by Rod on August 23, 2010
Good Does Not Equal Happiness
For the record, I believe happiness is a good thing. I just had a happy week-end with friends at the Brudenell River Resort on Prince Edward island. Great friends we don’t get to see much anymore and tons of kids running around enjoying themselves… It was a good thing and I wish all week-ends (and week days too!) could be happy times. However, what is ‘good’ does not always bring happiness.
Most of us think of God as someone who should do for us what is good. One of the main issues we have with the idea that God allows the existence of evil is that we assume God should be obligated to conform to our definition of good…which would be to give us pleasure and allow us to avoid pain. The problem is, according to Christian doctrine, that’s not what God has in mind when he defines what is good.
The number one good, according to Christianity, is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That is what Christian doctrine teaches as the way we fulfill our ultimate purpose in life and realize what we were created for. If this relationship is what’s needed for true fulfillment, joy and peace…would preventing all pain and keeping humans in a state of pleasure help or hurt our chances of making a decision to follow Christ? If we were living a life without pain and suffering, would we feel the same need for God, or would more people miss out on what we were created for? If I was experiencing no pain or suffering and was basically satisfied with my life, I’m not so sure I would realize that I needed that relationship with God.
God Places Greater Value on Things Other Than Happiness
It seems that according to God, freedom, choice, and refining/growing/maturing both in ourselves and in our relationships with God and others are more important than pleasure.
Dr. William Craig likes to use the following analogy: We are NOT God’s pets that He placed in His terrarium here on Earth where He is obligated to do all He can to give us what we want to keep us happy. We are a lot more than that. ‘Happiness’ is not God’s goal for us. Ultimate peace and fulfillment and joy, however, is what He wants for us. This comes from a freely chosen relationship with Him. Freedom can not be found if the potential for evil is eradicated. A moral world is impossible without suffering. We cannot grow in our relationship with God or into stronger and better individuals without negative experiences.
God’s meaning of good is one of the keys in coming to an understanding, incomplete as it may be, of the reason why evil and suffering exist. Good does not equal happiness, as much as we would like all of our troubles in this world to disappear.
Getting a root canal to fix a toothache is a ‘good’ thing. So is eating brussel sprouts. Suffering can make us stronger and allow us to help someone else go through the same troubles. It can also draw us closer to ultimate human fulfillment in a right relationship with God. Evil and suffering are not incompatible with God’s desire to do what is ‘good’ for us…something that I for one need to remember when I’m not so happy with my own situation.
The other side of the Christian story is that our choices in this life will eventually lead to the eternal joy and peace and fulfillment that God wants for us. That sounds like a future state of happiness to me…we just can’t expect constant happiness along the way. According to the God I believe in, that’s not what’s best for us anyway.
I’m away again next week-end, so it may be another two weeks before I post again. Stay tuned and we’ll talk a bit more about freedom and growth and Christianity’s explanation of the existence of evil. Don’t forget to look to the right margin and ‘like’ my Rational Faith Facebook page…but only if you like it!
Make it a great week!
Pic From 1life MTO Student Ministries
Evil and Suffering: Argument Against the Existence of God
The existence of evil and suffering is the biggest argument against God’s existence…why would a good God allow evil and suffering to exist?
There is lots of speculation as to why He would allow evil and suffering. We can come up with possible explanations that make sense in a lot of cases, but there are many times we can see no possible reason why something bad happened, or the reasons we do come up with are unsatisfying. Especially when something is happening to you…it’s a lot easier to see a logical connection to reasons for suffering when it’s someone else that is going through the pain.
We will be discussing some of these possible reasons for suffering in future posts. As for now, I want to talk about those times we don’t see any reason for it…why would anyone still believe in a good God if He allows suffering for no reason we can see?
Doesn’t the very existence of senseless suffering and evil make you question the existence of God?
Well, here’s how I look at this question…
If all we had to go on was the suffering and evil in the world, and we knew nothing else about God, it would look pretty bad. I would have trouble believing in the existence of God with that kind of evidence…
But that’s not all we have to go on. This blog, for the past several months has been talking about a variety of evidences for the existence of God…the Cosmological Argument, the Moral Argument, The Argument From Design…there are a lot of reasons to believe that God exists, and that He’s a personal God.
