Reprint of the original, first published in 1840.

When considering and confronting the problem of evil, we may be asking the wrong question: Why is there evil in the world if God is good and powerful? It may be wrong because it smuggles in an unbiblical premise: God can and should use his coercive power to relieve suffering since he is both good and able. But what if coercive power does not work to accomplish God's goals? This book is an investigation into the possibility that the noncoercive power of the Cross must be at the center of this issue, and that the Cross could reform this question. We could ask, instead, How is God destroying evil and suffering--and why is he taking so long? The answer to this reframed question might be: He is using evil and suffering to destroy evil and suffering for His People; this is how long it takes. While not a "solution" to the problem of evil, could this help us learn to delight in God in a world in which evil and suffering seem at times so relentless?

Gerald Shugart delves in to approach a subject that has been much debated since the Reformation.Once again, author Gerald B. Shugart questions, analyzes and then counters another commonly held Biblical presupposition. Mr. Shugart uses his vast Biblical study experience to approach a subject that is only rarely completely considered by individuals in Christianity.This time, he guides the reader through the subject of "original sin". He presents information and instruction vital to better understand the subject and its historical genesis.Shugart doesn't allow pre-conceived theories within Christianity to get in his way as he opens the lid on a controversial subject which has lead to the false teaching that all people emerge from the womb totally corrupted and dead spiritually as a result of Adam's first sin.

The aim of systematic theology is to engage not only the head but also the heart and hands. Only recently has the church compartmentalized these aspects of life—separating the academic discipline of theology from the spiritual disciplines of faith and obedience. This multivolume work brings together rigorous historical and theological scholarship with spiritual disciplines and practical insights—characterized by a simple, accessible, comprehensive, Reformed, and experiential approach. In this volume, Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley shift from the doctrine of God (theology proper) to the doctrine of humanity (anthropology) and the doctrine of Christ (Christology). This extensive reformed theology explores the Bible's teaching about who we are and why we were created, as well as who Jesus is and why his divinity is essential to the Christian faith.