The problem of evil

There are those within atheistic circles that have constructed an argument, which they declare is a proof against the existence of God. The argument in its simplest form goes something like this –

1.       If there is an all  transcendent, omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God, there would be no evil and suffering

2.       Evil and suffering exists

3.       Therefore God does not exist

As we will soon discover, this argument is fallacious as it is an attempted appeal to emotions and from an apostolic perspective concerning God and His divine nature, is a non sequitur.

This argument fails for many reasons and the most damning of them is that it assumes to know the mind of God, or more accurately it constructs a defective opinion concerning how a ‘god’ should or should not behave. The burden of proof therein lies with the proponents of such an argument to present sufficient evidence that a ‘god’ must or must not act in accordance to a set of pre conceived specifics determined by them.  This writer also opposes the absurdity that the existence of evil indicates a potential defeater for the existence of a ‘god’, what is stopping a ‘god’ from allowing evil or being evil itself? It is quite plausible that an evil god could exist, one that takes delight in our suffering akin to humans committing atrocities against defenceless animals or one another.

This aspect of the argument has been used to dispute the existence of the Judeo-Christian God and those who have attempted to, through use of the above argument, have an ignorant perception of Him. The argument can be quiet easily refuted by those who hold a firm understanding of God and His nature by studying scripture through the apostolic institution. As discussed in the earlier post titled God and Freedom, God has provided man with the incomprehensible gift of free will, and as previously expounded upon we can utilise free will to serve our Creator or exploit it and serve ourselves. Is God able to destroy evil? With the breath of His nostril! Why doesn’t He? Because of His love for those who strive to attain the perfection that Christ spoke of in Matthew 5:48. Should God decide to destroy evil we would all be eliminated, should God destroy those who wilfully, earnestly and humbly seek Him then this indicates a broken covenant, which He will not do since it is against His nature. Evil exists in the world not because God does not exist, but rather, because people do not believe in God’s existence!  Evil exists due to human beings serving themselves rather than God, we tend to construct our own moral standards, which have led to the demise of morals in western society and we now find the utmost corruption and filth being perpetrated by people who simply want to do things ‘their’ way. Abortion, rampant drug use, fornications etc are just a few of the vices being committed by people as they rage against God. In addition, human beings are becoming overly selfish, greedy, proud and arrogant; this generation of people, especially those residing in western nations, are quite narcissistic believing that the universe exists solely for their own purpose.

Furthermore, we need to appreciate that our interpretation of evil is flawed and the standard that we have set is much lower than God’s. The societal standard of evil is restricted to the physical or emotional harm inflicted by a person or persons against others, and although we as Christian’s completely agree that people should not be subjected to any type of suffering, there are many vices that have become socially acceptable, which are deemed destructive throughout scripture. The atheist insists that God, should He exist, would destroy all evil being completely ignorant of the fact that we are all evil! And were it not for His Son dying upon the Cross to redeem us and reversing the wages of sin being death, there would be no way of pleasing Him.

What the atheist also fails to comprehend is that when the time arrives for the Lord’s return, the time where He will come to destroy evil, it will be too late for repentance and forgiveness. God wants us to choose Him now and to prove to Him that we want to, freely and unconditionally, live under His authority. The free will that God has bestowed upon us is and has been misused by countless billions to afflict harm upon themselves and others, and if God chose not to create people capable of evil in accordance with His standards then we would not exist, or if we did we would be living under a dictatorship, which is not what God desires.

As the world degenerates and spirals into moral depravity, God will continue to turn His face away from the world resulting in the increase of evil and suffering. Remember that a world without God is when evil will truly manifest itself as God is the source of all goodness and without Him we would need to rely on ourselves, what a scary thought.

On a side note, the atheist believes a utopia will emerge subsequent to the demise of religion in the western world, I believe much of Eastern Europe would argue against such a case and I further believe that those stricken by poverty who rely on the generosity of Churches worldwide would question the emergence of an atheist run utopian state.