The Problem of Evil

The Problem of Evil

The existence of God is a heavily debated topic, and the range of arguments for each side is vast. One major question posed is if God and evil can exist simultaneously in the same world. In the debate between this co-existence, there are two distinct sides taken: that the existence of God is not logically consistent with the existence of evil, and that it is. For either side of this argument to be effective, we need to keep in mind that both ideologies assume two stances; First, that evil does exist, and second, the God in question is of traditional theist origin -- that is, all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful.

         It is clear to everyone that this world is full of evil. Whether it is the moral evil caused directly by human choice, or unexplainable, unavoidable natural evil, people are harmed and suffer from the consequences of evil every day. For the sake of arguing the existence of God, even the atheist dead-set in their ways must submit to the idea that the God that may or may not exist is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing. What that atheist cannot grasp as easily is how the very same God that knows everything, does only good, and possesses unlimited power, can allow the kind of suffering that we witness to exist. There seems to be a series of contradictions. If God is all-knowing, he is aware of the evil happening; if he is all-powerful, then he has the ability to stop all evils; and if he is all-good, then he will always choose to stop them. These three statements are the defined conditions of God's existence. If one of them is not met, it can no longer be said that he exists. Since evil does exist, God must not fit at least one of these criteria, and therefore cannot exist.

         The main rebuttal for this seemingly strong argument against the existence of God while evil is present starts with the Free Will Defense. This defense states that when God created the world, he believed that it would be a better place if he granted humans the freedom of choice. It is true that people cause an extraordinary amount of evil, but it is also true that they do so of their own volition. You may ask yourself how a loving God can allow many of the terrible acts of violence that happen; the answer is that he is expressing his love by allowing free will. The moment he created humans with the freedom of choice, he made a commitment to not infringe on these right, regardless of the consequences. No act of evil from human beings is an exception to this commitment, no matter how atrocious. To make the Free Will Defense even clearer, we can look at another set of common theist beliefs: that God either knows all that is logically possible to know, or that he can know everything. According to the Free Will Defense, no one but you can know the decision you will make until you make it. Therefore, it is not logically possible for even God to be able to predict your decisions. The other option is that it is possible for God to know what you are going to do, but out of respect for your free will he chooses not to. This eliminates the argument that God has the power to stop all evil, because even if he does possess that power, human's free will prevents him from doing so.

         That can explain away the evils caused by people, but what about the natural evils that are out of our control? Earthquakes and hurricanes kill thousands of people, and are not caused by human choice. We assume that people are the only creatures that God has created with free will, but it is possible that there are others. You may be familiar with Lucifer -- an angel that fell from heaven into the power of satan. Lucifer has free will that God cannot interfere with, and chooses to use his freedom to cause harm to others. There could be other creatures in the same situation; although they were created by God and operate with free will, they consistently choose evil over good. Free-will creatures under the direction of satan is one possible, if not always probable, explanation to natural disasters that harm so many innocent people.

There is no real answer to why God has allowed so much evil to exist in our world, but there are strong arguments for each side of the debate. Every innocent person killed and each community ravaged by a natural disaster could be explained by the way God has decided to create the world and it's creatures. There are many probable explanations for our loving God allowing these kinds of tragedies, one of the most prominent being the Free Will Defense, and there are equally strong rebuttals for such claims. In the end, we can only speculate about God's reasons for the death and suffering we experience and find comfort in the possibility of an all-loving being watching over us.