The Problem of Evil

Have you ever imagined a world without pain, suffering, and evil? Do you ever find yourself questioning why God would allow such evil to exist? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you are not alone. In my short 33 years of life, I have witnessed terrorist attacks, wars, genocide, famine, tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes, pandemics, and felt the pain of personal loss. In the midst of these events, I have hit my knees and cried out to God “Why?” on numerous occasions.

In the apologetic world, these questions are described as “The Problem of Evil”. The problem of evil is not new; it has been wrestled with by theologians and philosophers for thousands of years. The problem of evil is often cited by atheists as evidence that God does not exist. This argument used by atheists gained worldwide attention in 1955 when J.L. Mackie formalized the age-old argument, first developed by Epicurus, in an attempt to disprove the existence of God. Mackie stated, “In its simplest form the problem is this: God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists. There seems to be some contradiction between these three propositions, so that if any two of them were true the third would be false.”[1]

Mackie’s argument resonated with an increasingly secular culture and theologians once again began to wrestle with the problem of evil. For a moment, it appeared that Mackie had delivered a crushing blow to Christianity. Then Alvin Plantinga, a Christian philosopher, responded to Mackie’s argument, silencing atheists around the world. Plantinga’s 1977 book God, Freedom, and Evil exposed Mackie’s flawed arguments on the world stage.

In Plantinga’s book he demonstrates that the best possible logical world is one where redemption is possible. For redemption to be possible, a creature with freewill must exist. If a freewill exists, the capacity to rebel must be possible.[2] Rebellion against a wholly good God is evil. In turn, we are living in the best possible world that could ever be created. God created humanity understanding the costs. One day a debt would have to be paid, and He was willing to pay it. Someday evil will be dealt with once and for all. Someday suffering will cease. That is the promise that the omnipotent God of the Bible gives us.

Plantinga’s free-will argument did more than just prove Mackie’s argument was wrong. He demonstrated that Mackie’s argument failed by its own standard of logic. Plantinga argued that if God had a morally sufficient reason for allowing evil to enter the world, the whole logical problem Mackie proposed collapses under its own weight. Basically, Mackie had to prove that God could not have a good reason for allowing evil to exist. No human has ever been able to make that case sufficiently. Once the door is cracked open on God having a good reason for permitting evil, the claim that God and evil are logically incompatible totally falls apart.

The argument between Mackie and Plantinga is pretty dense for the average Christian, but it is important to understand and use wisely. I have found spouting philosophy to grieving people rarely works. In moments of pain, it is often best to just be there for people. Jesus, knowing all the answers, was still willing to weep in the moment of his friend’s pain (John 11:35). It is that type of compassion that changes people, causes them to look deeper, and to explore where a love like that could stem from. Preparing yourself with good philosophy before times of pain can help you deal with it and for those who were not prepared, know that those philosophical questions will someday come. Then you can answer them wisely.

Ultimately, when I think about pain, suffering, and evil I no longer wonder why would God allow this. I am now in awe of a God that does allow freewill, who wants a relationship with us so badly that He would allow us to mess up and pay the cost for us. That is the crazy love of the one true God of the Bible. That is the life-changing message of the gospel. That is, indeed, good news.

[1] J. L. Mackie, “Evil and Omnipotence,” Mind 64, no. 254 (April 1955): 200.

[2] Alvin Plantinga, God, Freedom, and Evil (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 30–53.