The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events analyzed through the lens of scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. If God exists, why is there evil in the world? And is anything truly objectively Evil. Hi, Alex McFarland here.
I want to talk to you about really the most common apologetics issue, and that's the problem of pain and suffering or evil. If God is good, if God is all-powerful, if God is wise. Why do bad things happen? And let's talk about the possibility that evil exists and how do we reconcile the presence of wickedness, sin, darkness, demonic activity, and an all powerful, good God.
Well, this summer of twenty five, I taught about this uh quite a bit. I was at the Billy Graham Training Center in Western North Carolina. And taught through the book of Job. And of course, Job deals with the problem of human suffering and not just human suffering, but why do the righteous suffer. And we talked about that.
And we talked about what is called a theodicy. And the famed philosopher Leibnig thought of this, that a vindication of God. And I will freely say that my default position is to try and vindicate God. Whenever I'm in a debate or speaking at a college or on a show and someone wants to say, well, you know, God doesn't exist because of X or the Bible is false because of this or Jesus isn't the one and only Savior.
Now, I believe compelling lines of evidence are present. Scripture, history, archaeology, logic, mathematics, scientific discoveries. I mean, from a number of vantage points, the biblical worldview, classical Christian orthodoxy, can be rationally and not only rationally but compellingly defend it. Such that a decision in the affirmative to trust Christ and believe in Jesus is absolutely warranted. In fact, obstinate unbelief in the presence of compelling evidence is what is unjustified.
But yes, my default position is to assume. The good and the true and the defensible about the biblical God. And do you know, let me just say this interestingly: a lost world, and certainly celebrities and pundits assume that Christians are the simpletons and that we are soft-minded and we just believe stuff. You know, very often in the news, they'll talk about people of faith. Or the faithful did this or that, as if Christians are just people that believe things.
Well, you know, 2 Peter chapter 1 regarding the gospel, the historicity of Jesus, says we have not followed cleverly devised fables. And 2 Timothy 3, 14 through 16 says that from a child we have known the Holy Scriptures that make us wise unto salvation. And in the original Greek, the word wise knowledgeable about salvation. Conversant about salvation, experiential, we've met Jesus, we have a relationship with Jesus. The word there in the original Greek that's translated in most English translations, the holy scriptures that make us wise unto salvation.
It's the word sophisticated. In other words, equipped, adept. conversant We understand it. We know it happened in our lives. We're able to present, explain, defend.
We can debate it. We can rise to the challenge of 1 Peter 3:15 and be ready to give an answer. We can rise to the call of Jude verse 3 and earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. And so, interestingly, The simpletons, the blind faith, Doards. Are not the Christians But those that really reject the revelation of God.
To believe that something came from nothing, that chaos is the mother of order, that chance produced intelligence, that mind came about from inanimate matter, the encrypted data in the DNA, just arose by chance when we've never observed information ever arising from a non-intelligent source. And yet plant, animal, and human DNA is replete full of data, encrypted information. To believe that all of this came about by accident, You know, even Charles Darwin When asked, you know, are there any things that mitigate against your theory of evolution? And in the nineteenth century, Darwin and his atheistic contemporaries didn't know a fraction. Of what you and I know about the created world.
Darwin said: if there's anything that would cause my theory to absolutely break down, that was his word. It's the human eye. And even though their knowledge of Vision is much less than what we know today. The rods, the cones, the way that photons and light are perceived, and then shadows and distances. We see images, we have depth perception.
The eye sends a signal to the brain, the brain interprets it, and the image is flipped over. But then spatial temporal dimensions are understood. Vision happens. And even Charles Darwin believed the human eye. was exhibit A that his idea of Chance, random mutation.
You know, purposeless, undirected chance produced life. And the plethora of plants, animals, humans, reptiles. Avian life, birds, mammals, aquatic life, nautiloids. I mean, the idea that undirected, Blind chance produced all of this. As one person famously said, you know, an explosion in a junkyard would produce a fully functional 747.
an explosion in a print shop. would produce a set of encyclopedias impossible.
Well, life without an intelligent creator impossible as well.
So it's not the evidence. uh that's in question, but really the emotional pain And this is the major objection against the gospel. Where is God in a world that hurts?
Now, as I record this program. we are exactly, exactly one week away. From the brutal assassination the the martyrdom of Charley Kirk. And yes, Charlie Kirk was a martyr. just like Stephen who was stoned.
Uh just like Peter, who was crucified upside down in the early church. Charlie Kirk, who I knew, he was a friend, he spoke for us, August 21, 2017. 2025, as part of our summer conference series, Conversations That Matter, Charlie Kirk was gunned down for proclaiming the truth. And so, I want to dedicate this show to him, but I want to talk about the nature of evil and the Christian response to it. And I also want to go.
