STR Ambassador
October 25th 2004, 12:39 PM
Is the biblical view of a good, powerful God compatible with the existence of evil in the world? Or does it turn out that the presence of evil in the world is one of the best evidences for the existence of God?
Sophie's Dilemma: God, Goodness and Evil
by Greg Koukl
"I knew that Christ had turned His face away from me, and that only a Jesus who no longer cared for me could kill those people I loved." The tears spilled silently down Sophie's face.
"I was arrested. My children were sent with me to Auschwitz. When the train arrived at Auschwitz, the Germans made their selection, who would live and who would die."
Sophie spoke slowly, watching the details in her mind, the train, the children, the darkness of night, the German officer.
You may keep one of your children; the other one must go.
Do you mean I have to choose? I can't choose.
You are a Pole not a Jew. That gives you a privilege, a choice.
I can't choose, I can't....
Choose or I'll send them both away.
"Jon, my little boy, was sent to the children's camp," Sophie said quietly. "And my little girl Eva was sent to crematorium II." She sighed and wiped her eyes. "She was exterminated."
Sophie's dramatic and moving account, depicted by Meryl Streep in the film Sophie's Choice, echoes our deepest apprehension about God. The reality of human suffering, of evil out of control, poses the most difficult question anyone can ask about a God who is supposed to be both good and powerful.
A Good God in an Evil World?
If God is absolutely powerful and ultimately good, He would deal with evil. Instead, He appears too frail to oppose it or too sinister to care. He either created evil or He allows it, and no one can trust in a God like that. That is Sophie's dilemma, and ours.
I'd like to suggest an answer to this dilemma, but before I do, let me point out three assumptions hidden in this objection that are very important. First, this dilemma assumes that the fundamental problem here is consistency. In other words, the biblical view of a good, powerful God is incompatible with the existence of evil in the world. Because there's an internal contradiction, this God can't exist.
I'd like to show that, with a biblical understanding of both God and evil, there is no contradiction. Instead, there's a valid reason God has allowed evil, and precisely because of His goodness He must co-exist with evil for a time.
Evil is Something
The second assumption is that evil is real. This may seem like an obvious point to make, and if you feel that way I'm glad. The truth is that many don't believe that. Oh, they say there's evil, but when you try to pin them down they're hard pressed to say that any particular thing is ultimately evil. Morals are relative, they say, right and wrong a matter of circumstances or a statement of personal belief that can't be applied to everybody.
The unfortunate thing about this position is that it makes further discussion about the problem of evil impossible. Evil is an argument against God only if it's something specific and definable. If morality is ultimately a matter of personal tastes, like preferring steak over broccoli or Brussels sprouts, then Sophie's objection vanishes. Would anyone seriously question the goodness of God if evil was just a matter of individual opinion?
No, evil must be real, and more than that, God must be the one who defines what is good or evil. Why God? Because if He doesn't, it's up to us to make the definitions and we're right back to broccoli and Brussels sprouts again.
Invariably, whenever we're left to decide what's "really bad" we always come out looking good in the analysis. Our standards are too subjective because our self-interests are involved. We don't want to say anything that will condemn us. The temptation to cover our own tracks causes us to be vague and permissive in our definitions.
If God defines evil, then clearly His definition involves more than rape, torture, and mass murder. Morality--God's type of morality--is essential to this discussion.
The ironic conclusion should be clear. Many think that the presence of evil is evidence against the existence of God. But the question could never even be raised in a universe bereft of ultimate morality, an absolute standard that must be set by God Himself. Simply put, if evil exists, then a moral God must exist.
Evil is not Some Thing
The final assumption in Sophie's dilemma is that evil not only is something, but that it's some thing. In other words, it has substance; it has physical existence and therefore must have been created.
But is evil some thing? Is there a dark blob of dismal, diabolical stuff floating around the universe, some vile substance, a foul virus infecting creation?