In future posts, we will also talk about history, the bible, Jesus and the resurrection…there is a lot of quality information that tells us a lot about God. There is good reason to believe in a good God who has our best interest at heart.
I believe the evidence for a good, personal God who works in humankind’s best interest far outweighs the negative evidence from the problem of evil and suffering in the world. I can’t explain all of the evil and suffering. No one can. A lot of smart thinkers have come up with many potential explanations for much of it, but I don’t think anyone can explain every act of evil or incidence of suffering.
Neither do I think any human, no matter how intelligent, is in a position to accurately assess whether God has morally sufficient reasons to permit the evil and suffering that He does. I’m certainly not in that position. The only one who is in a position to be able to judge that is God Himself. Based on the evidence for an all knowing, all powerful and loving God who has our best interest at heart, I have to accept that He knows what He’s doing…which means that I accept that there are things I don’t understand. One of them is evil and suffering in the world that seems to be random and senseless.
I assume from what I already know about God that He has morally sufficient reasons for allowing the evil and suffering that we don’t understand.
I believe there are many things we will never understand fully about an all powerful, all knowing God. But I also believe He has revealed enough to us through His creation, His Son Jesus, and His Word (the Bible), that we have sufficient evidence for His existence and His goodness and our need for Him.
Over the next few weeks we will discuss some potential reasons why God may allow evil and suffering to exist. I hope to see you back!
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Have a Wonderful Day!
The Problem of Evil and the Existence of God
Atheists will argue that the evidence for the existence of God we’ve been discussing over the last several months is insufficient. However, if an atheist makes the statement that God does not exist, and I disagree, they need arguments to prove their point as well. It’s not enough to say the arguments against your position are insufficient…you must have something to say to prove your own point as well. Most atheists would prefer to sit back and say they are unconvinced by the deist’s arguments, but there are some who develop arguments of their own. One such argument involves The Problem of Evil.
This is one of the best arguments for the non-existence of God. It deals with the co-existence of a loving God and the horrific evils we see in the world around us. Philosophers and theologians often use the term: The Problem of Evil…and it can not be denied that we live in a world where seemingly gratuitous and senseless evil occurs all the time.
Two Problems of Evil
In addressing this question, there are two main problems we have to consider. Each of them must be approached in different ways.
- The intellectual problem of evil.
- The emotional problem of evil.
The intellectual problem of evil can be further broken down into two main areas:
- Coexistence of God and evil is illogical.
- Coexistence of God and evil is improbable.
The intellectual problem of evil is about whether or not it makes logical sense that God and suffering can and do coexist. Proving it’s illogical is very difficult. Arguments to show it’s improbable are much easier for atheists to formulate.
The emotional problem of evil, however, is likely to be the real issue with most people. Rather than a discussion about the logical co-existence of God and evil, this is about not wanting anything to do with a God who would permit the seemingly senseless suffering that occurs in the world.
The intellectual problem of evil and emotional problem of evil are different questions and can not be approached the same way. One is about philosophical and logical arguments, and the other is about disliking a God who would let them suffer…and make no mistake, if God exists (as I believe He does) he does let people suffer.
The intellectual question addresses whether it is logical that he He has sufficient reason to allow suffering and still maintain His omnibenevolent (all-loving) and omnipotent (all-powerful) characteristics. Even if someone believes that He does have sufficient moral reason, it doesn’t follow that they will necessarily come to accept Him.
Practical Responses to Suffering
The practical day to day response to someone who is suffering is not to show them dry textbook answers as to why it’s plausible that God would allow them to suffer…unless you want to appear to be a complete jerk. There may be the odd person that finds comfort in intellectual conversations about evil in times of suffering, but they are rare. More often than not, all you can do is be there and offer a shoulder to cry on.
If someone is suffering, answers to the intellectual problem of evil may give some comfort had they already studied the material before the event…but during a time of suffering is very poor timing to introduce the subject. Knowledge of the doctrine of God and of Christ will also be very helpful to the suffering believer…Christian doctrine clearly teaches that God cares when we suffer and is there to comfort us…and that Christ can also relate to us in our suffering because we can experience nothing that Christ hasn’t already experienced as well.
So…in order for someone to come to grips with accepting a God who would let you suffer, first we have to discuss the logicality and plausibility of a loving God who still allows suffering to exist.
You may have heard the problem of evil put this way:
- If God is all-loving (omnibenevolent), He would want to eliminate the problem of evil.
