The Problem of Evil

Theists assert that God is eternal. God had no beginning and has no end. Essentially, God is the foundation of all reality. The only thing that truly has ever existed at all and the physical reality that we find ourselves a part of is merely a reflection of His designing intellect. The traits that therefore follow from this being are omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. In other words, God has the ability to do anything, know anything, and be anywhere. These three traits are difficult for the human mind to comprehend. These traits also lead thinkers to pose a simple, yet profound, line of critical questioning:

If God has the ability to do anything, then why is there so much suffering (or evil) in the world? If God exists, why doesn’t God intervene and fix that?

Questions that stem from that line of observation are typically aimed to undermine the idea that God is as we theists see God, and ultimately can be used as ammunition to attempt to refute the claim that God exists at all. Categorically, this challenge is known as “the problem of evil” and is an ancient observation and critique. If God exists and has the power to do anything, then why do we see so much pain, misery, wickedness, and evil in our world?

There are multiple responses to the problem of evil, but there are two that I feel are the most important to consider. The first response returns us to the premise that God loves us unconditionally and wants us to love Him back in a fluid, genuine, reciprocal relationship. In order for that to happen, human beings must have complete and total free will. If I do not have the independent choice to love God, and instead am being forced to love God, then is that truly love at all? If a child is kidnapped and held captive in a basement and is forced to “love” her captor, is that authentic love? To have the kind of love known as agape in Greek, one has to have the complete opportunity to sacrifice oneself and choose the good of the other over oneself. It is not possible to experience this kind of love by force.

Free will is the most important ingredient for any love to exist. Unfortunately, free will has consequences: we do not have to act according to love or to the good. Free will means that we can choose evil. Free will means that we can pursue sin. Free will means that we can create hell on earth collectively and God would permit that in order to maintain the potential for some of His creatures to turn to Him by their own will. If God were to appear in an unmistakable way and cause trembling and fear to engulf all of creation at once, would that not be similar to a parent holding down their child and screaming, “you must love me” in their face? Ultimately, choice as a principle must remain paramount and anything that crosses the border into forcing faith or a relationship would defeat the entire purpose.

One objection related to the problem of evil raised by atheist thinker Sam Harris deals with deaths of children in impoverished areas. Harris specifically mentions Africa and how each year there are up to five million preventable deaths to children due to disease that we have the cure to. Harris then draws the conclusion that because those deaths are so staggering and so preventable, God either doesn’t care to fix that problem or He doesn’t have the ability to…therefore making God obsolete, or non-existent. 

The line of reasoning that Harris presents has at least two areas to respond to. First, is it not the fault of humankind that these children are dying? Afterall, Harris admits that we have cures to these diseases. The real question should ask: why are we not collectively using our abilities to treat and cure these children? Unfortunately, our free will also means that we can freely remain selfish or construct systems that are corruptible and incompetent. Second, as spiritual beings as well as physical ones, we have an eternal destiny after our body perishes. The soul will survive and either reside in the glory and presence of God or not. Those children who unfortunately died due to medical negligence on behalf of humankind will most likely be ever present in an eternal bliss with the source of all creation. Ultimately, whether we realize it or not, our greatest hope is to be so lucky to reside with God in a state of eternity. That is ultimately the purpose of our life and why intuitively we know that life has purpose and meaning. For an atheist to claim that because God does not “miraculously'' intervene to stop children from dying means that He is unable to or that He doesn’t exist is simply a false conclusion to come to. We humans as a collective have selfishly not sacrificed enough to help those children and even wrongfully believe that the temporal, physical reality is the only life there is. I am as guilty of this as anyone.

A third reason why God allows evil to exist is because He can bring tremendous good out of it. In Catholic theology, one reason why Jesus Christ became man was to serve as the most perfect, unblemished, eternal sacrifice for the atonement of mankind’s sin. He experienced torture, suffering, and pain beyond imagination at the hands of pure evil. Yet, the greatest good in human history came out of that evil: our collective atonement and eternal salvation. Many people can relate to this concept of good coming from evil. Oftentimes, it is when we hit rock bottom that we have the most meaningful transformations in our lives. For the addict who finds herself completely engulfed in substance abuse, there is a profound potential and opportunity for good that would come from a newfound life of sobriety. In fact, many stories from people who have been sober for decades will confirm that the wickedness they were once a part of led them to become a more powerful human being who now contributes to the collective good of our planet. It is hard to see the death of an innocent child as something that can lead to good. However, it is not impossible. It may depend upon the faith and worldview of the family who experiences that loss to determine just how transformative a good can come about through such a devastating evil.