Head to head on the accusation, some heinously, barely human, unfeeling people that are saying he was a fascist, he was a Nazi, he was hateful, he was a bigot, he deserved it. May God help us and may God help them. We're going to talk about this and more in this series about the nature of evil and the Christian response to it. Don't go away. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert.
Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. 100 Bible Questions and Answers for Families. That's the newest book that Bert Harper and I, Alex McFarlane, have put together from hundreds of questions from actual radio listeners to our nationally syndicated radio show, Exploring the Word. Published by Broad Street Publishing. 100 Bible Questions and Answers for Families.
Ask questions like: How are children a gift from God? How can I build my family around the teachings of God's Word and Jesus Christ?
So many dozens of questions that we think will encourage and equip you in your walk in witness. It's available everywhere. Books are sold, online, your favorite local Christian bookstore, Barnes Noble, on Amazon. I encourage you to please check it out and tell your friends about 100 Bible questions and answers for families. Enjoy reading.
Thanks for reading, and may God bless you. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program, Alex McFarland. We're talking about the most perennial apologetics question: if God exists, why is there evil in the world?
And we want to answer this without compromising any of the classical attributes of God. About forty, forty five years ago, there was a famous book. I'm not really going to name the author or the book title. Because I don't want to give any undue fame to this book that was very misguided, but it basically said there's pain and suffering and evil in the world because God is unable to fix it. Essentially, some people say, well, there's evil in the world because God can't do anything about it.
Well, that doesn't square with what we know about the attributes of God. Or maybe some would say, well, God is partially evil. God is cruel. God has a good side and a bad side. But that too fails because we know God is pervasively good, not only from scripture, but really it stands to reason.
Look. Darkness, wickedness, sin brings death, but God is eternal. God must be good. Because Life is good, and God is the foundation of life. And I've said this many times, but it's worth repeating.
In Exodus 3:14, where God tells Moses, I am that I am. In other words, it is God's nature to exist, there could not be death. Darkness, heaven. hate, wickedness, iniquity let's just call it iniquity god is not an iniquitous being. because if he were, he would not be eternal.
And so God is good, and yet there are things in this world that are evil. like the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Some, sadly, Uh before I give you several reasons that uh We can Square up. Biblical theology, a Christian worldview. And the presence, at least temporarily, at least momentarily, for this season, there is evil and sin in the world. But first, let's talk about the shooting of Charlie Kirk for just a moment.
Yes, he was a colleague and a friend. He was brilliant. Spiritually and evangelistically, he had the mind and the voice of a Billy Graham. He really did. And the millions and millions of young people that he touched, you know, Billy Graham touched all ages, and that was great.
I've never known of a Christian that touched, inspired, and mobilized young people like Charlie Kirk did. The hand of God was upon him. And politically, He had the brilliance of a Chuck Coulson. worldview wise of a Francis Schaefer or a C. S.
Lewis. I mean, he really was a unique individual, and it is a global tragedy. That he was taken out. You know, just after he spoke for our event, which was one of the last non-Turning Point USA events that he ever did, and he told me, he said, I'm either at the White House, at Mar-Lago. or on the road for turning point.
And he graciously gave us a day of his time, less than three weeks before he was killed. And after our event, he went to South Korea and he did a big event down there to promote. freedom and morality to the South Koreans But because People are saying, why did this happen? I want to get to that, but first I want to get to some of the rhetoric that I think precipitated this because the shooter. Or the alleged shooter, the one accused, the one in custody right now.
Was indoctrinated with leftist, pro-trans, and Tifa. Ideology.
Now, Antifa stands for Anti-Fascist. And I'm going to talk about this in just a moment. What's called victim blaming. Because it is not the constitutionalists, the conservatives, the rule of law moralists, and it is certainly not the Christians that are the fascists. But etched in the bullet casings were pro-trans messages, anti-God, Pro-homosexual messages.
And a lot of youth are now being groomed in public schools and on social media platforms. And they may be from conservative families, but they're getting indoctrinated to reject conservative values.
Now, this is more than just the death of an individual, really. The shooting of Charlie Kirk is an attack. on every one Who believes in God and truth and moral guardrails? The death of Charlie Kirk is a threat to America, and you and I cannot be silent and we cannot stay uninvolved.
