Defending the Faith: The Problem With Evil (Part 1)

Defending the Faith

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL:

The Logical Problem

The Problem is Actually Two Problems

The problem of evil presents a formidable challenge to the Christian faith. It’s important to understand that there are actually two problems of evil. On the one hand, there is what theologians and philosophers call the logical problem of evil. People who have a logical problem with evil are convinced that the presence of evil in the world casts serious doubt on the existence of God. To their way of thinking, if God is all-loving and all-powerful, he would not permit evil. But since evil is in the world, we have serious reason to doubt the existence of an all-loving and all-powerful God. There is also an emotional problem of evil. At the emotional level, people stop short of stating that the existence of evil disproves the existence of God. For them the struggle is why God doesn’t intervene to stop evil, or at least to lessen the pain it causes. Whenever we are talking with people about the problem of evil we need to listen closely in order to discern which kind of problem they have about it—logical or emotional.

The Prevalence of Evil

We can hardly question the existence of evil. Virtually every day—or so it seems—a major event happens in the world which showcases some form of evil before the watching world. One day it’s a school shooting in the Northeast. The next day it’s a terrorist bombing in a city in Europe. The day after that it’s a plane crash in an ocean or on a mountainside. And that’s followed by a tornado that rips through a mobile home park, which is followed by a hurricane that devastates a large portion of southern coastland. And then an earthquake in South America destroys in seconds what took years to build. That’s followed by reports of a wildfire out West that reduces large forests to cinders and ash. Then a volcano erupts in Indonesia, leaving multitudes of homes covered in lava while killing hundreds. After that the headlines tell of a flood that drives thousands of people in the Midwest out of their homes as rivers overflow their banks, even while drought in Africa leads to millions facing the real possibility of death by thirst or starvation.  And then there’s a refugee crisis which stems from conflict in the Middle East. And on top of all this we have racial riots in the inner cities, abortion, sex slavery, and the persecution of Christians. And don’t forget murder, rape, incest, child pornography, death by drunk drivers, and families being torn apart by gambling or drug addictions. And if all that isn’t enough, add miscarriages, suicides, divorce, diabetes, cancer, teen pregnancy, and widespread unemployment. In short, evil happens with such frequency and to such a great extent that many find it difficult to trust, love, worship, serve, and obey God.

Christians Need to Know how to Help People who Struggle with the Problem of Evil

Consequently, on both logical and emotional grounds, the problem of evil is a problem. As Christians we need to be prepared to address both the logical and emotional problems of evil. We need to know how to respond to non-Christians who find the problem of evil a great stumbling block to Christ. We also need to know how to help Christians who may find it difficult to trust, love, worship, serve, and obey God when so much evil exists. Hopefully what follows will provide some assistance with the logical problem of evil. Later I will try to give some assistance regarding the emotional consequences of evil.

How to Deal with the Logical Problem of Evil

As I have already indicated, some people find the existence of evil to be incompatible with the existence of an all-loving and all-powerful God. They contend that if God is all-loving he wants to eliminate evil, and if he is all-powerful he can eliminate evil, yet evil remains. Therefore God—at least an all-loving and all-powerful God—does not exist. Theologian John Frame says, “This is probably the most difficult problem in all of theology, and for many atheists it is the Achilles heel of the theistic worldview.”[1]

Challenge the Assumption that the Presence of Evil Disproves the Existence of God

But to say that evil disproves the existence of God is a narrow way of looking at things. It assumes that an all-loving and all-powerful God can have no purpose for evil. We should challenge this assumption. Who are we to say that God can have no purpose for evil? Furthermore, does God have to tell us why he can be all-loving and all-powerful and yet evil can exist? Is it right for us to assume we can understand all of God’s purposes? Allow me to offer an illustration. Do parents have to explain to their young child why they are letting a doctor give their child a vaccination shot? Would the child even be able to understand the explanation? Does the child have the right to reject her parents simply because they subject her to the pain of a shot? I trust you will agree that if parents can do something, which from the child’s standpoint appears evil yet isn’t, although it is painful, that God can do the same. Now please do not misunderstand me: I am not trying to deny that certain acts are evil; I am simply trying at this point to show that if God chooses to do certain things that don’t make sense to us it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t exist.

Understand some Major ways Christians have Dealt with the Problem of Evil

The Soul-Making Approach

Throughout the history of the church Christians have taken different approaches when trying to explain the problem of evil. One way has been to see evil as a necessary means to achieve spiritual growth. This has sometimes been dubbed “the soul-making” approach to explaining the problem of evil.[2] Essentially it argues that God created humans with the ability and need to grow toward maturity, but that in order to grow we need to come into contact with and experience both good and evil. The argument is analogous to the way an athlete must endure torturous workouts in order to be physically able to compete at peak level. In other words, in the same way that top-notch athletes have to endure the pain to get the gain, so Christians must go through hard times or else their souls will never develop.

There is definitely merit to this argument, as virtually every Christian can attest. We can all look back and see that we are more like Christ today than we used to be precisely because we have gone through difficulties. Furthermore, the Bible certainly affirms the view that trials are a prelude to benefits (cf. James 1:12; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 1 Timothy 4:6-8; 1 Peter 4:12-16; Revelation 2:10).

