In actuality, the presence of evil provides evidence for the existence of God. Tim Keller outlines this argument in his book, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, in Chapter 4. I find his argument somewhat compelling because it proves God exists but not why evil exists. For that reason, I find it a bit lacking.
Although we don’t have a fully satisfying answer for the existence of evil, what we do have is a defense.
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Theodicies
You might be wondering what a theodicy is. Simply put, a theodicy is an explanation for why a good God would allow evil and suffering to exist. I like how Keller puts it.
“A theodicy seeks to give an answer to the big “Why?” question. It’s goal is to explain why a just God allows evil to come into existence and to continue,” (Keller, 2013, p. 89).
We will first explore the various theodicies used to reconcile these variables.
The Soul-Making Theodicy
This theory suggests evil exists for our good.
Keller says, “it is hard to imagine the development of virtues such as courage, humility, self-control, and faithfulness if every good deed was immediately rewarded and every bad deed immediately punished,” (Keller, 2013, p. 90)
I believe what Keller is saying here is Biblical.
The Apostle Paul says, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope,” (Romans 5:3–4 NIV).
The pain we go through teaches us lessons and develops us as people, often into better people. This has definitely been true in my own life. This theory doesn’t come without its weaknesses though. Evil isn’t distributed to people equally or according to who needs it more than others.
The Free-Will Theodicy
The gist of this theodicy is that God allowed us the ability to choose whether we sin or not. He didn’t create as robots, but as human beings with free will. The theodicy supposes that the reason evil exists is due to the natural consequences of our choices.
A weakness this theory has is that it only makes sense with moral evil. Natural disasters and diseases cannot be explained by this theory. I’ve heard of this as an explanation of the problem of evil, but honestly, it doesn’t satisfy me. If God is all-powerful, why wouldn’t he be able to create humans who have free-will and are able to love freely and choose goodness? For these reasons, I don’t think I really agree with this theodicy at all.
The Issue with all Theodicies
There is an issue with all theodicies. Any explanation we might come up with on our own as human beings apart from divine revelation is faulty. Our knowledge is limited, while God is all-knowing.
In Isaiah, it reads, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” (Isaiah 55:8 NIV).
We don’t think like God. We aren’t built to — we have finite minds. For this reason, I don’t believe we should try to explain a reason why instead we should have a defense.
Keller says, “In making a theodicy, the burden of proof is upon the believer in God… But in a defense, the burden of proof is upon the skeptic,” (Keller, 2013, p. 95).
When answering the skeptic, I think it’s completely okay to place the burden of proof on them, rather than ourselves. However, the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a sufficient answer (at least one we know of) why evil exists still bothers me a bit. So it’s understandable if it bothers you too.
A Defense: The Boomerang Effect
I had heard of this argument before, but not when it came to the existence of evil. Essentially, in asking the question, “why does evil and suffering exist if there is a good God?”, you are presupposing God exists.
Let me explain.
Those who don’t believe in God, don’t have a basis for objective morality. Everything is relative and subjective. Therefore, how can you truly say what is evil or good? Who has the authority to tell you that?
The most common argument atheists will give in response to this is that our morals come from our ancestors and strictly from survival. But this isn’t a sufficient response. It doesn’t explain having a moral obligation. Why do we have an obligation to obey the law? We might have feelings toward an injustice, but why would some people’s feelings trump others?
The only way you can have absolute morality is if you presuppose the existence of God.
I think this is a strong argument for the existence of God, and a good defense for us to use if asked the question.
Final Thoughts
This is a complex question many have tried to answer. There’s not really a fully satisfying answer and we probably won’t fully understand until God returns.
The question does provide us evidence for the existence of God though. The question presupposes God’s existence because it’s presupposing objective morality. Only God can dictate what is good and bad, not us. We are finite human beings; He is infinite and knows all. I trust God has a good reason for why he allows and does what he does but we can rest assured that one day all things will be made right. Evil will not go unpunished. God will return and justice will be served.
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