THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
A. What is evil?
1. Normally a distinction is made between natural evil and moral evil.
a) Natural evil (also called physical evil non-moral evil, or evil of suffering) refers to "events in nature that cause pain and suffering, but which are not a result of man's choice; they simply happen. Under this heading fall natural events such as tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, hailstorms, earthquakes, and disastrous consequences which are not necessarily the result of anyone's wrongdoing" (Edward P. Myers, The Problem of Evil and Suffering 32-33).
b) Moral evil refers to the evil that results from personal depravity and the wrong choices of the human will. "In addition to 'natural evils' such as earthquakes, tidal waves, and virulent diseases there are evils that result from human stupidity, arrogance, and cruelty" (Alvin C. Plantinga, God, Freedom, and Evil 8).
2. Both kinds of evil figure in the philosophical problem of God and evil. David Hume, in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, cited both kinds of evil in his "cataloge of woes":
a) "The whole earth, believe me, Philo, is cursed and polluted. A perpetual war is kindled amongst all living creatures. Necessity, hunger, want stimulate the strong and courageous; fear, anxiety, terror agitate the weak and infirm. The first entrance into life give anguish to the new-born infant and to its wretched parent; weakness, impotence, distress attend each stage of that life, and it is, at last finished in agony and horror" (qtd. in Ed. Miller, Questions that Matter 350-351).
b) "Man is the greatest enemy of man. Oppression, injustice, contempt, contumely, violence, sedition, war, calumny, treachery, fraud--by these they mutually torment each other, and they would soon dissolve that society which they had formed were it not for the dread of still greater ills which must attend their separation" (qtd. in Miller 351).
B. The problem: how to reconcile the evil in the world with a God who is at once omnipotent and benevolent.
1. "Not even on the most distorted and contracted theory of good which ever was framed by religious or philosophical fanaticism, can the government of Nature be made to resemble the work of a being at once good and omnipotent" (John Stuart Mill, Three Essays on Religion; qtd. in Miller 350).
2. "His power, we allow, is infinite; whatever he wills is executed; but neither man nor any other animal is happy; therefore, he does not will their happiness. His wisdom is infinite; he is never mistaken in choosing the means to any end; but the course of nature tends not to human or animal felicity; therefore, it is not established for that purpose. Through the whole compass of human knowledgte there are no inferences more certain and infallible than these. In what respect, then, do his benevolence and mercy resemble the benevolence and mercy of men? Epicurus' old questions are yet unanswered.
a) Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing; then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?" (Hume, qtd. in Miller 352).
II. SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
A. Evil is a potential, even inevitable by-product, of nature. An orderly world governed by natural laws bring positive benefits to the world and man. The world would not function properly without without natural laws. But unfortunate and unhappy things inevitably happen in such a world, with its multiplicity, change, and natural processes. For example, fire or gravity. (This view set forth by F. R. Tennant.)
B. Evil is lost in ultimate unity, harmony, and goodness of the whole. If everything could be viewed from the divine standpoint, then it would immediately be appreciated how everything, even evil, actually contributes to the beauty of things considered in totality. For example, an isolated musical chord vs. part of the total harmony; a painting in perspective of the whole. C. S. Lewis states: "On the one hand, if God is wiser than we His judgment must differ from ours on many things, and not least on good and evil. What seems to us good may not therefore be good in His eyes, and what seems to us evil, may not be evil" (Problem of Pain 25).
C. Evil is a necessary part of the best possible world. The world in which man lives is the best possible world God could have made. If he could have made it any better, he certainly would have done so. But anything created by God would have to be less than God by virtue of being dependent on Him. This means it must be less than perfect, including the presence of various kinds of evil. Thus it is logically impossible to have a world without evil.
D. Evil is a privation of good.
1. Augustine (354-430) argued that evil is not a thing or essence, but is rather the absence of privation of something, namely, of being and goodness. Influenced by Plato's philosophy, Augustine believed that the world is a mixture of being and nonbeing. The world is becoming--it is characterized by multiplicity and change. But this multiplicity and change give rise to natural processes, which in turn give rise to famines, disease, etc., which in turn give rise to suffering. Augustine believed that such suffering is brought on humanity as a result of sin. And sin, or moral evil, is also traced to an absence or privation of goodness. It is the result of a perverted or misdirected will in man.
