Theodicy

The term "theodicy" was coined by Gottfried Leibniz around 1710 to describe a system that tries to explain and/or vindicate God's goodness in allowing the existence of natural evil.

Yesterday, my friend Bill sent me the link to this story, which appeared in the online edition of Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. I highly respect Bill and his opinions on this issue. He can truly be called an expert in this field.

Given the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, recent mud slides in Brazil, and a whole host of other natural disasters that seem to be happening all around us, this article is certainly timely if nothing else.

I was actually in Haiti last month, and saw first hand the effects produced by the quake. When peoples lives are literally shaken, they start asking a lot of serious questions about God and his goodness. I saw several instances where the disaster actually became a mechanism for driving people toward faith almost unabated by rational objection. I guess when everything that once made sense no longer does, objections that were once considered rational also fall away.

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304017404575165724219623474.html