Now, the left online, and again, I hesitate to say too much because I don't want to give too much PR, but there's a document floating around, several iterations, variations of the characteristics of fascism. And I want to go back and talk about what fascism really is because if I say a man is not a woman. The pro-trans people say, fascist, even the last, you know, the night that we had Charlie Kirk speak for us three weeks ago. A female came to the mic. But she asked during the Q ⁇ A, she said, why do you as a Christian feel you have the right to inflict violence on trans people?
Charlie Kirk said, I would never incite or inflict violence on anyone. And she said, your words are violent. And Charlie said. that I would say a male is not a female? That I would say, you know, maleness Is an objective state of being.
Femaleness is an objective state of being. And this person, and I've heard it too, it's been said to me, that that is an attack. on a trans person.
Well, Charlie Kirk was not a fascist, and neither is Donald Trump. Donald Trump is not a king, he's not a dictator, he's not a fascist. And we ministers who or declare what the Word of God says. and say, there is no Savior but Jesus. There is no marriage except natural marriage.
When I say procreation, human reproduction depends on a human male and a human female. That's not bigotry. It's not fear or phobia or violence. It's fact. And let me just say this: we cannot make our own reality.
We can navigate the days of our life and we can learn and grow. And if we are wise, we will recognize truth and God, but we can't make our own reality. A person can identify as a different gender, but that doesn't change their gender. A person can identify as a furry or an ewok. or a Jedi.
or uh non-binary, one of eighty-one genders. You may contrive any imaginary Delusional scenario that you choose to tell yourself you're living in. But that doesn't make it so. And that in no way compels the rest of us to go along with your. Preferred delusion.
And I don't say this condescendingly, pejoratively. I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I'm simply saying one of the hallmarks of a free society is the free expression of ideas. And for th those of us that believe in reality, There's an objective reality. And you know, when somebody is clearly Out of touch with reality, we may politely smile, and move on, but there is no way.
Realists Are under no compunction whatsoever to placate and go along with the non-realists. We've got to take a break. We're going to come back and talk more about why there is evil in the world, and we'll do our best to continue. to respond to the shooting of Charlie Kirk. and pursue truth.
in a sadly post-Charlie Kirk world. Stay tuned. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Hi, Alex McFarland here.
You know, I was at a college speaking, and I guess we ministers get too wordy.
Somebody said, Can you describe Christianity in only two words? And instantly, this came to me, and I said it: loving substitution. And students raised their hand. They said, What does that mean? Loving substitution.
Here's the thing: because Jesus Christ loves you, He was our substitute on Calvary's cross. The appropriate measure of God's wrath that you and I deserved was put onto Jesus. You don't have to die and suffer for your sins because He was the substitute who died for you.
So, if you call out to Christ, He will save you, He will forgive you. I urge you to do that today because Jesus Christ has a plan for your life, and it begins with you putting your faith in Him. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your support. Learn more about this at alexmacfarland.com.
He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland. Here we're going to resume our talk about the problem of evil.
And especially a response to the evil in the world in the light of Charlie Kirk's assassination. And I do want to remind everybody that our final session in the speaker series, Conversations That Matter, you can go to my website, which is alexmcfarland.com. AlexMcFarland.com will be in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, October 3 and 4. And this is free. And we're going to have our panel discussion.
Lauren Green from Fox News could not be with us September 14. It was just days after the Charlie Kirk shooting. And Fox. Told their on-air personalities, no public appearances until further notice. And so we're building the panel right now.
We are working on having there in person Lucas Miles, one of the absolute principals of Turning Point USA. TPUSA Faith worked daily with Charlie Kirk for years. He's a close friend. He's a best-selling author, Lucas Miles, Caleb Collier of the Church and State Broadcast, Mark Walker, International Ambassador for Religious Freedom, possibly Dinesh D'Souza. Stay tuned to the Alex McFarland website for up-to-date information.
But I want to see you October 3rd. We'll be talking about the state of the nation, the state of the church, and our role in it. And then Saturday morning, October 4th, just as a bonus, and I'm on the road everywhere, but this is our last. We did seven camps, we've done a number of conferences. Saturday morning, October 4th, a three-hour apologetic seminar where I want to personally train you.
I will be your personal apologetics professor to train you to answer the five most common objections to the Christian faith. All free, but we do ask that you register so we can know how many people will be there October 3rd and 4th. And as always, our seven days a week: radio, television. Events, publishing, broadcasting. It could not go forth without your support and your help.
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Box 485 Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313. And I thank you.
Well, we're talking about the problem of pain and suffering and evil. And before the break, I was talking about how Charlie Kirk was called a fascist. And so I want to talk about what fascism really is because, as it says in that famous film, The Princess Bride, I don't think that word means what you think it means. Really, fascism came about around 1910. Benito Mussolini invented fascism in Italy.
