Responses To The Problem Of Evil

Buddhist: Individually, we can address psychological causes of suffering.

Marxist: Collectively, we can address economic causes of social conflicts.

Christian: Transcendentally, God is addressing the problem.

Assessment: I find the Buddhist and Marxist responses complementary and the Christian response implausible.

Stages In The Development Of Christian Theology

(i) Jesus as Messiah is in direct male line of descent from Abraham.

(ii) Jesus is not in direct male line of descent from Abraham but is the Son of God because the divine Spirit impregnated his mother.

(iii) Jesus is the Son of God not because of a miraculous conception but because he is the incarnation of a pre-existent divine agent, "...the first-born of all creation..." (Col. 1. 15)

(iv) Jesus is not the Son of God but God the Son because the one God is three Persons, Father, Son and Spirit, and Jesus is the incarnation of the Son, thus of God.

(v) Jesus is not an incarnation but a mere appearance.

Comment: Let's return to Jesus as just a man.

His Last Words?
"My God, my God, why did you abandon me?" (Mk. 15. 34; Mt. 27. 46)
"Father! In your hands I place my spirit!" (Lk. 23. 46)
"It is finished!" (Jn. 19. 30)

Comments: These three accounts cannot all be true. It looks as if Mark recorded what was said and Matthew followed Mark whereas Luke and John rewrote the story to show Jesus as in control until the end.