Evil, Suffering, and Why God Allows it

Introduction

Among the many themes within the book of Job, the one most remembered is the theme of suffering. There are many objections to belief in God, and none is more common or powerful than the problem of evil. The presence of evil in the world is seen as evidence that there is no God who loves mankind. Some have even used the suffering present in the Book of Job as an objection to Christianity that Christians cannot answer. If it is true, that evil disproves God’s existence, then Christian theism is false. Therefore, Christians must consider this question carefully.

The Logical Problem of Evil

The Logical Problem of Evil (LPE) is first found in the philosophy of Epicurus. He said, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” There appears to be a contradiction between God’s love and God’s power. It seems that if God truly loves people, then He would want to stop the evil in world -- but He does not. If God were truly all-powerful, then He would be able to stop the evil the world -- but He does not. The conclusion is that a God who is both loving and all-powerful cannot exist.

The traditional Christian answer to this problem has been called The Free Will Defense. Essentially, this reply attempts to reconcile the evil in the world with a good God by reference to the free will of man. Christians believe that God puts a premium on love since love is God’s most important attribute (1 Jn 4:16). For love to have any meaning, then there must be freedom. If God wants people who can love Him, then He must grant them free will. Unfortunately, if man is free to do good, then he is also free to do evil. To say someone is free, but cannot do evil is to strip the word “free” of all meaning. Thus, because God is good, He gives man the ability to choose to do good or evil. Sadly, man often chooses to do evil, and therefore man is the source of evil in the world rather than God. God could easily remove evil from the world. It would simply require Him to remove mankind from the world. Since Alvin Plantinga published his book entitled God, Freedom, and Evil in 1974, the LPE has been almost universally seen as a failed argument against God’s existence. Atheists philosophers have turned to other arguments to try to disprove that God exists.

The Evidential Problem of Evil

Since the LPE is a failure due to the Free Will Defense, some atheists have tried to transform the argument into a probabilistic argument. Essentially, this version of the argument tries to show that it is highly improbable that God exists on the basis of gratuitous (pointless) evil in the world. This is generally known as the Evidential Problem of Evil. It seems that there are instances of evil actions in the world that cannot result in any possible good. Surely a good God would prevent these actions, for there is no possibility of any good ever coming from them.

This version of the problem hinges on the premise that there are indeed instances of evil which will never result in good. However, it may be challenged that this is really the case. The first thing to notice is that there is a difference between simply not seeing that an evil action will eventually result with greater good, and proving that an evil action will never result with greater good. It seems the atheist may be asserting more than he can prove when he says there is pointless evil in the world. Therefore, atheists must prove that there is no possible way for any good to ever come from an evil action if this argument is to work. Unfortunately for atheism, there does not seem to be any way to do this. There is no doubt that evil actions at least occasionally result in greater good. Some people have only come to Christ after something terrible happened to them. There does not seem to be any reason to assume God cannot work even the seemingly pointless evils of the world for good (Rom 8:28).

The Natural Problem of Evil

Much of the pain and suffering in the world, such as tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, and disease, is due to nature. These problems are not caused by beings with free will. How is this problem to be answered by Christians? A solution is found to this problem in the theological position known as Molinism and its key doctrine of middle knowledge. According to Molinism, God has knowledge of all possible ways that a free creature could act with any given set of circumstances. Molinism believes God wants as many people as possible to freely choose to be saved, and therefore God chose to actualize the set of conditions wherein the greatest number of people would freely choose salvation. If one accepts that this is indeed the way that God has chosen to create the world, then it makes sense of suffering. Many come to faith through pain and suffering who would have never come to faith without these. Pain can be God’s megaphone to those who resist salvation. Therefore, given God’s middle knowledge, He may have chosen to create a world filled with natural disasters because it would ultimately bring more people to salvation. The temporary pain results in eternal good. Additionally this view makes it possible to believe that God has mitigated the evil in the world as much as possible while still achieving the greatest possible good. Minimally this is a logical possibility that atheists have no reason to disbelieve.

The Emotional Problem of Evil

The final version of the problem of evil is the Emotional Problem of Evil. This version is more complicated because those who put it forward have usually had a tragedy occur in their life which drove them away from God. Simply exposing the logical fallacies involved in the problem of evil may actually drive someone plagued by emotional trauma further from faith. The problem was, perhaps, best stated by Bertrand Russell when he said, “No one can sit at the bedside of a dying child and still believe in God.” This version of the problem of evil is circular for it fails to consider the possibility of eternal bliss. The emotional problem begs the question, for it assumes atheism is true. If one’s present life is all one has, then suffering seems much worse than if it is only a short period of time to be followed by endless joy. The best way to confront emotional arguments is to demonstrate that that a more emotionally satisfying option is found in an opposing view. The Christian doctrine of eternal life presents just such an option. If atheism is true, then a child’s death is truly an awful thing. In fact, life is rather pointless in an atheistic universe. People live and die with no purpose or meaning. On the other hand, if Christianity is true then the pain and suffering is only temporary. Eternity awaits those who are in Christ. The pain will all fade away to being a faint memory, but the bliss of heaven will last forever. Thus, atheism leaves people with the same pain, but removes any hope of a better life. Christianity assures believers that the sufferings of life are only temporary and that there is hope to look forward to. Therefore, Christianity is an emotionally more fulfilling option than atheism.

The Argument for God From Evil

It should be apparent by now that God’s existence is not challenged in any way by the presence of evil in the world. However, one can go even further. At a deeper philosophical level, evil actually proves that God exists. The reason for this, is that without objective morality, one has no basis for saying evil exists. It makes no sense to call murder evil if there is no such thing as objective morality. The problem for the atheist is that there is no way to justify objective morality apart from the existence of God. The argument would look like this:

1. Good and evil can only exist if God exists.

2. Good and evil exist.

3. Therefore, God exists.

Of course, atheists can always claim that premise two is false. But, if an atheist says there is no such thing as evil, how can he claim that evil disproves the existence of God? Surely something that does not exist cannot prove or disprove anything. The only option for the atheist is to say that morality is an illusion caused by evolution, and therefore he must abandon the problem of evil as an argument against God’s existence.

Conclusion

Debates about the problem of evil are as old as natural theology itself. Even Job wrestled with it. However, when the argument is examined, it simply does not stand up. Careful analysis of the argument also shows that the presence of evil actually points to the truth of God’s existence. It is a difficult question to be sure, but it should not ultimately deter anyone from embracing Christian theism.

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