Evil as described in the Bible isn't a thing in that sense at all; it's a description of an unnatural or improper relationship between things. A sharp piece of metal isn't evil, nor is a human body. But when the piece of metal is used to cut the body, the circumstance might be evil. It could be surgery or assault, depending on the relationship. The event becomes evil when the created thing is used as an instrument for an evil purpose.
Why am I making such a point about this? If evil isn't some thing, if it doesn't have substance or exist as tangible stuff, then it wasn't created. And if it wasn't created, it didn't need a creator. Then there might be an alternative explanation for its "existence" than simply God made it. The Bible offers just such an alternative.
The Genesis account tells us that God created the whole universe in proper relationship. Man was properly related to other men, to the world around him and to his Creator. No evil existed. Instead, everything was whole, complete and perfectly good when placed into man's hands.
But then something happened. The opportunity to do good included the opportunity to rebel. Man ignored God's commands and rejected His rule. Surgery became assault. Suffering, destruction and death were the results.
When man rejected God's leadership, there were consequences to his decision, side-effects if you will. First, there was brokenness between man and God, just as there would be with any child who rebelled against his father. But beyond that, there was brokenness between man and the world God had placed in his hands. Man had injured the created world that was entrusted to him.
If a person exposes himself to mutating agents, like X-rays or dangerous drugs, something inside him gets twisted. The normal, natural order becomes perverted and he reproduces deformed offspring. The handicapped child inherits its parent's mutation. It's part of his genetic structure.
The child will display much of the beauty and dignity of its parents, but there will be distortion, and it will pass that distortion on to its own children. Beauty marred with corruption will characterize its descendants from then on.
So it has been with man. Rejection of God's ruler ship is at the heart of what the Bible calls sin. Sin is the mutation that has twisted and distorted man from his original beauty. This evil is an intruder. It's not something created, but rather a condition that resulted from man's choice to disobey God. Man's choice resulted in an aberration, a perversion of the created order.
That choice has had far reaching consequences. Man's evil made the world a crippled broken place, and a crippled world produces broken people and crippled circumstances.
Evil and Freedom
But why did God allow it? Why didn't he stop man from making those wrong choices? That's hard to say for sure because God doesn't tell us. Apparently He understood the risks and felt they were worth taking.
Let me offer an analogy, though, that might shed some light. When we raise children, we desire them to do good, but we realize they may turn out to be bad. So what do we do? Having no children at all hardly seems the solution, though some might choose that. The other extreme would be to chain them to their beds or lock them in a closet to insure they stay out of mischief. That, of course, would be barbaric, and when we hear something like that has happened, we're appalled.
Why do we avoid those extremes? Because something in us affirms the infinite value of human life. That's why we have children. And something else tells us the individuality of that life should be respected. That's why we let them go; we release them to make their own choices. Generally they don't disappoint us greatly, but sometimes they do terrible things. It's a risk we take because the alternative is patently cruel.
In the same way, God has dignified man by giving him choices. He's gifted him with the privilege of making his own decisions. Man's choice to do good, to live in conformity with God's desires, is only meaningful if there is an alternate choice to do evil. God won't chain man to the bed or lock him in a closet. That would be cruel.
The Smoking Gun
Why doesn't God wipe out all evil? Did you ever consider that God temporarily allows evil because the alternative would be more unpleasant? This becomes evident by asking a simple question: If God heard your prayer and destroyed all evil tonight at midnight, where would you be at 12:01?
Think about it. When God wipes out evil He's going to do a complete job. This question points out the discomfiting reality that evil deeds can never be isolated from the evildoer. Our prints are on the smoking gun. Each one of us is guilty in some measure.
C. S. Lewis's soberly observed, "I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does....When the author walks on the stage the play is over." Any judicial action God would take today would pin us all under the gavel.
So God has chosen a different solution, a better plan, one that's moral on a higher level. It's a plan that ultimately deals with evil, but it also allows room for mercy. The Bible describes a time when God will wipe away every tear and repair the effects of evil on the world. Men will no longer endure war and everyone will dwell in perfect peace.
