Theodicy

Here's a brief essay I just finished on evil. Let me know what you think.

   

Why Does Evil Persist?

Christians and critics both deal with the question of evil and how a good and all powerful God would have allowed it to be created and then continue. While there are no cookie cutter answers to perhaps one of the biggest philosophical question of our day, I believe that we can give solutions which can satisfy those seeking answers to this quandary. At the risk of oversimplifying I would say that God has allowed for the existence of evil because it is a necessary byproduct of the free will which is a paramount characteristic of the human condition, and God has refused to eliminate evil so far because He is temporarily using it for His purposes until the day when He will remove it all together.

Lee Strobel summarizes very effectively that “Human suffering came about because people abused their free will, not because God wanted to hurt us.” God wanted to give humans the opportunity to enjoy real relationship with Him, but to do this he needed to give us the option of choosing not to experience that relationship. Without free will we could never truly love God, since by definition to love must be chosen. If God has forced us to love Him, he would have removed our free will, which would have removed our ability to choose evil, but also our opportunity to choose Him.

People need to understand that the existence of evil is an essential product of our world. We can all recognize that the planet requires oxygen and a warming sun and water in order for us to live here, but we also realize that that people can get sunburned and drown in the ocean. This doesn’t mean that God was wrong to allow for the sun and ocean to be created. It just means that we need to take a proper perspective about them, which looks beyond the potential harm that can come from them.

Here is a experiment for someone to try who thinks that God should eliminate all evil and suffering. We all seemingly have no trouble with the thought that God should eliminate all of the catastrophes, murders, rapes, etc. But what about something so simple as an evil thought. Should God eliminate those as well? To do so God would have to stop a person from thinking His own thoughts, thereby removing that person freedom of thought, and in the end their freedom of will.

A few important things to also consider are that God could have very legitimate reasons for evil that we are incapable or unwilling to acknowledge because of our finiteness. His ways are surely above our own (Isaiah 55). Also, I think it is very important to recognize that moral indignation over suffering is in itself evidence in favor i of God’s existence for it recognizes a moral standard, an absolute of what is right and what is wrong.

God is justified in allowing for a world in which suffering exists, and while it is not good, I think God has temporarily allowed it to persist because He is using it to accomplish good. It’s very important to understand that God is not sitting in Heaven worried about the existence of evil. He could scrap everything and start over if He wanted to, but because of us love for us, He wants to save as many as are willing to come to Him. As a result he uses the pain and heartache surrounding us to try and bring us back to Him. C. S. Lewis said in The Problem of Pain, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Let’s not forget, God has not abandoned us in the world. We didn’t choose to rebel against Him and then he said, “Fine your own your own.” God has continued to point us toward Himself and regularly works to try and redeem us from our sin. Of course God’s greatest act was sending His son to die on the cross, (using for His own purpose all of the evil that was necessary for that to occur) in order that He might ultimately destroy evil. God is at work within the fallen world to continue to promote His purposes, to accomplish His will, to prove His sovereignty over evil, and that He is worthy of honor and glory.

For, one day, He will destroy all evil. That is the biggest prove of God’s goodness and greatness, that in the end He will do away with all the pain and suffering. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 21).” God will in the end remove all evil, but at the current time it is serving His purpose of bringing people to Himself. God did not want evil to reign on earth or in the hearts of men, but the allowance of that potential was a critical component to humanities humanity. Our free will is part of what separates us from the animals, and it is not possible without the potential for evil.

One day suffering will cease and evil will be judged. You cannot read half of a book and then complain because the ending was terrible and the bad guys never got their “just deserts.” You must read the whole novel to experience the proper ending. So too is it inappropriate for those who are shackled by the bond of time to shake their fists at Him who sees beyond time, and say that He has done them wrong. Many yell at God that evil is allowed to prosper and go unpunished, but it is because we only see this half of the story. At the end God promises that a day of judgment will come.  In the meantime however, He is desiring that as many as possible would come to Him, and therefore He both delays as long as possible, and uses the evil in the World to bring as many to Him as possible.

In conclusion I find it at both shortsighted and unjust to suggest that God is somehow at fault or of questionable power or goodness for allowing evil to exist and continue. The potential for evil was necessary to allow humanity to exist in its current form, and the consistence of evil persists only for the benefit of humanity and only for a time that will one day cease, resulting in the just punishment of all evil. God is all powerful and He is good, and He WILL meet out justice in time