EVIL AND SUFFERING In order to understand the problem of evil and suffering we must understand the nature of evil. This understanding will produce answers to the supposed contradiction between the existence of evil and the Christian concept of an all-good and all-powerful God. A. The necessity of natural laws: Much suffering and pain is attributed to physical causes such as tornadoes, earthquakes and floods. When God created the universe, He established natural laws to govern His creation. Genesis 8:22 reads, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night will not cease.” God set things in order in the universe. Order is necessary. If more disorder existed than order, life could not exist. There is no such thing as order without law. Therefore, natural laws are necessary in order to maintain order. There is a spiritual and physical sense to the law Paul stated in Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Gravity is a law of nature that makes order possible. Violate it and severe consequences will follow. The sun is great for the body, but too much sun will cause some unpleasant pain. Fire has properties which make it essential for the existence of life. But the abuse of these properties will cause suffering. For water to have the qualities to satisfy and sustain life, it must also have the qualities to snuff out life by drowning. If we violate the laws that cause order, we must expect suffering. And, we must also accept the natural processes of the orderly natural laws (tornadoes and hurricanes) in order to enjoy the blessings of these laws. Much suffering that is in the world today comes as a result of violations of natural law. In the normal function of natural law there are those tragedies that inflict much suffering and pain. It is unfortunate that tornadoes and earthquakes exist. How we view their existence, however, depends on how we would consider their infliction of pain and suffering. We must keep in mind that God created an environment that must carry on with the normal process of natural law. As God did with Israel, natural catastrophes were allowed to awaken Israel to His presence and Israel’s need to submit to Him as their God. If such catastrophes never happened, the Israelites would never have been awakened to their necessity both to recognize His presence and submit to His law. Through the calamities, therefore, the inner religious nature of man is awakened to the reality that this world is not all there is because there is a God above this world. That which we experience in the calamities of this world point us to heaven beyond this world. In the purposeful violation of natural law, man brings on himself unnecessary suffering. He reaps to the wind and sows the whirlwind. Most of the pain and suffering in the world today is the result of evil men who create wars in order to carry out their evil desires. Nevertheless, God allows such to happen for an eternal purpose. Through the heartache of men reaping the whirlwind we are constantly reminded that there must be a better place beyond this world. We would thus conclude that this environment is the best of all possible environments for the existence and dwelling of free-moral individuals. It is the best environment in which we can be prepared for an eternal dwelling with one another in heaven. B. The necessity of free choice: The necessity of the free will of man supports the necessity of the existence of evil. For man to be truly free, he must have the power to choose good and evil. God could have created us without the ability to choose wrong. However, we would be robots. The point is that there is no such thing as a free moral person who does not have the right to choose evil. Therefore, if men have the right to choose evil, it is inevitable that many will choose evil, and subsequently inflict great suffering on humanity. To be free, we must be able to make choices, even evil choices. We must be able to choose whether to make atomic reactors or atomic bombs. If we choose atomic bombs, then we must live with the consequences with the evil we might seek to carry out by our evil intentions. We must be allowed to build or to bungle the whole situation. A truly free-moral agent without the freedom to choose wrong is a contradiction. He would be a contradiction in the sense of being free, and yet, not having the power to make free choices. It is admittedly hard to understand the purpose of God from the view point of a finite mind. We might question whether God should have created a being that would make evil choices that would result in great suffering in humanity. Then again, if finite minds were able to understand all that is in the mind of the Infinite, then we would no longer be finite. We would be as God who is infinite. God purposed in the creation of man that man should be a free-moral agent. He could take evil from the world, but this would also take away man’s freedom, and thus, make him a robot. And who wants to be a robot? The fact is that no one wants to be a robot, for all men enjoy the freedom to make choices. We must also understand that much evil is attributed to the unwise, greedy or lustful choices of man. These are choices of free-moral men for which God cannot be held accountable. James wrote, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’” (James 1:13). Solomon said, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Men often accuse God of evils that they themselves have brought upon themselves. In Homer’s Odyssey, the mythological god Zeus rebuked mankind by saying, “Lo you now, how vainly mortal men do blame the gods! For of us they say comes evil, whereas they even of themselves, through the blindness of their own hearts, have sorrows beyond that which is