The Patience of God
Until then, though, God is waiting. It is patience, not lack of goodness or lack of ability, that stays God's hand from writing the last chapter of human history. God is patiently waiting for us to turn to Him. As Lewis points out, God doesn't invade in force now because he's giving us the chance to join His side freely.
Suffering now functions as a warning signal. Like the ache of a limb out of joint, the pain of living in a broken world tells us that something is amiss. If God took away the pain, we'd never deal with the disease. And the disease will kill us, sooner or later.
Why doesn't God do something about evil? God has done something. He has done the most profound thing imaginable. He sent His Son to die for evil men. Because we are the real source of evil, God would be entirely justified to punish us. Yet He chose instead to exercise mercy. He took the punishment due us and poured it out on His Son, Jesus so He could offer forgiveness to anyone who asks.
God is not the author of evil. He not incapable of acting nor is He unwilling to act. But His remedy for evil is not impulsive. He doesn't obliterate us, the offenders, with one angry blow. Instead He waits.
Sophie's dilemma should not be why God allows evil. Her wonder should be why He would pay such an incredible price to rescue us at all when we have rebelled so completely against Him. When this reality grabs our hearts, we will get down on our knees and ask forgiveness instead of criticizing God for not doing enough.
Jon, my little boy, was sent to the children's camp. My little girl Eva was sent to crematorium II.
Precisely because of God's goodness He must co-exist with evil for a time.
Evil is something, but evil is not some thing.
If evil exists, then a moral God must exist.
Stand to Reason - Training Christian ambassadors in the areas of knowledge, wisdom, and character - www.str.org
Notice – The ministries featured in this section are guests of this site and very often not active members of debate forums. Additionally, this area is frequented and highlighted for guests who also very often are not acclimated to debate. As such, the rules of conduct here will be more strict than in the general forum. This will be something within the discretion of the Moderators, but we simply ask that you conduct yourselves in a manner considerate of the fact that these ministries are our invited guests. You can always feel free to start a related thread in general forum without such extra restrictions. Thank you.
Sophie's Dilemma: God, Goodness and Evil
by Greg Koukl
"I knew that Christ had turned His face away from me, and that only a Jesus who no longer cared for me could kill those people I loved." The tears spilled silently down Sophie's face.
"I was arrested. My children were sent with me to Auschwitz. When the train arrived at Auschwitz, the Germans made their selection, who would live and who would die."
Sophie spoke slowly, watching the details in her mind, the train, the children, the darkness of night, the German officer.
You may keep one of your children; the other one must go.
Do you mean I have to choose? I can't choose.
You are a Pole not a Jew. That gives you a privilege, a choice.
I can't choose, I can't....
Choose or I'll send them both away.
"Jon, my little boy, was sent to the children's camp," Sophie said quietly. "And my little girl Eva was sent to crematorium II." She sighed and wiped her eyes. "She was exterminated."
Sophie's dramatic and moving account, depicted by Meryl Streep in the film Sophie's Choice, echoes our deepest apprehension about God. The reality of human suffering, of evil out of control, poses the most difficult question anyone can ask about a God who is supposed to be both good and powerful.
A Good God in an Evil World?
If God is absolutely powerful and ultimately good, He would deal with evil. Instead, He appears too frail to oppose it or too sinister to care. He either created evil or He allows it, and no one can trust in a God like that. That is Sophie's dilemma, and ours.
I'd like to suggest an answer to this dilemma, but before I do, let me point out three assumptions hidden in this objection that are very important. First, this dilemma assumes that the fundamental problem here is consistency. In other words, the biblical view of a good, powerful God is incompatible with the existence of evil in the world. Because there's an internal contradiction, this God can't exist.
I'd like to show that, with a biblical understanding of both God and evil, there is no contradiction. Instead, there's a valid reason God has allowed evil, and precisely because of His goodness He must co-exist with evil for a time.
