The Problem of Evil
Over the next several posts, I hope to provide an overview of the problem of evil and how one might approach this difficult subject. It has been said by others, and seems undoubtedly true, that the greatest intellectual obstacle to belief in God is the so-called problem of evil. How is one to reconcile the existence of an all-powerful, benevolent God with the existence of evil? Philosophers and theologians have formally wrestled with this issue for centuries while suffering individuals likewise have struggled to understand the evil and suffering in their own lives. Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher, may have been the first to formulate the problem. David Hume, in his Dialogues Concerning Human Religion, stated:
Epicurus’s old questions are yet unanswered. Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
In beginning to think through this problem, one must clearly define the terms and concepts associated with the question of evil. First of all, there are at least two fundamentally different types of evil: moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil results from the wrong actions of moral agents. Examples might include, murder, torture, rape and abuse. Contrasted with this is natural evil which does not result from the intervention of an agent. One type of natural evil is natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and tornadoes. Diseases, such as cancer and muscular dystrophy, might also be thought of as natural evils. Why do these evils exist if the Christian God exists? As rock musician, Dave Matthews concludes:
If there is a God, a caring God, then we have to figure he’s done an extraordinary job of making a very cruel world.
How is one to reply to such statements? In my next post, I provide an organizational approach to this problem.