The back story: The quest for a free creature

THE THIRD IN A SERIES OF FOUR ARTICLES BY PIERRE GILBERT. BASED ON GOD NEVER MEANT FOR US TO DIE:THE EMERGENCE OF EVIL IN THE LIGHT OF THE CREATION ACCOUNT (EUGENE, OR: WIPF & STOCK, 2020).

Christians have traditionally linked the emergence of evil to the exercise of free will. This may seem reasonable and plausible, but as I will demonstrate, it is not quite as simple as it sounds. In order to account for the presence of evil in the world, we must begin with the right question: what was God’s original intention for humanity? To attempt to make sense of our existence by looking at the world in its present condition is as futile as attempting to figure out the design of a cannibalized car abandoned in a field. No amount of philosophical speculation could ever account for the apparent incompetence of the engineers who designed a contraption that has no wheels, no engine, and no transmission.