It is one of the most powerful questions I ever encountered, and it was one of the questions that drove me away from Christianity in my younger days. Yet years later, the same question drove me back to Christianity. So let's try to handle the question-- how can a omnipotent and benevolent God allow evil in the world?
Assumptions
Let's put into things into perspective. The question states three things:
1) God is all-powerful
2) God is all-good
3) Evil exist
And that all three things cannot exist together logically. However, the accuser would be right if one of the two following assumptions was true--
A) There is no logical reason why an all-powerful and all-good God would allow evil in the world
B) It is God's will for us to be senily happy
Poor apologetics
Before I start, I would like to say I will be handling the philosophical/spiritual problem of pain and evil. In other words I skip over the practical reasons of evil, such as evolutionary explanations for pain. For example-- the fact that our nerves can detect danger enables us to survive hazards.
That said, any defence that a Christian makes must not reject any of three realities-- that God is all-good, all-power, and that evil exist. For instance, the Christian cannot 'justify' evil. To justify evil is to deny the existance of evil (the reason why something is evil is that it cannot be justified). Are there reasons for evil? Yes reasons, but not justification.
Free-will defence
For God to be good, (and fair), He has to allows us to experience consequences of every action anyone (or anything) makes (Lewis, 1940). There is no point giving us freedom to choose, while taking away consequences of the choice. If one chooses an evil act, he and others must face the results of that choice-- be it death or imprisonment.
What about natural disasters?
While most people can accept that evils commited by men, few can "excuse" God from the reponsibility of natural disasters. But the thing is that either for God to be omnipotent, He is involved in everything, or nothing. The natural laws that run our universe cannot be broken by any whim and fancy.
On other hand, I have no problem accepting miracles do happen, but they should happen rarely (hence the term 'miracles'). Although one may claim that God is unfair in saving others, one must remember, nowhere in the Bible claims that it is God's will for all of us to be healthy and wealthy. It is His will for all of us to be reconcile with Him ultimately.
Then how is God good?
In Christianity, God allows evil, yet it is not His will. He may use our acts of evil, to bring about His will (Genesis 50:20). God hates evil, but respects our decisions to choose it over Him (Platinga, 1977).
Problem with naturalism
The problem is simple-- without God, how do you know something is evil? Yet the thought process complex-- one may attribute morality to the natural world, but if nature is "red in tooth and claw", why should we view something that happens naturally such as death and destruction as evil? CS Lewis (1952) explores this concept in Mere Christianity, claiming that if anything,the existance of evil hints towards a god. Afterall, one does not call something unjust, unless he/she has an idea of what justice is.
Conclusion
Although the problem of evil has often been touted as a problem for a Christian God, from the Christian view it is not, and from a theistic view, it hints towards the existance of God. In fact, most philosophers regard the logical problem of evil to haven been sufficiently refuted (Gutting, 2009).
Postscript for the Christians
Yet for the followers of Christ, Jesus never promised freedom from suffering or pain from this earth. He told us that that in this world we will have trouble, but we can take heart -- He has overcome the world (John 16:33)
References
Lewis, C.S (1940) The Problem of Pain
Lewis, C.S. (1952) Mere Christianity
Gutting, G. (2009) What Philosophers Know: Case Studies in Recent Analytic Philosophy
Platinga, A. (1977) God, Freedom and Evil
1 comment:
I used to think this way. There are many ways to look at it actually since there is no way to get a direct answer. The way I see it, if we are All given free will, how could pain and suffering not exist? Seems to me the individuals are to blame. Maybe the idea of needing negative to understand positive also has merit. I also think humans have little understanding of what love really is. Love is not just happiness and hugs, but is also acceptance, understanding, endurance, etc.
We also view all these things from a human perspective in a 3 dimensional existence based on a beginning and an end. We don't even know what God is, or what it would be like to view the universe from a 100% truthful standpoint with no questions to be asked (at least if the idea of God be omniscient is true). It's hard enough finding one thing that are 100% truth that all people agree upon.
Just my 2¢
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