Here's my letter in response:
I love your show, and I listen to it as often as I have time, but sometimes I find it quite a frustrating exercise, because I wonder why the Christian apologist is taking a particular angle in the discussion. I found myself in this precise situation listening to Glen Peoples. I must say that I might never have the courage to go on a radio debate, so I certainly applaud Glen in his efforts. And I do think that the Moral Argument does weight in against the Evil God Hypothesis quite well, and he did a great job of making this argument clear.
But I wonder why he didn't use what I feel is the ultimate trump card: Jesus as the Revelation of God. Let's accept the fact that moral evil exists. The Bible doesn't question this at all. In fact, the Bible makes it quite clear that God, being holy and just, will ultimately judge the moral evil that we not only see in the world, but do contrary to His expressed will. And here's the real kicker in the revelation of both Jesus Christ and the Biblical God: God took the form of a man in Christ to be the Lamb of God and pay the penalty for our sin. The Bible says that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." And he did this as the expressed will of God to show his love and mercy. This is the classic verse that almost the whole world knows, John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." It's a huge trump card to me. I don't see any way that an evil god would be merciful and forgiving, adopting sinners as members of His own family who put their faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. And so, since there is this great evidence for the goodness of God, the whole premise of Stephen Law's hypothesis fails ingloriously. Yes, there is evil. But God has dealt with the issue personally. This shows irrefutably that God is good without appealing to any scales whatsoever.
God in the end will not use any type of "good v. evil" scale to judge sin. He will use Himself as the holy standard to which we must all be compared. Now let's talk about the pebble weighing in against the boulder! And in this regard we all fall short, and we need a Savior, and God in His goodness has provided that Savior in Jesus Christ.
Justin, may God bless you for running this show.
