The "Problem" of Evil

There is a subject that comes up many times whenever we talk to the lost about the God of the Bible and His nature. It has led many people to reject God and has challenged Christians in their faith. The topic: the problem of evil. The problem of evil has represented the most serious objection to the Christian faith. Some very brilliant philosophers have thought that this problem conclusively refutes belief in the Christian God.[1] Just consider this for a moment: think of some terrible tragedy that seems to have no positive value whatsoever: the genocides of Hitler and Stalin; a child suffering terrible pain as he or she slowly dies of cancer; an African baby dying of starvation, etc. We can keep coming up with terrible things that men and women do that are evil. This has caused so many unbelievers to ask, “How could a good God allow this?”

The presence of evil even leads some to go on the offensive against God. Some unbelievers can be pretty arrogant in their statements about God. I have listened to many debates in which atheists have with their words “shaking their fist” at God, going as far as calling God an immoral, sinful being because He allows evil in this world. They see God give commands within the Old Testament (without any understanding of the context or circumstances) to slaughter whole cities and nations, young and old alike, and they criticize God as being wicked.

This argument against God is a common argument, and it is an old argument. The earliest record I know of the problem of evil being described is from a philosopher in about 300BC named Epicurus. That sound may sound familiar to you. When Paul was in Athens he had some dialogue with men who were Epicurean philosophers. Epicurus said this:

“Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”[2]

What Epicurus, philosophers, and unbelievers are trying to say when they give this argument is that we as Christians cannot logically accept these three premises: God is all-powerful, God is all-good, and nevertheless evil exists in the world. If God is all powerful, he should want to get rid of evil. He must be able to prevent it and rid the world of it.[3]

Peter says in that we must “sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts, and be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us. We need to be ready to answer this argument against God. If we are sharing the gospel with people as we should, this topic will come up. So how do we deal with it? I would like to begin by making three assertions:

1. God is Good

2. God is Powerful

3. Evil Exists

These three statements are true. God reveals Himself as being good and holy. He reveals Himself as being powerful. And scripture makes it clear (as we see on a daily basis), there is evil in the world. The unbeliever says that the third assertion is mutually exclusive from the first two; they all cannot be the case at the same time. But I disagree. The presence of evil does not in some way make God impotent or evil, and the presence of evil in no way contradicts God’s nature. God is Holy. He does no moral evil. God is light, and in Him there is not even a hint of darkness ().

What we see in this argument and many others that unbelievers make is that they misrepresent God and the teaching of His word. They say that God is evil when, if they wanted to represent God correctly, they would do as we do: We begin with a presupposition about what the Bible teaches; that God is holy and good, and then we try to fit the presence of evil into the picture in such a way that His holiness is not violated. But, of course, most unbelievers really have no desire to do this. They are just grasping for reasons to take God off the throne so they can sit on it themselves.

The problem of evil, and unbelievers accusing God of evil, I believe, can be answered in many way, and it really depends on the attitude of the one giving the argument. IN this lesson, I will be dealing with the objections of unbelievers that are looking for excuses to live how they want. The purpose of this lesson is not to deal with the question of why God allows His people; Christians, to suffer. We can deal with that topic in another lesson.

So how do we respond to this kind of argument against God? Whenever unbelievers attack God, I believe it is fitting as His people, who have His word, to respond to the unbeliever with it. Whether they believe it is the word of God or not is irrelevant. God’s word is sharp and powerful. And we need to use it and speak it with authority. We should not for the sake of argument pretend that it is not the word of God. When we do so we lay down our greatest tool in defending the faith.

If I were confronted with this argument against God, I would respond with one of three questions, if not all three during the dialogue. The first is.

1. Who are you to argue against God?

Who Are You?

You will see in all three of these responses, that at times, I am not compelled to respond to an objection directly depending on who it is offering it and their apparent motives for doing so. Most people who offer this argument about God and evil usually don’t want one anyway. Because of this, I attack what the issues really are, first being their autonomy, pride, and arrogance for trying to use God as an excuse for their rebellion.