And other examples of fascists in the twentieth century would include Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, Francoist Spain under Francisco Franco, And it was an ideology in fact, the name itself is from the Latin word that means a bundle of sticks. bound together. All right. In a fascist world, there's authoritarianism and dictatorship. In a Christian, Judeo-Christian Principled representative capitalist republic.
Constitutionalism, let's call it, There's freedom of thought. Freedom to come and go, self-determination, the free exchange of ideas. In a truly fascist context, power is held by a single centralized government under a dictatorial leader. who is often portrayed as infallible. Charlie Kirk wasn't a fascist.
Donald Trump is not. We believe in patriotism. But under a fascist rule, there's what's called ultra-nationalism, a strong, often exclusionary form of nationalism. is the only Thought aloud, emphasizing national unity and the superiority of the nation above all other. Not only nations, but races.
It's like, you know, Hitler. Told his people that the Germans were the master race.
Now we believe America is the greatest form of government because it has brought more prosperity, innovation. achievement, liberty to the world, You know, you don't see the whole wide world falling over themselves to get into Germany. or Venezuela or Cuba, you do find the world wanting to come to America. And loving America, that's just patriotism. It's not ultra-nationalism.
Now, in a fascist world, there is the suppression. of opposition. Charlie Kirk believed in free speech and the other freedoms delineated in the 27-point Bill of Rights. We don't try to suppress anybody's voice.
Now we will debate. He did it, I'm doing it. You can advocate for any position you choose, but don't cry foul if people call on you to explain and defend your position. You can believe whatever you want to believe.
However, rational or irrational, untethered from reality it might be. But you can. Believe what you want, but don't object if you're called on to explain and defend your position. That's not fascism. fascist regimes forcibly suppress political opposition.
through violence. Ah, like Shooting Charlie Kirk. And they control the media and information. By the way, As the shooting of Charlie Kirk is playing out, You know, it's amazing. How many celebrities said disparaging things.
Yeah, I think about Jimmy Kimmel, and Disney has preempted his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, for the foreseeable future. And it was a horrible show. He's a very hateful individual. But during the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's murder, And as the alleged gunman, Tyler Robinson, was arrested, you know, he had written pro-trans messages on his weapons. He got seven charges that included, you know, obstructing justice, witness tampering.
And he had written, it was online for the entire world to see, just this bizarre confession and love message to his transgender boyfriend roommate.
So Jimmy Kimmel really tried to blame conservatives and even Charlie Kirk himself. Kimmel on air accused conservatives of trying to paint Tyler Robinson, as an advocate of left-wing ideology, when in reality, Tyler Robinson, no one painted him. That way as a left wing pro-trans vigilante, he painted himself that way. And Jimmy Kimmel said, quote, We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk. as anything other than one of them.
and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
Well, Tyler Robinson, the alleged shooter, The one who has been charged, and Utah is seeking the death penalty for this murderer. if indeed he is convicted. He was not a MAGA conservative. Christian Republican. In fact, I said this at one of the tributes that I was asked to speak at.
You know, Charlie Kirk would call on people to pray. For this young man to be saved, and we do too. We wish him no ill, our hearts are breaking, but he needs to be saved. Because he's lost and God forbid. you know if he steps into eternity he needs Jesus to be ready to meet God.
But in a truly fascist world, there is control of society, not only social and political control, but economic control. The economy is regimented, controlled by the state. And that's why I like Mum Donnie, who Heaven help us is slated to become the next mayor of New York unless God intervenes, says, you know. Property ownership is theft, and the means of production and the means of distribution must be controlled by the government. That's fascism, not this free market economy that's characterized America.
And finally, in a fascist regime, there's the targeting of one's enemies. As opposed to free expression and due process of law. Fascist movements. Often identify scapegoats or internal enemies, and these enemies justify the violence.
Now, we're going to do a part two about a Christian response to evil in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting. But, yes, one of the things, and I believe this motivated Tyler Robinson, he believed. That he was a victim. Uh from Charlie Kirk's speaking. And that the only way to defend himself, what a twisted shoot Charlie Kirk in self defense, though they had never met.
very twisted, very dark, Very sad. May God bless you. Stay bold, stay encouraged, because Christ is on his throne, as Jesus said in John 16. The prince of this world is is judged. For sin, Satan, darkness, and evil, it's over.
Christ is risen. He's coming soon. Let's tell the world about the Saviour. Part 2 next week. Alex McFarlane Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you.
For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at alexmacfarland.com. You may also reach us by calling 1-877-YESGOD and the number 1. That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D-1. Thanks for joining us.
We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarlane Show.