2. The result of this approach is simply to say that God should not be blamed at all for evil in the world, for He is responsible only for goodness. Evil entered the universe through the culpable violations of free creatures, angels and men. Their sin consisted, not in choosing positive evil, but in turning away from the higher good, namely God, to a lower good.
E. Evil is the instrument by which God has determined to bring His creatures to spiritual health and maturity. Thus evil is "therapeutic"--it corrects, purifies, and instructs.
1. Irenaeus (ca. 130-ca. 202) regarded Adam before his fall as more like a child than a mature, responsible adult. Adam was made imperfect and free to become good. Adam possessed the image of God (as personal) but not the likeness of God (as morally perfect). The fall of Adam is seen as a delaying and complicating factor in the development of humanity, but an understandable lapse in the childhood of the race. Human beings are universally sinful, but the suffering that accompanies life's trials are a divinely-appointed environment for human development and perfection, God's purpose for man.
2. The contemporary philosopher of religion John Hick (Evil and the God of Love) advocates this view of Irenaeus.
F. The free will defense: the necessity of free will as a condition of morality and as the source of evil in the world.
1. Alvin Plantinga (God, Freedom, and Evil) makes a distinction between "theodicy" and "defense".
a) "Theodicy" means, literally, "the justification of God". Each of the various solutions offered are called theodicies because they are efforts to justify or vindicate God in the face of evil in the world. Plantinga says: "Now one reply would be to specify God's reason for permitting evil or for creating a world that contained evil... When a theist answers the question, 'Whence evil?' or 'Why does God permit evil?' he is giving a theodicy" (10). He adds, "The theist believes that God has a reason for permitting evil; he doesn't know what that reason is. But why should that mean that his belief is improper or irrational?" (11).
b) Plantinga makes his distinction as follows: "Quite distinct from a Free Will Theodicy is what I shall call a Free Will Defense. Here the aim is not to say what God's reason is, but at most what God's reason might possibly be" (28).
2. The Free Will Defense is then stated as follows: "A world containing creatures who are significantly free (and freely perform more good than evil actions) is more valuable, all else being equal, than a world containing no free creatures at all. Now God can create free creatures, but He can't cause or determine then to do only what is right. For if He does so, then they aren't significantly free after all; they do not do what is right freely. To create creatures capable of moral good, therefore, He must create creatures capable of moral evil; and He can't give these creatures the freedom to perform evil and at the same time prevent them from doing so. As it turned out, sadly enough, some of the free creatures God created went wrong in the exercise of their freedom; this is the source of moral evil. The fact that free creatures sometimes go wrong, however, counts neither against God's omnipotence nor against His goodness; for He could have forestalled the occurrence of moral evil only by removing the possibility of moral good" (30).
III. A BIBLICAL VIEW
A. Evil as punishment for sin.
1. Fall of Adam and Eve, story of Cain and Abel, et al., testify to truth that when man disobeys God, he suffers. Scriptures often state that righteous people will be rewarded by a blessing from God and unrighteousness will be punished by suffering (cf. Deut. 28-30).
2. This reasoning that all suffering is the result of sin is seen in the question Jesus' disciples asked (John 9:1‑3 -- And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"Jesus answered, "{It was} neither {that} this man sinned, nor his parents; but {it was} in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.) It is here asserted that some miseries and griefs are caused by something other than divine retribution.
3. Evil and suffering are certainly presented as related to sin generally, but it does not account for all suffering, nor for the existence of moral evil (sin) itself.
B. The existence of evil serves as an example of how a man can be steadfast and faithful to God, even while suffering persecution. As one reads the book of Job, he sees that Job is suffering to show how a righteous man can suffer and yet remain faithful because he knows that no matter what happens, God is in control (1:9-11, 20-21; 13:15--"Though He slay me, I will hope in Him").
C. Suffering serves as a discipline necessary to produce spiritual beings for a better world. "A world without tears could not produce charity or sympathy. A world without suffering could not understand relief from pain. Pressure causes the individual to rise to the top, and pain is the perfecting process whereby man is able to be molded by God into what God wants him to be" (Myers 67).
1. Prov 3:11 -- My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, or loathe His reproof
2. Heb 12:5‑11 -- and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives." It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom {his} father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He {disciplines us} for {our} good, that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
D. God's ways are inscrutable to man.
1. God's answer to suffering Job (38:1-11)
2. Isa 55:8‑9 -- "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD."For {as} the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."