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While it constitutes one of the great philosophical quandaries, the problem of evil is always personal. Each of us has experienced or will experience serious suffering in our lives. For this reason, when we broach the topic, we must be extremely sensitive to someone going through a time of suffering, or someone on the sidelines of a loved one’s pain. No intellectual answer is emotionally satisfying in the midst of personal pain. We must also resist the perennial temptation to give a direct answer as to why God has allowed specific instances of suffering in a person’s life. For someone in the midst of a difficult situation, we can best honor them with our presence. As Nicholas Wolterstorff says in his meditation on the loss of his 27-year-old son, “Come sit beside me on my mourning bench.”
By any honest measure, the problem of evil is not just a Christian problem, but perhaps the toughest subject with which all philosophies and religions must wrestle. The problem can be summarized like this:
There are major approaches to this problem: evil exists and God doesn’t (atheism); God exists and evil doesn’t (pantheism); or somehow they both exist (theism) but there is an explanation for evil.).
The atheist solves the problem by eliminating God. Evil and suffering are taken as givens, but the existence of God is not. Because of the prevalence of evil in the world, the conclusion runs as follows: (4) Therefore, an all-good, all-powerful God is impossible or at least unlikely.
But if there is no God, where do our ideas of right and wrong or good and evil come from? Indeed, the absence of a moral lawgiver, evil ceases to make sense as a moral category. At best, “good and evil” are human conventions with no grounding in reality. If there is no God, then the universal sense of “that’s not the way it is supposed to be” is meaningless.
Given these observations, it becomes clear that the atheistic position on the problem of evil offers neither comfort for the present nor hope for the future. There is no meaning or justification for suffering, there will be no justice for those who cause it, and there is no meaningful hope that the situation will ever improve. While our world has made breathtaking advancements in science and technology, our track record on morality provides little evidence for optimism.
The pantheist argues that evil cannot be real if his view of God (God is all and all is God) is correct. The conclusion here is that our experience of evil is an illusion. Yet this contradicts our experience of the world. All around us we see suffering and the evil that humans do. Are we to claim that this isn’t real? And if we can’t trust our experiences or our reason about them, how can we trust the pantheist’s claims about the world? Further, if all true reality is God, then from where do these deceitful sensory experiences originate?
These issues are made worse by reincarnation. According to the principles of karma, any suffering incurred is payback for wrongs committed in this life or a prior one. So on one level, suffering is an illusion we must see beyond, but on the other, my suffering is my fault. Worse, the suffering of “the innocent child” is her fault. The notion that we are morally responsible for illusory suffering clearly strains credibility.
Non-biblical Theisms
Finitism. This position argues that God is finite in his powers and is thus unable to control or stop evil. The assumption behind this position is that God is incapable of defeating evil because he has not done it yet. But the fact that God has not defeated evil today does not eliminate his ability to do it later. It also offers no hope of a solution. The usual suggestion is that with humanity’s help, God can overcome evil, yet given our track record there is little reason to think we would take the side of the good.
Dualism. Dualism argues that God and evil are coeternal and equal opposites. This assumes that nothing can be the source of its opposite, that evil is a thing, and if God were the only eternal source of all things, then he would be the cause of evil. Since God cannot be the source of evil, God and evil must be coeternal.
These assumptions raise a host of problems. First, evil can occur out of good as an unintended side-effect of the good action. Second, opposites do not necessarily require the same origin. Third, the concept of two ultimate forces that are in eternal opposition, each having the same amount of power, is not logical. An absolute irresistible force and an absolute immovable object cannot coexist. If the force cannot move the object, it is no longer irresistible. If the object can be moved, it is no longer immovable. Either evil is greater than God, or God is greater than evil. It is logically absurd to have them as absolute coequals in eternal opposition.
Most importantly, evil is not a thing. Evil does not have an existence of its own; it is a corruption of that which already exists. Evil is real but not a substance in and of itself. Rather, evil is an absence or privation of something good. Evil does not exist by itself, because it does not exist apart from good.
Evil God. This position says that God is all-powerful, but he is sadistic and, therefore, not all-good. It’s worth noting that this position has usually been espoused by atheists writing satirically about theism.
Biblical Theism.
The Bible teaches that God is all-good and all-powerful. He recognizes the reality of evil and will one day end evil and restore peace. This raises two questions: (1) Why did an all-good, all-powerful God allow evil? (2) Why hasn’t God put an end to evil?
Why did God allow evil to occur in the first place?
