‘How can God exist – look at the evil and pain in the world!’

The challenge of evil and suffering.

Dr. C.K.Tan BPharm MSc PhD MRPharmS PgCertMedEd

St. James’ Church, Audley, Stoke-on-Trent

Introduction

A very complex and sensitive subject Topic needs to tackled, not just intellectually, but

emotionally There is no one who is an observer; everyone

experiences pain and suffering to varying degree.

… introduction

‘How can God exist – look at the evil and pain in theworld!’ Underlying this statement are two very differentquestions: The first question asks whether or not we should say

that God exists considering the suffering we can see. Is God there?

The second question asks about God’s nature - how can He be said to be good - in the light of the problem of evil and suffering.

Is God good?

Is God there?

How can there be a God when there is so much evil

and suffering? A. The existence of evil in itself does not count against God’s existence: God exists whether you believe He exists or not God exists whether there is suffering or not in the

world. There is no logical reason why the presence of

suffering excludes the existence of God.

…. is God there?

But it is a problem only if you believe this God is an all-powerful and good God. But this assumes you believe that ‘God’ corresponds to the Biblical God.

Most of people’s problems are with the Christian God!

…. is God there?

B. If you say evil means God cannot or does not exist, does that also mean that the presence ofgood proves that God exists? When bad things happen, you rail against God. When

good things happen, do you thank and praise God? If not, why not? Why so selective? Augustine: ‘If there is no God, why is there so much good? If there is a God, why is there so much evil?’

… is God there?

C. The existence of evil can be evidence FOR the existence of God Paul Copan:When you define evil you can define it in two ways:(1) The absence, lack or corruption of goodness (2) A departure from the way things ought to be.

… is God there?

1. Evil is the absence, lack or corruption of goodness This presupposes there is a standard of goodness

(from which evil is a deviation from it). Put another way. How do you know something is evil? You can do so only if you believe there is such a thing

as an absolute and objective moral law, from which something falls short of.

But if you believe there is such a law, does that not mean there is a moral lawgiver who gives that law?

Does that not mean that there is a God, since only God can give such a perfect moral law.

… is God there?

Does this not point to God whose very character is the very standard of goodness?

It doesn’t prove there is a God but it’s evidence that points to a God

… is God there?

Greg KouklA moral atheist is like a man sitting down to dinner whodoesn’t believe in farmers, ranchers, fishermen, orcooks. He believes the food just appears, with noexplanation and no sufficient cause. This is silly. Eitherhis meal is an illusion, or someone provided it.

In the same way, if morals exist – as the reality of evilproves – then some cause adequate to explain theeffect must account for them. God is the mostreasonable solution.

… is God there?

2. Evil is a departure from the way things oughtto be. There is sense of ‘oughtness’ about good and bad,

and from which we feel guilty when we trangress them.

This presupposes there is a design, a plan. Does this not point to God who is the designer of the

universe? Does this not suggest that we were made to live in a

certain way?

… is God there?

C.S.Lewis:My argument against God was that the universeseemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I gotten thisidea of just and unjust? A man does not callsomething crooked unless he has some idea of astraight line.

Is God good?

How can He be said to be good in light of the problemof evil and suffering.The dilemma for the Christian is summed up in thefollowing propositions:

I. God wants to abolish evil, but cannot. He is impotent God is not all-powerful But you Christians claim God is all-powerful!

… is God good?

II. God can abolish evil but does not want to He is wicked; he is not good. God is, therefore, not holy. But you Christians claim God is good and holy!

III. God cannot abolish evil and He does not want to Therefore, God is not all-powerful and God is not

good. But you Christians claim God is almighty and also

good!

… is God good?

IV. God can and wants to abolish evil Then, how come all the evil and suffering in the world

then?

‘CONCLUSION’: The Bible and your Christian beliefs about God are WRONG!

Sources of suffering, pain and evil

Human limitations Accidents, limited knowledge (faulty designs),

inadequate foreknowledge (hence need for hindsight)Human sin Pride, anger, vengeance, jealousy, hatred,

selfishness, etc Much of the evil and suffering in the world are caused

by man Gandhi on hunger: The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not

for everyone’s greed!

… sources of suffering, pain and evil When The Times invited several eminent authors to

write essays on the theme "What's Wrong with the World?" G.K.Chesterton, a renowned Catholic journalist and theologian wrote one of the most famous and shortest of all letters:

Dear Sirs, I am. Sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton

… sources of suffering, pain and evil

Natural disasters In some, human involvement is a factor – e.g. global

warming (industrial pollution, cutting down of the forests), floods as a result of building golf courses (e.g. severe widespread floods in Jakarta).

In many, as far as we can fathom, there is no human involvement – earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes

There is something dislocated in the world.

… sources of suffering, pain and evil

Diseases Some just are Others are connected with human behaviour –

sexually transmitted diseases, bad lifestyle, wars There is something dislocated in the world.

… sources of suffering, pain and evil

God’s judgement on evil According to Walter Kaiser, there are eight types of

suffering found in the Old Testament. One of these is retributive suffering, that is, reaping

what one sows.  It is “one of the fundamental principles by which God

governs the world”. Choices have consequences, and bad choices (sin)

invariably meet with negative consequences.

… sources of suffering, pain and evil

Trials and evil for our good Educational or disciplinary suffering God can use hardships and trials to perfect us, to

mould our character, and make us more like him God is not the author of evil but can permit or use evil

for good ends.