Evil is Something
The second assumption is that evil is real. This may seem like an obvious point to make, and if you feel that way I'm glad. The truth is that many don't believe that. Oh, they say there's evil, but when you try to pin them down they're hard pressed to say that any particular thing is ultimately evil. Morals are relative, they say, right and wrong a matter of circumstances or a statement of personal belief that can't be applied to everybody.
The unfortunate thing about this position is that it makes further discussion about the problem of evil impossible. Evil is an argument against God only if it's something specific and definable. If morality is ultimately a matter of personal tastes, like preferring steak over broccoli or Brussels sprouts, then Sophie's objection vanishes. Would anyone seriously question the goodness of God if evil was just a matter of individual opinion?
No, evil must be real, and more than that, God must be the one who defines what is good or evil. Why God? Because if He doesn't, it's up to us to make the definitions and we're right back to broccoli and Brussels sprouts again.
Invariably, whenever we're left to decide what's "really bad" we always come out looking good in the analysis. Our standards are too subjective because our self-interests are involved. We don't want to say anything that will condemn us. The temptation to cover our own tracks causes us to be vague and permissive in our definitions.
If God defines evil, then clearly His definition involves more than rape, torture, and mass murder. Morality--God's type of morality--is essential to this discussion.
The ironic conclusion should be clear. Many think that the presence of evil is evidence against the existence of God. But the question could never even be raised in a universe bereft of ultimate morality, an absolute standard that must be set by God Himself. Simply put, if evil exists, then a moral God must exist.
Evil is not Some Thing
The final assumption in Sophie's dilemma is that evil not only is something, but that it's some thing. In other words, it has substance; it has physical existence and therefore must have been created.
But is evil some thing? Is there a dark blob of dismal, diabolical stuff floating around the universe, some vile substance, a foul virus infecting creation?
Evil as described in the Bible isn't a thing in that sense at all; it's a description of an unnatural or improper relationship between things. A sharp piece of metal isn't evil, nor is a human body. But when the piece of metal is used to cut the body, the circumstance might be evil. It could be surgery or assault, depending on the relationship. The event becomes evil when the created thing is used as an instrument for an evil purpose.
Why am I making such a point about this? If evil isn't some thing, if it doesn't have substance or exist as tangible stuff, then it wasn't created. And if it wasn't created, it didn't need a creator. Then there might be an alternative explanation for its "existence" than simply God made it. The Bible offers just such an alternative.
The Genesis account tells us that God created the whole universe in proper relationship. Man was properly related to other men, to the world around him and to his Creator. No evil existed. Instead, everything was whole, complete and perfectly good when placed into man's hands.
But then something happened. The opportunity to do good included the opportunity to rebel. Man ignored God's commands and rejected His rule. Surgery became assault. Suffering, destruction and death were the results.
When man rejected God's leadership, there were consequences to his decision, side-effects if you will. First, there was brokenness between man and God, just as there would be with any child who rebelled against his father. But beyond that, there was brokenness between man and the world God had placed in his hands. Man had injured the created world that was entrusted to him.
If a person exposes himself to mutating agents, like X-rays or dangerous drugs, something inside him gets twisted. The normal, natural order becomes perverted and he reproduces deformed offspring. The handicapped child inherits its parent's mutation. It's part of his genetic structure.
The child will display much of the beauty and dignity of its parents, but there will be distortion, and it will pass that distortion on to its own children. Beauty marred with corruption will characterize its descendants from then on.
So it has been with man. Rejection of God's ruler ship is at the heart of what the Bible calls sin. Sin is the mutation that has twisted and distorted man from his original beauty. This evil is an intruder. It's not something created, but rather a condition that resulted from man's choice to disobey God. Man's choice resulted in an aberration, a perversion of the created order.
That choice has had far reaching consequences. Man's evil made the world a crippled broken place, and a crippled world produces broken people and crippled circumstances.