God created the universe without evil and suffering. He also created man with the ability to freely love or reject the God who created him. God desires to have loving fellowship with humanity, but the ability to reject as well as accept is essential to any relationship. God told humanity that if they chose to embrace him, their fellowship and blessings could continue. Turning away from Him, the source of life, would bring separation from him (spiritual death) and physical death as well (Genesis 2). Humanity chose to go their own way rather than follow God’s and has suffered the consequences of that choice. Evil and suffering entered the world as a consequence of this betrayal. Theologians call this choice and its attendant consequences “the Fall.”
God thus did not create nor is he responsible for evil and sin. God’s plan had the potential for evil when he gave humanity freedom of choice. Evil, remember, is not a thing, but a corruption of a good thing already created by God. Humanity turned away from God, the source of life and goodness, and evil was the result.
The Fall resulted in both moral and natural evil. Moral evil is caused by inhumanity to other persons. The suffering of innocent people is part of the insidiousness of evil. If only the wicked suffered, we would call that justice; but because there are innocent victims, there is a problem of injustice. But humanity’s fall also led to a curse on the creation, and so we also suffer from natural disasters.
Even worse, by rejecting God’s way and choosing instead evil, we incur divine judgment. A sin against an infinitely holy God merits infinite punishment, and thus we merit an eternity in Hell, separated from the source of life.
But God’s justice in demanding punishment for sin must be kept in balance with His great love for us and for the creation. And so He took upon Himself the punishment that was due to us by sending His Son into the world to suffer and die on our behalf.
Now the choice is up to us; we can pay the penalty ourselves or accept the payment of our heavenly Father. The penalty will be paid. The only question is, who will pay it?
This is the biblical account of the problem of evil. But this raises the question, why hasn’t God stopped evil?
Most people don’t want God to eliminate all evil; after all, that would include them. But God is not interested in a partial containment of evil. The question should not be, Will God stop evil? but, When will he stop evil? By delaying his return, Christ is extending the opportunity for people to turn to him and thus escape eternal punishment.
The fall of angels and men. Evil first came into creation through the choice of Satan. Satan and the other angels were spirit-beings whom God had created before the story in Genesis 3, but beyond that, the Bible doesn’t say. Satan and a group of other angels chose to rebel against God; many other angels did not and love and serve God today. Satan came to Eden in the form of a snake and led Adam and Eve to reject God and follow him. Man’s fellowship with God was broken and thus evil and suffering entered our world. Their sin and rebellion was passed on to their descendants, and thus all people are in need of salvation.
The justice of hell. Many people question the love of God because of the biblical concept of hell. Some would rather have God solve man’s problem of separation by either allowing everyone into heaven (universalism) or by annihilating the wicked. Both alternatives contradict the testimony of Christ and the Bible. The concept of universalism is a violation of man’s free choice. Hell is the consequence of man’s rebellion against God. If everyone goes to heaven, there are no consequences for our sin and our moral choices are meaningless because they all lead to the same end.
In the end, evil must be contained, and hell is the place where God contains it. Hell is required if justice and peace are to be restored in the kingdom of God.
Hell not only displays the justice of God, but also his love. God does not force his love on man. When the unbeliever chooses not to accept God’s payment for his sin, God says, “My love for you recognizes your choice to be separated from Me, and thus I give you a place to exist in rebellion for all eternity.” To the believer God says, “I love you so much that I will contain evil in hell forever so that peace and harmony can be restored to creation.”
The mercy of hell. For those who have rejected Him, being in the direct presence of God in all his infinite holiness and beauty would itself be Hell, as some Orthodox theologians have argued. It would also diminish the perfection of Heaven. The best and most merciful solution is to separate them eternally from God’s presence.
Other options available to God.
God could have chosen not to create man at all. But God is worthy of worship. The best way to reveal his glory was to redeem a corrupt creation and make all things new.
God could have created man perfect and without choice. But without responsible choice there is no capacity for love. The beauty of a loving relationship is that people love one another because of their own desire, and not because they are forced into it.
These are the last recorded statements of Jesus Christ before His death on the cross. Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34) When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and
Mortality and the purpose of life are prominent themes in Thomas Cole’s paintings. Through his paintings, he vividly brings out the human dilemma of mortality, a dilemma we ourselves must wrestle with. Given the inevitability of death, what are we to do with our days? We can try to stave
In the article below, Dr. Boa synthesizes material from several teaching sessions from his series Biblical Principles for Marriage and from portions of his spiritual formation text Conformed to His Image (primarily from chapter 18, “Holistic Spirituality”). Dr. Boa focuses on agape love as one of the five forms of loves (based on the different Greek words). After reviewing all forms, he gives reasons for why agape is the greatest.
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