- If God is all-powerful (omnipotent), He would be able to eliminate the problem of evil.
- Evil exists.
Therefore God either:
- Does not exist
- Is not all-loving because he allows evil to exist when he could stop it.
- Is not all-powerful and can not stop evil even if He wants to.
The dilemma attempts to show that the loving, powerful Christian God cannot logically exist. However, this is a false dilemma. The existence of evil does not require a God who doesn’t care or who can’t do anything about the presence of evil.
There’s a third option:
A God who cares and can (and will) put an end to evil, but has good reasons to allow evil and suffering to exist for a time.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be discussing these issues surrounding the problem of evil. It should be interesting…and it will not be an exhaustive conversation by any means, so take a look at some of the sites in the resources section of Rational Faith Online and you’ll find lots of material on the subject.
Defending Christianity…
Before we get into the discussion about “the most difficult question for Christians and the biggest, most legitimate reason non-Christians can give as to why they choose not to believe in the Christian God” that I mentioned last week, I want to take a few minutes to discuss something even more important.
While the Bible teaches that a Christian should be able to defend his or her faith and give reasonable and rational answers to anyone who asks them why they believe what they do (1 Peter 3:15)… this is not the main focus of the Christian faith … Jesus is.
That’s not to say that rational answers are not important… Christians have many examples of how appealing to proofs and rational arguments in defending Christianity is clearly demonstrated in the New Testament:
- The apostles and Gospel writers appealed to Jesus’ miracles, resurrection and fulfilled prophecy to prove He was the Messiah.
- Paul appealed to natural theology, creation, and to witnesses of the resurrected Jesus.
- Jesus Himself appealed to His own miracles and prophecy that was fulfilled in His own life. He also appealed to His own resurrection before it even happened as future proof that He was who He claimed to be.
However…no matter how many rational arguments we use in defending Christianity from the critics or explaining to faith seekers why we believe what we do, the main focus of Christianity is still the person of Jesus and having a personal relationship with Him. Whether you are a Christian defending your faith, or a seeker looking for truth, we all need to realize what Christianity really is all about: the person and life of Christ.
The Message of Jesus Christ
God created us in a perfect world…but with the freedom to choose to love and obey Him, or to reject and disobey. The first humans decided to disobey, and since then every one of us is born with the inclination to do the same. Inclinations soon turn into sinful actions. This rejection and disobedience breaks our relationship with God.
God is Holy and cannot tolerate sin, but He is loving and does not want anyone to be separated from Him, so He created a plan of reconciliation. Because of His holiness, His plan required a sinless, blameless, voluntary sacrifice. One that could love even those that rejected and tortured Him. Love them so much that he would be willing to take all of their sins on Himself and pay the price of their sin for them. Then we would no longer have to pay the price and remain separated from God…we could be reconciled with Him.
Jesus Christ willingly died for us so we could be reconciled with God and fix our broken relationship with Him. God arranged all of history surrounding the birth, life, and crucifixion of Christ. He is the the real message of Christianity…He is what all honest seekers are looking for…He is Truth.
I believe all of the other things I talk about in this blog are important in a lot of ways, or I wouldn’t take the time to write about them…but as a Christian, I have to remember that all of the logic and arguments in Defending Christianity, though important, should not be the focus of my faith. Jesus should.
He should also be our focus of discussion with others about our faith. Peter tells Christians to be ready to give reasons for their faith when they are asked…but the person doing the asking needs to know the gospel message before there is any real reason to defend it.
Christian Apologetics
Christian apologetics is about rational, historical, scientific, and philosophical arguments for the truth and validity of Christianity…it is about enabling a situation where the truth of Christianity is an intellectually acceptable idea amongst an increasingly skeptical culture…and we do have the tools to show that it is.
We just need to remember the reason why we want to show Christianity as a viable option: Because it leads to Jesus.
Soon we’ll start digging into ‘The Big Question’…if you haven’t figured it out, it’s what philosophers often call The Problem of Evil. This will probably take several posts and will still leave a lot of questions, so I encourage you to read more on the subject than what you’ll be getting from me on this blog. This will be one of the most common questions you get (and rightly so) if you are defending Christianity, and it’s probably one of the biggest questions you have if you are exploring the rationality of the Christian faith.
Until next time,
