Resolving the Problem of Evil
Resolving the Problem of Evil
The Problem of Evil #1
It is time, finally, to return to the questions we asked in opening this series.
Was the death of this child, this evil, required for God to accomplish the good of converting thousands of people?
First, this question assumes everything that appears to be evil—from a human perspective—is evil. This is like a child believing every punishment they have ever received is evil. There is no way, from a human perspective, to know that everything bad we encounter in life is evil.
The situation the atheist uses to challenge Christian faith, however, is clearly designed to discount even the appearance of punishment—the child does not die because of some specific sin, but just through the everyday course of life.
Second, this question assumes every specific evil is caused by God or is God’s responsibility. The only reason we can ask a question like: “was this evil necessary for God to …” is holding God directly intends—and is responsible for—every specific evil.
This might be an attractive option in some ways (and some Christian theological schools take this path), but it is not what the Scriptures teach. To hold God can and should prevent every instance of evil, or that every evil is directly tied to some specific sin, is the folly of Job’s friends.
The Evil in Job’s Life
Satan’s evil choices, and the general sinful nature of the fallen universe, caused the evil in Job’s life. It is true that we are all sinful and deserve death, but God does not say to Job: “Stop complaining, you deserve worse than this!”
God also does not say to Job: “I permitted this evil in your life so this other good thing could happen.” Even if we stretch the point and say: “Perhaps God was proving a point to Satan,” what good could possibly come out of proving this point? Is Satan able to change his mind or be saved? Are any of the fallen angels?
Sometimes evil is a result of human (or even Satanic) decisions.
God always mutes the consequences of evil choices. He sometimes eliminates the negative consequences of evil choices altogether. He may use evil choices to produce good. But God does not need to take every evil decision we make and use it for good. Sometimes God allows our evil choices to stand.
The question is fuddled.
Couldn't God use something less evil than the death of an innocent child to bring about the conversion of people? How many people must be saved to offset the death of an innocent child? Why this evil?
Of all the families in this neighborhood, why should this family suffer this way? Regardless of the good that comes out of the evil, why this evil for this person?
The answer to the first question should show us the way towards answering these two.
Why this evil? If this is, in fact real evil (rather than something that just seems like evil from our perspective), because this is the path of history. This evil happening to this person may be the result of someone’s decision at some point in the past or it might just be the result of the collective groaning of all creation in a state of fallenness.
Final Thoughts on Evil
To put this in theological terms, there are four options for dealing with the problem of evil:
God's will is absolute, and God wills evil
God has two wills
His hidden will—which we do not understand—ordains evil to create some greater good
His public or visible will never ordains or desires evil
There are other persons in the created universe that can will things
These beings can always oppose God’s will
God does not know each instance of evil these beings will create; although God can be pretty certain about what is going to happen, he does not know what the future holds
God is smart enough, and powerful enough, to counter these evil decisions
There are other persons in the created universe that can will things
These beings operate within God’s framework (or the framework God willed when he created the universe), furthering God’s goals for his creation
God knows each instance of evil each of these beings will create
These beings can sometimes oppose God’s will
Since these beings are operating within God’s framework, we can say God permits them to do evil
The first two views represent Calvinism.
The third view represents open theology.
The fourth view represents various forms of Provisionalism (or Molinism); this is the view taken in this series of posts.
God created a world in which humans (and other beings) can make evil choices, so there is evil. God’s character is good, so we can know—without doubt—that God created this world this way to reach an overall good. Specific evils may have specific causes and counters—or they may just be a result of the sinful and fallen world in which we live.
Fix problems, not blame.
Sometimes the decision or action leading to a particular evil will be obvious, or God directly tells us about the connection between cause and effect. When God is silent or the reason is not obvious, we should focus on comforting the person to whom evil is happening rather than trying to figure why the evil happened.
Jesus suffered like us in every way.
Although Jesus was the only truly innocent man to live, he was condemned to die on cross. This was no ordinary death—it was as painful a public death as the Romans could create. Take every form of death you’ve ever heard about, including the many medieval torture machines, and remember that the Romans had all those things available to them, and chose crucifixion because it was worse.
Jesus has suffered like us and overcome death. Regardless of why there is this evil in our lives, we should know that Jesus was there before us.