John K. Roth: The Relation Between God And Evil

Where is God in the midst of the Holocaust, the war in Africa involving dictator Joseph Kony, or even events such as Jim Jones and the People’s Temple? The question comes to, where be God during these awful catastrophes? Why doesn’t God intervene and stop the evil before it happens? John K. Roth expresses his opinion on God and Evil in the book Encountering Evil. Roth explains God in the midst of evil by a Theodicy of Protest, which he mentions can also be expressed as an anti-theodicy. Roth easily gets flustered at other theodicies because they defend God. Roth quotes, “Most people want a totally good God or not at all” (Pg. 7). He believes in God but also believes God should not be defended because he is guilty. God is guilty of evil and also guilty for being a bystander, instead of doing something about the wickedness. Freewill is used to explain why there is evil, but freewill is not enough to let God off the hook. Roth states, “Human freedom has been used as God’s defense; in fact, it is crucial in God’s offense” (Pg. 8). Christians commonly say cliché things like, “We just have to make it to heaven, this suffering is in Gods plan, and this will pay off in the future.” Roth would not tolerate responses to evil of that kind. He believes no blessing can ever make up or be excused for
Other theodicies make up reasoning behind the problem of evil. In their reasoning they start to make excuses for why this evil is okay. Calvin and his theodicy is a great example of accepting evil. Calvin belief that evil has a purpose, allows Calvin to tolerate the evil. The theodicy of protest is good because it allows Christ followers to protest. People who agree with this theodicy can feel the pain that comes with evil and they have enough compassion to lament for it to stop. This idea allows room for people to boldly approach God and ask him to do something about