One of our first responses to such attacks should be “Who do you think you are, speaking against the creator of the universe like this?”

“who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” (NASB95)[4]

This is also how God responds to the questioning of His will:

Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3 "Now gird up your loins like man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! 4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, 5 Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? 6 "On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone” ().

God goes through a list of reasons, four chapters worth, telling Job why he had no reason, as a man, to question or challenge God.

Then the LORD said to Job, 2 "Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it." 3 Then Job answered the LORD and said, 4 "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. 5 "Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; Even twice, and I will add nothing more." ()

The word of God has a way of shutting mouths, no matter how evil or rebellious they may be. This is what happened with Job, and it can have a way of doing it even to those who reject the Lord.

What is Your Standard of Morality and Truth?

This response is a more philosophical response to the question, but it is a great approach to defending truth. It is based on the verse in : “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Or you will also be like him. 5 Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes.” Instead of answering the objection head on (sharing in the foolishness of the unbeliever by allowing him to put God on trial), this response gets to the heart of the issue, showing the unbeliever that they do not even have objective basis to ask these questions of God.

As stated earlier, the unbeliever looks at the presence of evil in a world created by an all-knowing, all-powerful, good God is a logical inconsistency and contradiction. But these attacks are begging the question, “by what moral standard do you make any judgments, let alone moral judgments against God?” In the end, the problem of evil is not a logical issue for the believer, but the unbeliever, because they have no logical or rational basis to make such an argument against God.[5]

When atheists proclaim the evil of rape, murder, and abusing children, theists can agree. But only from a theistic worldview can someone observe all that takes place in the world and consider it genuinely evil in any meaningful, objective sense. Any statement declaring some action or activity as “evil” assumes some objective standard by which good and evil can be judged.[6] You must have an absolute standard of morality to base it on. The only way to have absolute, objective standard of morality or an absolute standard of truth is to have an absolute moral law giver. The unbeliever on their own has no logical basis to stand on. He/she in essence needs to borrow from God’s standard to criticize God.

Atheism “reduces morals to either personal preferences similar to enjoying one flavor of ice cream over another, or to the increasing preferences of a given people group. In either case, a blatant fact remains: morals are entirely” arbitrary and subjective.[7]

If the atheist were consistent, they should say what Hitler did was perfectly moral. It was accepted by individuals and by German society as a whole. If morality is chosen by the consensus of society, there is no reason the unbeliever today can condemn Hitler for what he did. Also, if all we are is evolved animals, then just as it is “moral” for a lion to kill and eat another animal, so too would it be moral for one of us to go around killing and eating people. It is all about survival of the fittest. Might makes right. This is the absurdity atheism is lowered to if it is taken to it’s farthest extreme! But of course, the atheist rejects such arguments because they are not willing to be open to the logical outcomes of their worldview.

What it comes down to is this: if you reject God, you cannot account for objective morality. All you have is subjective, arbitrary opinions that really don’t matter at all.

Philosopher Chad Meister makes this point, “One cannot consistently affirm both that there are no objective moral values, on the one hand, and that rape, torture and the like are objectively morally evil on the other.”[8] To do so is illogical and contradictory.

The unbeliever has no basis for even leveling an argument against God, what He does, or what He allows to happen. But if they decide to do so, they need to understand that they cannot account for the ability to make such arguments in their worldview. Their arguments presuppose the existence of God and borrow from the Christian worldview. They need called out on this. Let’s not answer the fool according to his folly. Let’s show him that as an unbelieving atheist, he cannot prove that anything is objectively good or evil. It contradicts his worldview.

If God were to rid the world of evil, what would happen to you?

