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Why would an all-good and all-powerful God allow a pandemic?

by John Shaheen—

John is a junior at the University of MichiganDearborn. He especially loves philosophy and biology.


Fear is aroused, panic abounds, medical supplies dwindle, and the economy suffers… where is God?
  Why would he let the people that he loves suffer?  Within months, the Coronavirus has rapidly spread throughout the world.  What seemed like alarmism now seems like inadequate preparation.  Surely, the question on the minds of many is why would God allow this?  Where is the God of infinite and perfect love and mercy?
     In response to the logical problem of evil, many solutions have been offered, the most famous being the Free will Defense.  Perhaps evil and suffering are a consequence of allowing free beings to exist.  The objection soon arose, what about natural evil?  How are floods, diseases, earthquakes, etc. the result of free beings?  Alvin Plantinga suggested that perhaps these disasters are the result of the free actions of supernatural beings such as angels or demons.  Though this is definitely a solution that makes natural evil logically compatible with a perfect and powerful God, it still feels unsatisfactory.  Why did God give these beings this kind of power?  He could have easily restricted their power without limiting their free will.  They can only cause this kind of havoc if God allows them.  God is still the ultimate authority and power in this paradigm.  Furthermore, in an age of scientific knowledge of the causes of natural disasters, this solution may seem unsatisfactory to the naturalist.  
  • 22 July 2020
  • Author: Guest Blogger
  • Number of views: 2157
  • Comments: 0

What It Is and Why Christians Believe It

by Justin Oswalt

The Doctrine of the Trinity is a vitally important doctrine of the Christian faith because this doctrine explains in essence who God is and what His nature is like. It is part of what distinguishes Christianity from all other religions, especially other Monotheistic faiths. In examining who God is, and to explain the Trinity, we must go to the Bible to present the case for this belief. The Doctrine of the Trinity can be seen in the Old Testament, but can most fully be understand in the revelation of the New Testament scriptures. It can be broken down in the following premises:

1. There is only one God.

2. God has revealed himself as three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit within the Godhead (Trinity).

3. Each person of the Godhead (Trinity) is fully God, co-equal and co-eternal in essence.

  • 9 June 2020
  • Author: Guest Blogger
  • Number of views: 1880
  • Comments: 0

...Do you think about your own thoughts? Then yes, you metacognate.


Metacognition changed my life, or I should say that it changed my way of thinking and my worldview. Like most people I had grown up to become a product of the various environments I lived in. Most of my beliefs on religion, politics, ethics, etc., were simply reflections of pop rhetoric--sound bites and talking points that I had heard others say on television or in a barbershop or things that my parents had instilled in me that were passed down to them or that they had adopted. They made sense and there wasn't much push-back, so I adopted them as well. I lived in a world where these beliefs were bought wholesale and accepted, so they rarely faced a challenge. The few times they did face challenges, it was often easy to be dismissive. After all, this person was arguing against the well-accepted and well-established truth of my position; they had the burden of proof on their shoulders. Because they were the only crazy person to see things that way, that must mean that they are wrong, right? At least that was my justification for dismissing them.

  • 15 May 2020
  • Author: Chris Samuels
  • Number of views: 2996
  • Comments: 10

Who were the responsible parties for the mock trial and condemnation of Jesus?

by Nathan McLatcher, Junior at UM Dearborn

In Jesus’s crucifixion, there is more than enough blame to go around. The Jewish religious leaders plotted against Jesus, seeing him as a heretic and a threat to their power. Pilate believed Jesus was innocent yet had him crucified in a cowardly effort to retain his grip on power. But there’s still blame left to share. When the Jewish crowd accepts condemnation for Jesus’ death, they place the blame on not just themselves, but on all humanity. The various actors in the trial serve not just as characters in a supernatural drama, but as archetypes, showing us the various ways in which the world is blind to Jesus’ message. These include the Romans, the Jews, and everybody. 

  • 8 April 2020
  • Author: Guest Blogger
  • Number of views: 2929
  • Comments: 0

Why the Fatherhood of God is Essential to His Nature

by Adam Simnowitz— 

According to the genealogy in Luke 3:38, God was Adam’s Father.  In the Bible, one of the main purposes of genealogies is to show a direct connection to someone who was great such as Abraham or the founder of a tribe such as the twelve sons of Jacob.  In the case of Adam, he had an even greater honor than any of these men (not to mention the rest of humanity) because he did not come from any human but directly from God Himself, the Creator of the heavens and the earth!  The Bible’s teaching about the Fatherhood of God, therefore, is implicit in the creation of Adam. The terms “son” and “Father,” in reference to Adam and God respectively, cannot refer to physical procreation.  Adam had no human parents and God is not human, yet the very Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, uses these terms.  This helps us realize that “son” in reference to Adam – as well as Jesus, which point will be addressed below – and “Father” in reference to God means something other than a biological son and a biological father.  Further, these terms are not metaphors drawn from any son born of a father and mother nor any human father. 

  • 17 February 2020
  • Author: Guest Blogger
  • Number of views: 2888
  • Comments: 2
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