We discussed the problem of evil in Sunday School today. It was pointed out that the problem of evil is not a problem for the Christian, rather it is a problem for the unbeliever. Any worldview that does not presuppose the God of the Bible cannot account for evil, and any attempt to do so winds up presupposing that which it is seeking to destroy, namely Christianity.
The supposed problem:
God is a) omnipotent (all powerful) b) omnibenevolent (all good), but evil exists. Therefore, God is a) not all powerful, otherwise He would do away with evil, or b) He is not all good because He doesn’t want to do away with evil. This points to a logical inconsistency within the Christian worldview.
Yet, does this problem paint the whole picture of the Christian worldview? No, it doesn’t. Conventiently the unbeliever misses a crucial point in the construct and that is c) God has a morally sufficient reason for allowing evil. When this is placed within the problem, there are no logical inconsistencies.
The real problem:
If one assumes a naturalistic intepretation of the world, evil cannot be properly accounted for. If humans are a product of natural selection and biological processes, evil is merely a part of the process – a necessary one at that. If one piece of matter (say, Adolph Hitler) terminates another piece of matter (say, six million Jews) who really cares in an unbelieving worldview? This is merely natural selection and part of nature.
Often unbelievers will argue that evil is determined by convention. Evil is defined by what brings the most amount of displeasure to the largest group of people. This, of course, is absurd. Nobody consistently determines laws by convention. If a large group of people believe that it is okay to abuse children, is that objectively good or bad? We don’t determine other laws by convention, such as the law of gravity, so why do so when it comes to ethical laws?
Whenever an unbeliever takes evil seriously and argues that it is bad, they are by necessity presupposing God’s Word that is the determiner of good and evil.
Some articles that I have found helpful in the past on the so-called problem of evil are:
Greg Bahnsen – The Problem of Evil
Doug Erlandson – A New Perspective on the Problem of Evil
John Frame – The Bible on the Problem of Evil
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Good post!
It is ironic that the very thing (existence of evil) which many think is a show-stopper and answer to Christianity, really just affirms the correctness of Christianity. The existence of evil means that the Bible is explaining reality as it is. Not only does the Bible reveal the problem of evil, but it also allows the discussion of it to take place. If you read a number of the philisophical essays from infidel.org (or wherever), you can see that their thinking is very shaped by Western culture. Ī¤hose articles are the obvious byproduct of those who have (if not individually, as they may have never been officially in organized religion, at least collectively as a part of a culture) discarded their religion, but not quite so thoroughly as they would suppose they do. They hold God (who allegedly doesn’t exist) in the court of God-derived standards. These unbelievers can count their blessings and thank God’s providence that placed them into a culture that they can “piggy-back” on. Imagine these scholars trying to peddle their “intellectual wares” and argumentation within a context of hinduism, buddhism, or a society consistently commited to relativism.
I think challenges posed regarding the “problem of evil” are usually just veiled misunderstandings of omnibenevolence and omnipotence, which as you mentioned is an attack being carried out from a platform which has tremendous difficulty coming close to describing, defining, accounting for, or removing evil.
I think that Augustine was on to something in Enchiridon Chapter 11 when he said that: “For the Almighty God, who, as even the heathen acknowledge, has supreme power over all things, being Himself supremely good, would never permit the existence of anything evil among His works, if He were not so omnipotent and good that He can bring good even out of evil.”
Excellent insights!
What an great quote: “I think challenges posed regarding the “problem of evil” are usually just veiled misunderstandings of omnibenevolence and omnipotence, which as you mentioned is an attack being carried out from a platform which has tremendous difficulty coming close to describing, defining, accounting for, or removing evil.”
I’m glad you’ve started going to Grace, I look forward to discussions like this!
I agree with the logical argument. But I think that those outside philosophical circles might misunderstand what you mean where you say that the problem of evil is not a problem for a Christian. I think, from your post, that you mean that the Christian position does not pose unsolvable logical problems, and I agree with that.
But we still have all kinds of problems when Christian friends or family members fall prey to evil. Especially if they are not well-instructed before it happens. If they’re looking at the problem through the wrong lens, they often imagine God’s place in the picture very wrong, and are so raw with pain it’s hard to get them to consider the problem.
In any case, it’s good you covered this in Sunday School. This kind of subject needs lots of coverage before people get blindsided by evil.
Solar: Thanks for posting, I appreciate your thoughts. I should clarify two things: 1) I think I made the post look like I had taught Sunday School, it was actually taught by my pastor Christian Grewal (pulpiteering.blogspot.com) and 2) I’m only speaking of evil as a non-problem in the logical sense outlined in the post. Of course personally evil is a problem for every Christian because sin is a problem for every Christian. The intention of the post was to set it within an apologetic framework, not one of sanctification.
Thanks again!