Evil and Freedom
But why did God allow it? Why didn't he stop man from making those wrong choices? That's hard to say for sure because God doesn't tell us. Apparently He understood the risks and felt they were worth taking.
Let me offer an analogy, though, that might shed some light. When we raise children, we desire them to do good, but we realize they may turn out to be bad. So what do we do? Having no children at all hardly seems the solution, though some might choose that. The other extreme would be to chain them to their beds or lock them in a closet to insure they stay out of mischief. That, of course, would be barbaric, and when we hear something like that has happened, we're appalled.
Why do we avoid those extremes? Because something in us affirms the infinite value of human life. That's why we have children. And something else tells us the individuality of that life should be respected. That's why we let them go; we release them to make their own choices. Generally they don't disappoint us greatly, but sometimes they do terrible things. It's a risk we take because the alternative is patently cruel.
In the same way, God has dignified man by giving him choices. He's gifted him with the privilege of making his own decisions. Man's choice to do good, to live in conformity with God's desires, is only meaningful if there is an alternate choice to do evil. God won't chain man to the bed or lock him in a closet. That would be cruel.
The Smoking Gun
Why doesn't God wipe out all evil? Did you ever consider that God temporarily allows evil because the alternative would be more unpleasant? This becomes evident by asking a simple question: If God heard your prayer and destroyed all evil tonight at midnight, where would you be at 12:01?
Think about it. When God wipes out evil He's going to do a complete job. This question points out the discomfiting reality that evil deeds can never be isolated from the evildoer. Our prints are on the smoking gun. Each one of us is guilty in some measure.
C. S. Lewis's soberly observed, "I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does....When the author walks on the stage the play is over." Any judicial action God would take today would pin us all under the gavel.
So God has chosen a different solution, a better plan, one that's moral on a higher level. It's a plan that ultimately deals with evil, but it also allows room for mercy. The Bible describes a time when God will wipe away every tear and repair the effects of evil on the world. Men will no longer endure war and everyone will dwell in perfect peace.
The Patience of God
Until then, though, God is waiting. It is patience, not lack of goodness or lack of ability, that stays God's hand from writing the last chapter of human history. God is patiently waiting for us to turn to Him. As Lewis points out, God doesn't invade in force now because he's giving us the chance to join His side freely.
Suffering now functions as a warning signal. Like the ache of a limb out of joint, the pain of living in a broken world tells us that something is amiss. If God took away the pain, we'd never deal with the disease. And the disease will kill us, sooner or later.
Why doesn't God do something about evil? God has done something. He has done the most profound thing imaginable. He sent His Son to die for evil men. Because we are the real source of evil, God would be entirely justified to punish us. Yet He chose instead to exercise mercy. He took the punishment due us and poured it out on His Son, Jesus so He could offer forgiveness to anyone who asks.
God is not the author of evil. He not incapable of acting nor is He unwilling to act. But His remedy for evil is not impulsive. He doesn't obliterate us, the offenders, with one angry blow. Instead He waits.
Sophie's dilemma should not be why God allows evil. Her wonder should be why He would pay such an incredible price to rescue us at all when we have rebelled so completely against Him. When this reality grabs our hearts, we will get down on our knees and ask forgiveness instead of criticizing God for not doing enough.
Jon, my little boy, was sent to the children's camp. My little girl Eva was sent to crematorium II.
Precisely because of God's goodness He must co-exist with evil for a time.
Evil is something, but evil is not some thing.
If evil exists, then a moral God must exist.
Stand to Reason - Training Christian ambassadors in the areas of knowledge, wisdom, and character - www.str.org
Notice – The ministries featured in this section are guests of this site and very often not active members of debate forums. Additionally, this area is frequented and highlighted for guests who also very often are not acclimated to debate. As such, the rules of conduct here will be more strict than in the general forum. This will be something within the discretion of the Moderators, but we simply ask that you conduct yourselves in a manner considerate of the fact that these ministries are our invited guests. You can always feel free to start a related thread in general forum without such extra restrictions. Thank you.