A Short, Personal Discourse of the Problem of Evil

 

Let’s Talk

            Well, here we are, most of the way through 2020, and COVID is still at large. With this pandemic, it has ignited more to look at the problem of evil. People are questioning how a good God could allow the world to be rattled with a virus such as this. To me, these questions seem to be coming from an emotional place rather than an intellectual one. There does not seem to be any contradiction in a good God allowing evil to occur in the world. I think the professional literature is quite strong on this. However, there is always a counter-argument to be made but I am not here to write about this logical problem of evil or something of this sort. Rather my concern is giving my personal experience and my emotional response to this question of evil. Personal experience seems to be a decent approach, since many are coming from this emotional side.

My Experience with Evil

            To start with, I should state that many of my friends have probably seen or dealt with more evil then I have but we should expect that the distribution of evil in the world will not be equal (I mean, look at some of the evilest people in history, they had it good if wealth is your concern). The funny thing about my life is that I did not come face to face with evil until I was an adult. I had good parents, amazing grandparents and great grandparents (yes, I grew up with my great grandparents, pretty amazing). School was not a great experience since I was poor and was an outcast but that never bothered me much. Of course, it could have been better and I could have had more relationships with the cute girl or whatever but had that been the case I could have been denied the most beautiful and amazing women I have in my wife.

            Now, mushiness aside, once I became an adult that is when the reality of evil was so obviously apparent. I spent several years living outside of the United States (which can be like a protective bubble). I saw people living in different circumstances and dealing with different problems. I have seen women who were trafficked into areas to perform services so they could send money back home to their families. I had the misfortune of seeing a man jump off a building because life was so horrible that he desired to take his life. There have been countless friends and colleagues that have died, either by their hand or by the hands of the enemy. Shoot, if I am honest, I have been the cause of evil in this world because of how I have treated my wife in some cases. In my previous marriage, I saw the complete disdain for another human being as my wife at the time sought to take my son from me, successfully I might add. There was a point in my life when all seemed dark and I nearly took my own life (unsuccessfully since I am here writing this).

            This does not cover the gambit of garbage I have seen in this world. But what is interesting is at no point did I think to myself that “since this world is so jacked up, there must not be a God.” No, I do not say this to suggest I am better than anyone else but it just did not cross my mind that God couldn't exist given the circumstances. Now, I have sat in the sorrows of my life wondering why in the heck God would allow things to go so wrong but not that he wasn’t there or maybe there was something I didn’t know or understand.

            For me, it just seemed to be the case that the evil in the world is the responsibility of other people. Sure, God is sovereign, but he also gave free will. It could be equated to a team coach having this perfect plan to win the game, but the other team comes in a disrupts the plays he calls. So, God works around this freedom he gave us to bring about the most feasible world that will allow the most people to be saved. I think it is unfair to suggest that everyone could be saved especially when many run so hard in the opposite direction. For me, the problem of evil always boils down to the freedom of others to do as they please. Right or wrong, we all possess the capacity to do as we please. Thankfully, I believe most people in the world (Christian or Atheist) desire to see things be better.

            Of course, up to this point, I have been talking about the evidential problem of evil. But what about the natural problem of evil. This is the kind of stuff that happens without any intelligent force acting out so nefarious part of their wills. By this, natural evil is things like hurricanes, earthquakes, and even COVID. Again, this never really crossed my mind as primarily a God problem (i.e., a problem God has caused). I still view this through the lens that we as people (under the Christian worldview) initiated this fall into a burdensome world. Even if we take this from a naturalistic perspective, humanity could surely be blamed for the worsening of these natural phenomena. All I see when things go awry is this is not the place God has planned for us.

            Let me be clear; I am not putting forward some academic theodicy here. In terms of constructing an intellectual defense that thwarts the problem of evil, this is not what this is. I wanted to simply give some of my personal, emotional thoughts on the matter since the problem of evil does seem to bring out markedly emotional objections to God. If I am honest, without God, evil in the world just does not seem to make sense. At least with God, there is some comfort to be had, some reason to push through it, and knowing that divine justice will be served. If God does not exist, our suffering is literally meaningless. There is no building of the soul because the soul does not exist. There is no plan that allowing some evil may bring about some good later on. Life without God is meaningless and absurd, especially in light of the immense suffering of many around the world.

            What should we do? Well, the evangelist inside of me screams out, saying find your comfort in Christ. The Pastor in me screams out to continue down the path of sanctification so that we can be the best Christian we can be. The skeptic in me cries out what in the world i God is thinking. But ultimately, it comes down to each person looking at evil and the evidence for God, then asking if it is improbable or impossible that a good God can exist under these circumstances. I have found that things some may find convincing are not so for others. This is alright. We all have our own mind’s but I would advise not to base your choice on your emotions; they can and often do lie to us or at least make us think something is far bigger than it is.

             Many Christians have gone out and died for their faith, and many are dying for their faith now. They find God’s existence far more convincing than the death that stares them in the face. Fervency is not the determiner of truth but I should pause before we so easily cast aside something because of how we feel. If something can convince someone or groups of someone’s to die especially in the face of death, we should not be so careless to disregard that as simple idiocy or foolishness. We should examine the evidence like someone was willing to die for it because someone probably has. After you look at the evidence, then make your choice. It should always come from a place of being informed not a place of haphazard assumptions and feelings.