Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book: “ When Bad Things Happen to Good People” gives a vivid illustration of possible reaction to evil when it is experienced on personal level. Although it is impossible to agree with his conclusion , one must acknowledge the fact that abstract analysis of evil, it’s existence and concrete personal experience are two different ways of approaching the question. When unexpected tragedy strikes in personal life humans simply lose their balance and accuse God of extreme cruelty and unnecessary evil which seems to be absolutely incomprehensible. This is how people become atheists usually for personal emotional reasons.
This attitude is a dogmatic and unproved assumption of those who do not bother to justify it in any way and accept the views of atheism even if it violates and neglects the most fundamental principles of logic and experience.
The problem of the existence of evil is only a serious problem for a believer in God. Not only of any god like the pantheistic god, or the deistic god or even a god who is on the same level as the evil god like the Persian notions of Ahriman and Ormuzd. The God of Judeo Christian theism is radically different from any other. This is why the theist faces the obvious seemingly unsolvable situation, as below:
1.
God exists .
2.
God is all good and omnipotent.
3. But evil
both natural and man-made exists too.
Conclusion:
(a) God cannot exist.
(b)
Either He cannot abolish evil, then He
is not omnipotent, or
(c)
He does not want to abolish evil then He
is evil too.
Our
knowledge of God begins with the
surprise that something exists. It
is the Leibnizian question : why is there anything at all rather than
nothing. The existence of any being must be somehow intelligible to the human mind. From analysis of a finite being the mind moves to the idea of
contingency and causality. There must be
one being which is self-existing that is
existence is it’s very essence .
This way the mind arrives at the existence of
the Prime Mover , the First Cause, and Designer of the Universe. This is the philosophical notion of God. The problem
of God’s existence must be
separated from the problem of the existence of evil in the world. Those
are two separate questions. Quite
often the distinction is not
acknowledged . People say “… if evil exists God does not exist…” The
idea is the following: An all good and Omnipotent God cannot allow any evil whatsoever to exist.
This conclusion does not follow at all.
God is Omnipotent, immaterial absolutely transcendent and perfect. In Himself
God is completely infinitely happy and
therefore He did not create the universe, for any other reason, but only
to share in some form his
goodness with His creatures. Being good is
always the very root of any perfection and value of any kind. Nothingness does not exist
therefore cannot be known or created in
any way. Even the minimum degree of any perfection or value must be good and the product of good. Therefore God being
infinite is infinitely good and His
creation must be good. This is
why St. Augustine expressed the question very simply: “…If God does not exist why so much good, and if God exists
why so much evil?...” God’s
perfection and His Omnipotence enable
God to create all finite beings “… out of nothing…” This expression however
must be properly understood. It
means that nothing existed, but God the creator alone. The power of His
creative word was enough to let
existence be given to what was not
existing. God is completely happy in Himself and in
absolute independence and freedom . It follows that God did not have to create a universe. He did
not need to call non existent entities
into being . Ultimately there is only one reason why God called the universe into
existence: to share in some way
His happiness with His creatures. The personal God let persons be. God being good cannot intent directly evil in any form.
3This
brings the analysis to the important
question : what is evil?
Thomas Aquinas defined evil
as lack of perfection which ought to belong to some being. For
example a stone has no vision because
the stone has no power to see and therefore it is
not evil but absence of vision in a human
is evil because normally vision belongs to the human nature. Being is first in existence and
evil is parasitic on a being which is in
itself good, but limited and deprived of some perfection. It follows that God by creating
finite beings did not intend evil,
however by creating humans, He indirectly
allowed the possibility of abuse of
freedom given to man. Freedom of
choice is the expression of the nature
of man created as a person capable
of own choices.
Without free choice humans
simply would not be human beings.
They would be manipulated things only. As
such there would not exist any moral
value or responsibility of any kind .
Freedom of choice gives man independence and self-determination. Man can reject
God’s offer and ignore God’s directions.
This is the essence of sin and spiritual decay. It is a positive rebellion and rejection of
God. In the first Chapter of Genesis there is the story of the
rebellion against God. Sin and evil became part of man’s existence destroying his relationship to
God, to other people and also making man
a slave of sin. Evil seems to be more attractive , more effective and far better in practice than the
directions given by God. Evil becomes
all pervasive and omnipresent.
This is visible in all aspects of human
existence , all social systems , even
within the closest human relationships in families. As mentioned above evil is parasitic on the good. It destroys man himself and brings death, moral corruption.
Moral evil
can be compared to leprosy. It attacks
the spiritual life of man and
deprives the person of the ability to recognize the difference between
moral evil and moral good. Man recognizes clearly the difference between moral
evil and moral good but with time
and repeated silencing his
conscience he loses the ability to feel the difference of moral activities
and he continues to live quite often in complete blindness to the obvious evil in which and with which
he habitually lives day by day. Moral values simply become unimportant and considered nonexistent.