Sometimes everything is a matter of perspective. Some ask the question, why are these terrible things happening to my friends, family, and neighbors? I believe it is wise to ask a different question. I do not ask, “Why is this happening?” I ask, “Why is God being so gracious to the rest of us?” It is all a matter of perspective! Every single one of us have in some way rebelled against the Creator of the Universe. He would be perfectly just in getting rid of all of us. It may be easy to look at everything going on in this world thinking that we are exempt from that which is “evil.” This is what most people believe about themselves. One thing they do not realize is this: if God decided to rid the world of all evil tomorrow, they would be part of that number. God says,

“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE” ().

So if the unbeliever is bringing up the argument that if God were good, He would get rid of all of the evil in this world,” respond in this way: “if God were to destroy all of the evil in this world in five minutes, where will you be in five minutes and one second? Will you still be here?” The answer is for the unbeliever is no, they will not, because they have sinned against God. They have done evil in His sight. They have lied. They have blasphemed His name. They have coveted and committed idolatry. Without Christ, They are all evil and deserving of judgment.

These are the ways that I would answer the unbeliever when they ask why God allows evil or if they try to say that God is evil and immoral. You may be saying to yourself at this moment: “These are all good arguments, but you have not answered the main objections: Why does God allow evil? How do we resolve the supposed contradiction that God is all powerful and good, but allows evil?” You are right. I have not answered the arguments head on. And the reasons why is this: they will receive a logical, biblical answer when they themselves ask questions that are logical based and if they genuinely want answers. Most of the time you can see that this is not the case. They don’t want to have a logical, rational conversation. They just want to justify their sin at God’s expense. Answering their questions would be nothing more than throwing pearls before swine. Once they see the absurdity of their worldview and the futility of their rebellion against God, then I may sit down with them in a Bible study and give them some answers as to why God allows evil in the world.

But just to answer the question briefly for the you without going beyond what scripture teaches, here you go: I am sure that God, who is good and Holy, has a morally sufficient reason for the evil which exists in the world. When this assertion is made with the prior three that we looked at earlier, there is no longer a logical contradiction in our worldview. A perfectly good and holy God can even use evil to accomplish good. He has a morally sufficient reason for allowing or causing it. The problem that we as Christians struggle with at times is that we just do not know what that reason is.

Before I close, I would like to look at one event in scripture of evil being done that shows so clearly that God has a morraly sufficient reason for allowing it in this life. I believe this is the greatest example that we have of God using evil for good: the cross.

"For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. ()

God used a lot of evil to bring about salvation for us. An innocent man was arrested, and was unfairly and unjustly tried up to five times. He was beaten, mocked, spit upon, and murdered. If this is not evil, I don’t know what is! But God planned it for good. Because of the death of Christ, we can have hope. This hope is gives us joy in this life. No matter what kind of evil may happen to us in this life, we know that God is working for good. All things work out for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (). The Christian has this promise from God, but the unbeliever does not. Because of the cross, we can also rest assured that God understands what it is like to suffer and to have evil done to Him personally. No one can say to God, “you do not understand what it is like to suffer.” He does, and because our God was willing to suffer on that cross, we can have hope, and we can have truth to build our lives upon in this life until we go to be with Him.

[1] Frame, John. “The Bible on the Problem of Evil.” reformedperspectives.org. Web. 02 Nov 2012. <http://reformed perspectives.org/newfiles/joh_frame/PT.Frame.Bible-ProbEvil.pdf>

[2] “Problem of Evil” Web. 02 Nov 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil#Epicurus>

[3] Bahnsen, Greg. Always Ready:Directions For Defending The Faith. Kindle Edition.

[4] All Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless otherwise noted

[5] Bahnsen, Greg. Always Ready: Directions For Defending The Faith. Kindle Edition.

[6] Hartman, Dayton K. A Presuppositional Response to the Problem of Evil. Web. < http://www.academia.edu/ 584010/ A_Presuppositional_Response_to_the_Problem_of_Evil>

[7] Hartman, Dayton K., ibid.

[8] William Lane Craig & Chad Meister, ed. God is Good God is Great. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,2009), 109.