Particular Evils That We Will Actually Experience? 164

How Can the Purpose of Life be to Become United with God

When Most Never Hear of Christ in this Lifetime? 170

Chapter 11

ARE RADICAL EVILS ESSENTIAL TO THE PLAN OF AGAPE? 173

God and Natural Evils 176

Chapter 12

ATONEMENT IN MORMON THOUGHT 185

A. Desiderata for a Theory of Atonement 186

B. Does Mormonism Add Anything to the Penal-Substitution Theory? 191

C. Mormon Theories of Atonement 194

D. A Brief Summary of the Compassion Theory of Atonement 203

E. Response to Critiques of the Compassion Theory 209

HEALING EVIL: A CONCLUSION 223

Appendix

Select Bibliography for Process Theodicy 227

Bibliography 233

Index 239

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