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If God is good,
why is there evil and suffering?
There is no question
that the world is filled with an appalling amount of evil and suffering.
We are impacted by this reality every day on all levels: emotional, intellectual
and practical. As such, it is not surprising that people have a difficult
time reconciling this harsh reality with the idea of an all good, all
powerful God.
According to Peter
Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli's Handbook of Christian Apologetics, the
problem can be summed up by the apparent contradiction between the following
four propositions: 1) God exists 2) God is all good 3) God is all powerful
4) Evil exists (Kreeft and Tacelli 1994: 129). If we affirm any three
of these propositions, it seems we must reject the fourth. For example,
if we accept that God exists, is all good and that evil exists, we must
reject the idea that God is all powerful, otherwise He would put a stop
to evil. Or, if God exists and is all powerful and yet evil also exists,
then God must not be all good, because He wills or allows evil to exist.
Kreeft and Tacelli
suggest five possible responses to this problem.
o Atheism solves the problem by denying proposition one, that God exists.
o Pantheism, the belief that God is everything and that everything is
God, denies proposition two and allows that God could be both good and
evil.
o Polytheism, the belief in many gods, denies proposition three, and reduces
God to just one of many gods.
o Idealism, the belief that reality is a product of the mind, rejects
proposition four and states that evil is just an illusion.
o Christianity, on the other hand, affirms all four principles and denies
that there is any inherent contradiction between them.
How is the Christian
solution possible? Because it is always feasible that God could have a
good reason for permitting evil; a reason of which we are not aware. And
as long as this is logically possible, there is no contradiction between
the existence of an all good, all powerful God and the existence of evil.
Just because we may not be able to figure out what that reason is does
not mean it does not exist.
However, God has not
left us completely in the dark. This world is clearly not the best of
all logically possible worlds, but it is the best world God could create
given His commitment to create genuinely free creatures like us. Free
creatures are the only beings who can love and experience love. Since
one of God's main purposes in creating us was to have a reciprocal love
relationship with us, God created the best of all actually achievable
worlds. God cannot make people freely choose to good or freely love Him.
If He makes them do it, they are not free. If they are genuinely free,
then He can't make them do it. That would be a contradiction. Therefore,
the possibility of free creatures choosing evil is not something God can
control without eliminating free will. And a free will is not just a nice
addendum on human nature, it is an integral part of who we are. This being
the case, if God were to eliminate evil, He would also be eliminating
free will. And in doing so, God would be perpetrating the most horrendous
evil of all: the annihilation of the human race.
Moreover, God has
done something about the problem of evil and suffering.
For most people the
problem of evil is not an intellectual problem, but an emotional one.
They want to know why God allows evil and suffering. When they can't get
a satisfactory answer, they become angry. They don't like a God who would
permit them or others to suffer. This is not an atheism of refutation,
but of rejection. A child who is hurting needs reassurance, not an intellectual
explanation. Atheism cannot supply this reassurance. It does not reduce
suffering one bit-it just removes hope. In an atheistic universe, there
is no ultimate accountability or justice. Evil people will get away with
what they've done. But in the Christian worldview, God has done something
about evil in the person of Jesus Christ. He does not just say, "Okay,
I created you. Now prepare to suffer!" He has given us a clue, a
deposit, a down payment that He does have good reasons for allowing evil
and that He does have a greater good in store. By appearing in human form,
He showed us that we could trust Him. And what did He do while He was
here? He suffered!
Jesus endured a suffering beyond all comprehension. He bore the punishment
for the sins of the entire world! For all the evil that everyone of us
from the beginning of our species has perpetrated, He paid the penalty.
None of us can comprehend that suffering. Though he was innocent, He voluntarily
took upon Himself the punishment we deserve. And why? Because He loves
us. It is like He was saying, "I know you don't understand why I
permit every evil. It's not possible for you to understand yet. But just
to show you that you can trust me, I'm going to suffer with you."
When we comprehend
his sacrifice and love for us, it puts the problem of evil in an entirely
different perspective. We see clearly that the true problem of evil is
the problem of our evil. Filled with sin and guilt before God, the question
we face is not how God can justify himself to us, but how we can be justified
before Him. And it is through Christ's payment for our evil by his death
on the cross that we can be justified before God. Through Him we have
forgiveness.
Many Christians will
also testify that Christ provides inner resources to cope in the midst
of difficulty and suffering. He promises that He causes all things to
work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).
Ultimately, He promises
victory over death, the ultimate evil. Those who genuinely choose to accept
and receive his forgiveness will rise from the dead with a transformed,
immortal, imperishable body to be with him forever (1 Corinthians 15:42,
52). Death, pain and suffering have been dealt a fatal blow; they have
suffered a crucial defeat.
So paradoxically,
God is not banished because of the problem of evil, rather God himself
is the solution.
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