ordained.” Men do not live unto themselves, nor by themselves. Our life affects others. Paul wrote, “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself” (Romans 14:7). And because we live in this world together, evil men will make evil choices, and thus cause untold suffering in humanity. Men who are motivated by selfish motives will invariably make choices that will cause suffering and pain on the part of others. We cannot credit God for this suffering. It is man’s fault. He must be held responsible. We must also remember that God initially created man and intended for him to thrive in a garden-of-Eden situation. Such an environment – and we do not completely know its benefits and glories – was certainly a haven for a free-moral agent. This was God’s original plan. However, man fell by sin. Adam gave up this first home by choosing sin. As a result of the sin of Adam and Eve, God cursed the earth. As a result of this curse, it would be from the sweat of man’s brow that he should provide food for himself (Genesis 3:16-19). Because we do not know how the world was before God cursed it, we do not know the extent of the curse of the earth. There is more to what Paul said in Romans 8:19-21 than what we can understand. “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” We would assume from this that before the fall of man the earth did not experience tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. It was an environment in which free-moral agents could live without the infliction of natural catastrophes. However, it was still an environment in which free-moral men could make choices. And because one man made a bad choice, the environment was changed for the remainder of the existence of the world. C. God can do only that which can be done. Some charge that the presence of evil is evidence that God is not omnipotent, that is all powerful. If God is allgood and desires that evil not exist – so it is stated – then He must not be all-powerful because evil does exist. Atheists wonder why an all-benevolent God would allow evil to exist if He is supposed to be all-powerful. The argument should be considered from the viewpoint of the existence of a free-moral man. How could a free-moral man exist without the existence of an ability to sin? If man could not make free-moral choices, even though the choices may be wrong, then he could not exist as a free-moral being. The charge that an all-good God who is all-powerful would not allow evil to exist is inaccurate as well as unjust. We must ask, Can God do the impossible? Can man be a free being without having the right or ability to choose evil as well as good? Can good exist without evil? These Roger E. Dickson, Biblical Research Library, Book 29 questions must be answered in order to understand the nature of God’s relationship with creation and man. God can do all that which can be done. God’s omnipotence does not mean that He can do things that are not possible to be done. When we say that God is allpowerful, we mean that He can do only that which can be done. God can do that which is possible. In other words, God cannot make square circles, round squares, four-sided triangles and three-sided rectangles. These things do not exist and cannot exist. God cannot make something exist and not exist at the same time. He cannot do that which cannot be done. The point is this, God could not have created a true, free-moral agent as man and at the same time not allow him to be able to sin, to do evil, and make bad choices. Man could have been created a puppet of God and not allowed to make evil choices. Or, he could be a free-moral agent, as he is, with the ability to make evil choices. True freedom demands the latter. For man to be truly free he must have the ability of choice. This ability includes the freedom to make wrong decisions. A true, free-moral agent without the power to choose evil just cannot exist. It is not a question as to whether God could have created a being that would not be able to sin. He could have done such. However, to create a free-moral being and not allow him to make choices, would be an impossibility. God can do what can be done, not what is impossible or contradictory. Man must have the power of choice in order to be free. The abuse of such power answers numerous questions concerning the existence of evil and suffering in the world today. How much evil is the result of man’s evil choices? We live in a world where the majority of its citizens have gone wrong. They have given up a knowledge of the one true God, and thus, have created their own social laws. The result of this choice has plagued the world with HIV/AIDS and wars and a host of calamities that continually inflict society. The existence of a freemoral agent has led to human suffering that surely causes God to weep over man’s rejection of His guidance through His laws. At this point in our discussion one might even question why God created man in the first place. We must be reminded, therefore, that God never intended that this world be the final dwelling place of those who submit to His guidance. Heaven is the final reality for the Christian. In order to prepare men for heaven, therefore, there had to be an environment in which true heavenly characters could be developed. This world is that environment. Therefore, in order to prepare an individual who had the capacity to love, God had to create an environment in which love could be developed by man’s interactivity with one another. This environment allows such, and thus, this is the best of all possible environments that could be created in order to prepare men for heaven. RED
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 05:28:59 +0000
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