What remains is self-centeredness , self-interest
and the competition by all means
in the fight for survival and material gain.
Once
this happens man is practically enslaved
by the power of evil and becomes accustomed to it. Evil becomes normal way of
living. It is now a habitual way of thinking and decision making and creating temporal
idols in human life. Man loses the
ability and desire for change because change requires an awakening to
evil governing one’s life. It requires strong and deliberate decision to begin
a new life in freedom and according to the plan of God. But that is exactly what man does not want because he does not want to surrender to God’s will. Freedom of choice is
like double edged sword. It can cut both ways. However it is the greatest
gift given to human’s by the Creator.
Man is an image of God.
God
cannot create evil in any way .
God is goodness itself . By giving man freedom of choice God
created the possibility of manmade evil . This is why human beings are afraid of their own great calling: to be eternal participants of divine life as chosen children of God who is Omnipotent Love.
Summary of the above points: 1.God did not create evil
but only good. 2.Man as a creature of an
all good God was created also good
because he is called the image of
God. 3. Human freedom of
choice is necessary condition of being a person. 4.Freedom of choice
involves the possibility of choosing evil. This is the very condition of
true freedom. 5. Man rebelled against the will of God, chose disobedience, and
became infected with evil,
hostile to God, and to other
humans losing the clarity of vision of his own nature and
destiny . 6.
Evil and sin
multiplied and became man’s habitual way of living. The image of God became disfigured, tarnished and
poisoned, infected towards
sickness unto death.(S. Kierkegaard) 7. Only God can liberate
man from the deadly slavery of sin. 8. God is the God of freedom and liberty and He
respects the freedom of man, even if man
turns against Him and can opt for
eternal loneliness without God. 9. God
desires the salvation of all men from enslavement to evil.
The real question is the co-existence of evil and God . Usually the problem
is formulated as follows:
1.If
God exists evil cannot exist.
2.
Evil does exist.
3.
Therefore God does not exist.
Existence of God is
evidently proved by the nature of the universe and
the demand of the First Cause , the Intelligent
Designer of the universe and the First Mover of the
dynamism observable in the world. Those proofs
are metaphysically certain on their own , independently on other problems. Therefore the problem of God’s existence is
separate from the fact of the existence of evil. The real question is
whether God and evil can co-exist. The answer to this problem of co-existence of God and evil is in the affirmative, yes God exists and
evil exists too. Why is this so?
God being all good cannot directly
create evil but since He wanted to have free and
responsible persons He opened the possibility of choosing evil. This explains
why evil and God co-exist. So the first
part of the syllogism : if evil exists
God does not exist is false.
It
can be asked why
did God create the universe and
human beings at all. The answer seems clear: God did not have to create the universe at
all because being God, He is perfectly
happy and did not have any need to create. The motive for creation can only be love.
God wanted to share His own happiness with conscious , responsible free persons capable of
loving answer to his love and
participating in some way in His divine nature even for eternity . Man’s
personality and his free choices
are the necessary conditions for fulfilling the vocation
to be a living image of God. Man
is a responsible creator of his destiny because it depends on the way he responds to God. This is the burden of responsibility for one’s
own free decisions. Responsibility is understood as real burden and everyone must try to grow up
towards being responsible for his own decisions and actions. By decision and action humans shape their own character . Sadly
enough history of humanity shows
the depth of man’s depravity. One
would not exaggerate by saying that it is written in blood and horror. The depth of human depravity makes man far worse than other animals. The saying of Thomas
Hobbes ”homo homini lupus” – man is the wolf to the other man remains painfully
true.
The concept that this life here and now is destined for human happiness is a misunderstanding. The problem of coexistence of God and evil has it’s roots in
If looked upon in the above described way the world
seems to be a very difficult place to be born into and there are those who accuse God of
cruelty and unloving despotism and hostility to man. In Dostoyevsky’s book “The
Brothers Karamazov,” Ivan , the brother of Alyosha says the following: “If in this world which you think God made
even one small child suffers and
cries then the world is not worth living
and I myself give the ticket back.” There is
seemingly too much pain and
disappointment in this world and
many people lose their faith in a
loving and good God . When suffering and pain become overwhelming some commit
suicide. As discussed before, God is all good and God cannot directly create
evil , and He did not . Evil originated
in the hostility and rebellion of man
against the plan and commandments of God.
The Will of God seems to be an intrusion, and a burden from outside. It seems
to suffocate man and his imaginary independence Briefly speaking God is
not wanted. For many people God has no place nor meaning in their lives ,
they live as if God does not exist, and they do not bother even to know anything about God , His existence and His
plans for humanity . The fascination
of pleasures of this life and
their successes in this or that
area and the constant hunger for entertainment of all
sorts does not leave much time for
deeper reflection and search for truth.