… sources of suffering, pain and evil

John Frame responds to the charge that God mayappear to be unjust in allowing some to suffer more than others: “Grace is unmerited favour. That means you get

something good that you don’t deserve. But if I don’t merit it at all, it can’t be unjust that my neighbour gets more grace than I do. In fact, God isn’t obligated to treat us with any kind of grace. That’s why it is grace and not justice.”

… sources of suffering, pain and evil God is all-knowing – past, present, future – He knows

how things will turn out in the end. God, if he is all-wise, knows not only the present but

the future. And he knows not only present good and evil but future good and evil. If his wisdom vastly exceeds ours, it is at least possible that a loving God could deliberately tolerate horrible things because he foresees that in the long run that more people will be better and happier than if he miraculously intervened.

… sources of suffering, pain and evil He has demonstrated how the very worst thing that

has ever happened in the history of the world ended up resulting in the very best thing that has ever happened in the history of the world. Re: the death of God on the Cross!

C.S. Lewis: God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

Human sin and free will The overwhelming majority of the pain in the world is

caused by human choices. Peter Kreeft: It is not logically possible to have free will and no

possibility of moral evil. In other words, once God chose to create human beings with free will, then it was up to them rather than to God, as to whether there was sin or not. That’s what free will means.

God did not create evil; he created the possibility of evil; people actualized that potentiality.

… human sin and free will

It’s a self-contradiction to have a world where there’s real choice while at the same time no possibility of choosing evil. To ask why God didn’t create such a world is like asking why God didn’t create colourless colour or round squares.

… human sin and free will

If someone tells you that he/she loves you, those words mean something because they are freely given.

If you learnt that someone had told you that he/she loved you and that (s)he had been forced to do it, his/her words would not mean very much.

… human sin and free will

God took a risk when He made man Did you risk anything when you brought a child into

the child? Was there any guarantee that they will love you

deeply and passionately all their life? Was there a chance they might hurt you and reject you?

You try your best to love them in such a way that they will return that love but have you ever tried to force them to love you?

Even if you could, that’s not love. God took a risk when He made man.

… human sin and free will

Some people question God’s wisdom in giving manfree choiceDorothy Sayers put the problem of evil in the properperspective: “For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is - limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death - He had the honesty and the courage to take Hisown medicine.”

… human sin and free will

“Whatever game he is playing with His creation, He haskept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothingfrom man that He has not exacted from Himself. He hasHimself gone through the whole of human experience,from the trivial irritations of family life and the crampingrestrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worsthorrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair anddeath. When He was a man, He played the man. He was bornin poverty and died in disgrace and thought it wellworthwhile.”

… human sin and free will

Why doesn’t God intervene and deal with the evil inthe world and let people get away with it? People aren’t getting away with it! Justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied. “There will come a day when God will settle accounts

and people will be held responsible for the evil they’ve perpetrated and the suffering they’ve caused. Criticizing God for not doing it right now is like reading half a novel and criticizing the author for not resolving the plot.” Peter Kreeft

… human sin and free will

God is delaying the judgement day out of His love and compassion.

2 Peter 3:9, 10: ‘The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…..’

If God metes out the justice as we deserve, all our lives would be very, very, very, very brief indeed!

What if there was no God?

Suffering and evil is a problem for non-Christians too

All worldviews (atheism, agnosticism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity) must give some explanation for the:

Existence, origin and fact of evil A diagnosis A solution

… what if there was no God?

Atheism may be able to solve some of the intellectualproblems of evil by rejecting the existence of God. Butthis creates new problems: It hasn’t removed the hurt and pain It has abolished all hope; it makes suffering more

difficult to bear If there is no God then, what is evil? If the blind chance and survival of the fittest in

evolutionary thinking is true, how come there is so much good in the world?

If this life is all there is, how do you make sense of life?

… what if there was no God?

“In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blindphysical forces and genetic replication, some peopleare going to get hurt, other people are going to getlucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it norany justice. The universe we observe has precisely theproperties we should expect if there is, at bottom, nodesign, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing butblind, pitiless indifference.” Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinianview of Life.

What is the answer to suffering? The answer to suffering is not an answer at all.

It’s the Answerer. It’s Jesus himself! Peter Kreeft Corrie Ten Boom’s sister: ‘No matter how deep our

darkness, he is deeper still.’ Quote from The Suffering God (Charles Ohlrich): pp. 92-93 For the Christian, suffering has significance. God

does not permit meaningless and pointless suffering.

… what is the answer to suffering?

What do you say to someone who is suffering? Nothing! (At least not initially). Enter into the other

person’s pain. We would want to be Jesus to him/her. And learn from him/her.

Cartoon of two turtles:One says, ‘Sometimes I’d like to ask why he (God) allows poverty, famine, and injustice when he could do something about it.’ The other turtle says, ‘I’m afraid God might ask me the same question.’

… what is the answer to suffering?

The Christian hope: Justice in the future, if not now A better world to come – Rev. 21 Comfort now – God is with us

Is God good?

Referring to the Holocaust, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and mass murders in American schools, sceptics often challenged the Rev. Peter Grant:

‘I can’t believe in the goodness of God after things like that.’

Grant: ‘I can’t believe in the goodness of man after things like that! It’s not God whom I lose faith in when tragedies happen; it’s man. God’s solution is the only antidote to man’s evil choices.’

… is God good?

Is God good?A God who suffers with us, takes the punishment for oursin, promises justice, provides us meaning andsignificance in our suffering, comforts us in our trials,gives us a future and a hope is a GOOD God!