Let's Argue: The Problem of Evil

We’ve been looking at several philosophical arguments for God’s existence.  In other words, for what reason should we believe in God?  We’ve seen the Cosmological Argument (God is the best explanation for the cause of the universe) and the Moral Argument (God is the best explanation for the existence of objective moral values and duties) so far.

Let’s instead ask this question: for what reason should we not believe in God?

The Problem of Evil is perhaps the best philosophical argument the atheist can provide against God’s existence.

Remember what we said about argumentation: a “good” argument is a series of statements, or premises, that lead to a conclusion.  These premises must be logically sound (the conclusion follows the premises by the rules of logic), and its premises are true.  Along with this, it must be shown that there is good reason to believe that what this argument is stating is true.

Let’s take a look and see what it states:

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

It goes as follows:

1. An all-knowing God would know evil exists.

2. An all-loving God would want to prevent evil from existing.

3. An all-powerful God could prevent evil from existing.
4. Evil exists.
5. Therefore, an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God cannot exist.

This is definitely a stumper.  Now, let’s examine the premises.

LET’S EXAMINE

When the Christian refers to “God,” this entails that God is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful.  These are qualities of God found throughout the Bible.  If God is not one of these things, then He is not God.

I would also like to point out that this argument already assumes the existence of objective moral values and duties.  The Problem of Evil argument attempts to disprove God's existence, but it assumes objective morality (which cannot exist apart from God).  In order to use The Problem of Evil, one must be committed to objective morality, which also commits them to God's existence (see previous blog post on The Moral Argument).

I’LL MAKE YOU LOVE ME

However, this argument does not consider another premise: God desires to create significantly free creatures capable of moral good and moral evil.

Although God is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful, God also desires humanity to have free will.  In order to do so, they must be capable of both moral good and moral evil.  God could have made a world in which evil does not exist, but in this world, there would be no freedom.  In order for creatures to willingly choose moral good, they must be capable of doing moral evil.

Put another way:  God desires for all of us to have a relationship with Him.  He could make a world where everyone loves Him, but in this world, no one would have freely chosen to enter into relationship with Him.  Is it better to have a spouse who has freely chosen to love you, or a spouse who is forced to love you?

So, if this argument takes this additional premise into account, we see that God’s existence is not logically incompatible with the existence of evil.

WHERE PHILOSOPHY FAILS

Now, I will point out that this only logically proves how evil can exist alongside an all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful God.  However, when we think of our specific situations, this is not really a satisfying answer.  Why does God allow my parents to suffer from cancer?  Why did God allow my sister to die so young?  This argument shows logically that God still loves us, but it doesn’t answer every single situation.

THE BIBLE SAYS

As far as our unique situations, we can rely on the promises God gives us in the Bible.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” -Jesus (John 16:33)

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you.  Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
-Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30)

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (Hebrews 4:16)

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28)

IN CONCLUSION

We’ve seen that although the Problem of Evil raises a seemingly good argument, when better inspected, we see:

God’s existence is not logically incompatible with the existence of evil.

Just like with our other arguments, this argument in and of itself is not enough to become a Christian.  However, when we look at this argument in light of all of the other ones so far, we see that there is greater reason to believe in the existence of God rather than not to.  These help us to make an informed decision about the God we choose to follow.

“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.  And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it,”  (1 Peter 3:15)

This video does a great job illustrating this argument:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv85tvudi7Y