Man becomes deeper and deeper alienated from God and other people and does not even question
the fundamental issues of
existence. The evil perpetrated by humans
in history is beyond any description. But man does not want to accept
the obvious fact of
the evil done by man and the responsibility for it . Man blames always either God other people , the circumstances of his
life or anything else but himself. The Grand Inquisitor in his accusations against Christ whom he recognized in the streets and
ordered to be arrested for creating a tumult gests more and more excited and finally he
completely dumbfounded by Christ silently kissing him shouts: Go away ,go away and never come back,
never! The Grand Inquisitor could
not forgive Christ that He gave freedom
of conscious to men.God respects human freedom. Man is endowed with immortal soul and destined for eternal
life.
God’s plan cannot be frustrated by human evil . God did not give up on humanity and revealed His will and plan for humans.
Man in his rebellion against God is enslaved in his own evil and is inclined to
worship human made idols which
temporarily may fascinate him only to
lead to final frustration. The concept that this life here and now is destined for human happiness is a misunderstanding. The problem of coexistence of God and evil has it’s roots in
the
fundamental vision of life, the nature
of the universe and the meaning and destiny of human life. The
adequate solution of the problem is given in the context of Christianity in a
very special way. Human life can be understood adequately within the Christian
dogma. The basic errors and distortions
enter when life
is conceived as the
time from conception to the moment of
physical death. In such view that is all man is given. It is all of his existence . Eternity existed
before man’s birth, he lives for a short
time without any direction or meaning of his life and he
dies forever. This creates the
anxiety and the fear which
dominates his life. Man is not certain practically of anything at all. He does not know what the others will do to him and
subconsciously as Thomas Hobbes
said, …man considers everyone else as potential enemy against whom he must arm himself and he is not even certain how much time is
left for him before the inevitable death. Man does not put his hope in God but in whatever
he can accumulate of material
values , popularity , power over others and
climbing the social ladder . In everything he does
he wants to be first and he would eliminate anyone in the fierce fight for survival. Objective moral values in
such
existence are obstacles to his success. They would limit
his self-adoration and pride. Consequently man creates his own values which make it easier for him to dominate others. The
language of such people becomes completely devoid of any moral good or evil . Instead words are used completely morally neutral such
as like productive, effective progressive, scientific and so forth. Man greedily acquires many
things not because he really needs them but to impress others with his possessions
and show that his material goods are far better
and more valuable than those of others. For example he would buy an
expensive new car not because he needs one, but to feed his vanity. Life
becomes a constant competitive effort to
outshine others. It is deprived of honest , true human relationships and it becomes selfish , short and finally ending
in death.
This is the evil created by man himself in his
falsely understood nature of life
which becomes one dimensional ,
horizontal and ultimately frustrating . The evil described above is not only situated in the very soul and
spirit of man , but according to the Bible, nature itself, that is the world in
which man lives is also affected by the fall and hostility. According to the
words of St. Paul: It is yearning for liberation. The universe follows it’s own
ways of development from the beginning
and becomes also a dangerous
place to live in : diseases, old age,
all kinds of suffering and the inevitability of death are all part of the human
experience.
If looked upon in the above described way the world
seems to be a very difficult place to be born into and there are those who accuse God of
cruelty and unloving despotism and hostility to man. In Dostoyevsky’s book “The
Brothers Karamazov,” Ivan , the brother of Alyosha says the following: “If in this world which you think God made
even one small child suffers and
cries then the world is not worth living
and I myself give the ticket back.” There is
seemingly too much pain and
disappointment in this world and
many people lose their faith in a
loving and good God . When suffering and pain become overwhelming some commit
suicide. As discussed before, God is all good and God cannot directly create
evil , and He did not . Evil originated
in the hostility and rebellion of man
against the plan and commandments of God.
The Will of God seems to be an intrusion, and a burden from outside. It seems
to suffocate man and his imaginary independence Briefly speaking God is
not wanted. For many people God has no place nor meaning in their lives ,
they live as if God does not exist, and they do not bother even to know anything about God , His existence and His
plans for humanity . The fascination
of pleasures of this life and
their successes in this or that
area and the constant hunger for entertainment of all
sorts does not leave much time for
deeper reflection and search for truth.
Man becomes deeper and deeper alienated from God and other people and does not even question
the fundamental issues of
existence. The evil perpetrated by humans
in history is beyond any description. But man does not want to accept
the obvious fact of
the evil done by man and the responsibility for it . Man blames always either God other people , the circumstances of his
life or anything else but himself. The Grand Inquisitor in his accusations against Christ whom he recognized in the streets and
ordered to be arrested for creating a tumult gests more and more excited and finally he
completely dumbfounded by Christ silently kissing him shouts: Go away ,go away and never come back,
never! The Grand Inquisitor could
not forgive Christ that He gave freedom
of conscious to men.God respects human freedom. Man is endowed with immortal soul and destined for eternal
life. 
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