Nevertheless, the soul-making view faces a major difficulty: it is simply not true that character can only be forged through suffering. As Frame points out, this view “…overlooks the fact that in Scripture Adam was created good, not morally immature with a need to develop character through suffering. It is true that God uses evil to sanctify us, but the true making of souls, in both old and new creations, is by divine grace.”[3] Recall that after God made Adam and Eve he, in effect, stepped back and saw all that he made and pronounced that it was very good (Genesis 1:31). There is no indication that Adam and Eve were incomplete and in need of growth. What is more, if growth does take place—and it most certainly does now that we are in a fallen word—it can come in ways besides suffering. Some forms of character building happen simply by watching, listening, and learning from others and the world around us as we go through life. Therefore if God graciously gives us the capacity to heed what he says in his word or to learn from the advice or good example of others, which he does, then we can grow in character apart from having to go through “the school of hard knocks.” So I think the soul-making approach is helpful in some ways, but I don’t think it answers all our questions about why evil is in the world.

The Free-Will Defense

Another approach believers have adopted as a way of dealing with the problem of evil is the “free-will defense.” In the first few hundred years of Christianity believers were forced to combat a false belief known as Gnosticism, which argued that the blame for evil could be laid to rest at the feet of a lesser god who created matter. The redeemer god, on the other hand, had nothing to do with matter because all matter is evil. Of course this stands in stark contrast to the Bible, which maintains that there is only one God and he created matter good. But that left Christians with the difficult problem of explaining how evil came into the world. If everything God created is good, then why is evil present in the world?

The greatest Christian mind prior to the Reformation, a theologian from North Africa named Augustine, went to work on this question, and here is what he came up with.[4] Augustine argued that evil came into the world due to the misuse of freedom. When God created human beings he gave them the ability to choose good or evil, and sadly, they chose evil and thus contaminated the world.

But wait a minute. How could human beings choose evil if God didn’t create it? Where did evil come from? It had to exist prior to the choice Adam and Eve made in the Garden of Eden to eat the forbidden fruit. As Augustine thought about it, and as he studied the Bible, he came to the conclusion that Satan was to blame.

But wait another minute. If God created everything good, then where did Satan come from? Surely he is created by God also, because all things come from God. And furthermore, all things that come from God are good. Augustine answered that Satan is a fallen angel who was tempted to become like God. As a result, he rebelled against God, and consequently spread evil throughout the world.

Yet still we must ask how a good angel could turn evil. Where did temptation come from? On this question, “Augustine,” in the words of McGrath, “appears to have been reduced to silence.”[5]

The Reformed Approach

What about us? Can we answer the question? Dare we? What else can we say? It seems the only other avenue is to say that in some way evil owes its existence to God, even though he’s not to blame for it. Randy Alcorn puts it like this: “Though evil had no part in God’s original creation, it was part of his original plan.”[6] This has been the approach that believers who stand in the tradition of the Protestant Reformers have taken. The Reformed view on this matter is that God has decreed/authorized/permitted all things that come to pass. Nevertheless, he is not directly responsible for evil and sin.[7] Allow me to provide an illustration that should help explain what they mean.

Suppose I get in my car tomorrow and drive to Louisville to the Louisville Slugger Museum, and while I am there I purchase one of their world famous baseball bats. After I purchase the bat I return home and convince my sons to join me in the backyard for a friendly afternoon game of baseball. Now suppose that while we are playing, I swing the bat and hit a ball which crashes through a window of my home and shatters the glass. Should I blame the Louisville Slugger factory for the accident? They made the bat. It would not exist had they not made it. But no, I shouldn’t blame them for the accident. I should blame myself for being foolish enough to play baseball too close to my home. In fact, I doubt that blaming the factory that made the bat would even cross my mind. So I trust you can see the point. Although God is responsible in the sense that he made it possible for us to live in a world where evil can occur, it isn’t his fault that we choose evil. We are responsible for our choices. We don’t blame God, nor do we blame the Devil, for our choices. We blame ourselves, and rightfully so because they are our choices.[8]

Apparently God thought it worth the risk to create a world where evil could exist. I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt. It would be terribly arrogant of us to assume that just because we might think evil is pointless that it must be pointless. The example of Joseph reveals that evil can serve a good purpose. His brothers sold him into slavery and later he went to prison after being accused of attempted rape. But God was at work all along to get Joseph to Egypt so he could store up grain to help his people survive a horrible famine that was soon to come upon the land. Joseph recognized this, and therefore insisted that what his brothers intended for evil God intended for good (Gen 50:20).

What is more, it seems that some virtues could not exist or could not be recognized apart from evil: compassion, patience, courage, seeking justice, dying for friends, grace, mercy, forgiveness, etc. Jesus displayed all these virtues and more, and they truly shine brightly through him precisely because they are set against a backdrop of evil and suffering. In the same way that a diamond’s true luster and beauty is best seen when placed against a black canvas, many virtues come to light most clearly when viewed from a world gone awry with evil.

Jesus can help us cope with evil and suffering precisely because he experienced them in his own life. He showed us that we have no right to accuse God of wrong. He did pray, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me (Mat. 27:46)?” But that didn’t mean he was blaming God for the evil he was suffering. It was instead a cry of faith, an expression of his longing to be rejoined to the Father because at that particular moment in history he was cut off from the Father so that he could bear the Father’s wrath on behalf of sinners.

It’s important that we understand that Scripture sets evil and suffering within the context of the future triumph of God’s plan for his people. Sin, evil, and suffering were never part of God’s original plan and purpose, and they will not be a part of our future experience (Rev. 21:4). In the glorious future that awaits the people of God, the terrible things that were done in the past will somehow make the joy that will come all the greater. For that we will be eternally grateful.