What the heck is theodicy? Well, it’s one of those theology vocabulary words that nobody but us theologians use. I used it on my podcast this week because I ranted about it. Theodicy is the debate about how a good, almighty God can co-exist with evil in our universe. If God can do something about evil, why doesn’t he? The usual answers are:
- He doesn't exist; so that’s why.
- He’s not almighty, so he can’t stop it.
- He isn’t motivated to stop it. (Often because that particular evil is part of his grand scheme of things).
Except, when God talks to Job about the problem of the evil things that have been happening to Job, he made three things rather clear:
- He certainly does exist.
- He certainly is almighty.
- He’s not too thrilled with anything Job’s so-called friends had to say about him. What did they say? Mainly that this particular evil is part of God’s grand scheme of things.
The next time you decide to try to comfort someone with a well-worn platitude, I think it might be a good idea to leaf through Job and see what God thinks of your words of comfort… when it came out of the mouths of Job’s buddies.