I woke up in my Denver motel today and watched TV while eating my complimentary breakfast. News of devastating weather, random traffic accidents (why they feel compelled to show clips of people getting maimed or killed by out of control motorists is beyond me), and fatal stabbings after some damn football game last night in Denver put me in a surly frame of mind. Skip this post if you want more photos of cool art. They'll come later. Today (at 8:30 in the AM) I wax philosophic as I enjoy Colorado scenery during my 32 hour trip to more museums in Sacramento (then stops in San Francisco, Portland, and beyond).
The problem of evil is nicely summarized by this bumper sticker, "God is love. God is powerful. Evil exists. Pick two."
New atheists would have us believe that the problem of evil is the nail in the coffin to theism. And to be honest, Christian, not to mention Jewish, apologists have grappled with this issue for millennia. Having read a good number of those writers, and having written about this subject myself as an amature theologian (my master's thesis was on this topic), I sympathize with attempts to untangle this theological conundrum.
To be frank, I do not believe an answer exists. I have yet to discover a theodicy that works. Apologetic arguments run from the ridiculous to the sublime but not one that I know of makes the problem go away.
Since I'm not willing to become an atheist I must somehow live with this nagging bumper sticker. Here is how I am making peace with the problem of evil.
My #1 observation about the problem of evil is that it's not as problematic as detractors of faith in a providential God would have us believe. The problem of evil has existed for as long as benevolent monotheism and yet the number of believers continues to grow. Believing Jews are exemplar in this regard. They live with a holocaust. Either believers are deluded, irrational, and in denial, or the problem isn't quite the death knell to faith unbelievers claim. If that bumper sticker was a slam dunk we'd all become atheists. And since believers continue to believe there must be something at work which propels faith beyond the rational quandary posed by that bumper sticker.
My #2 observation about the problem of evil is the relativity of evil.
Natural disasters. Stepping in a mud puddle is irritating but not evil. Being splashed with mud by a passing motorist, if intentional, is somewhat evil. A flood that destroys one's house and all of one's possessions is evil, and a tsunami resulting in loss of life is a horrendous evil. The same goes for fires, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and meteor showers.
Medical disasters. A paper cut, mild headache, and sunburn are irritations but not evil. Debilitating migraines, paraylysis, and chronic pain are evil. Death of a child, random accidents, and unredeeming suffering (suffering that offers no possible benefit to the sufferer) are horrendous evils.
Social disasters. Lying about Santa Claus, playing harmless practical jokes, and cutting in line may be inadvisable but are not evil. Gossip, slander, cruelty are evil. Abuse, murder, and genocide are horrendous evils.
Religious disasters. Boring sermons, monotonous traditions, and fattening pot lucks are repellant but not evil. Judgmentalism, shaming, pressure tactics, and guilt mongering are evil. Holy wars, witch trials, inquisitions, and baptizing at knife point are horrendous evils.
Animal disasters. A scratch from a playful kitty hurts but isn't evil. A cat who toys with a mouse before eating it is (for the mouse) evil. A parasite that lives off its host by slowly digesting it from the inside out is more than gross. It is evil. And what of the poor Bambi burned alive in a wild fire? Google animal suffering if you dare.
Acknowledging the relativity of evil belies our innate sense of justice which, Christians argue, is a mark of imago dei. Our unavoidable habit of evaluating levels of evil is a strange habit indeed if there are no moral absolutes.
My #3 observation about the problem of evil is that without this problem we all become nihilists. If nature and history are determined by genetics, chance, probability, or randomness we have no sound rationale to fight evil. Might makes right, the fittest survive, and choosing one's purpose is arbitrary. Benevolent atheists can choose to become philanthropic and humanitarian but who is to say a malevolent atheist (Mao, Pol Pot, Lenin) has chosen poorly?
My #4 observation about the problem of evil is that it keeps us honest. It is for this reason I love Ecclesiastes and why I balk at popular evangelical reinterpretations which attempt to defang Qohelet's doubts. Every Christian can site examples of answered prayers, special providences, and miraculous deliverances. Those are the hits. What few evangelicals acknowledge (other than Qohelet) are the misses--the unanswered prayers, the bizarre and pointless acts of depravity, and the random acts of violence, stupidity, devastation, and oppression. It's a sure bet neither I or Qohelet are going to be invited to any easy breezy televangelist show soon.
My #5 and final (for now) observation about the problem of evil is its role in a life of faith. It takes no faith to believe 2+2=4. That fact is self evident. The goodness and power of God are not self evident when we watch TV news. And since faith is germaine to all human endeavor, whether doing scientific research, choosing a school or major or spouse, or riding a train in Colorado, it stands to reason that our connection to the ineffable, the unseen, the transcendent also requires faith. In my moments of weak faith, and I have plenty, I'm haunted by Jesus' question, "When I come back will I find anyone with faith"? Curiously he did not say love. The problem of evil fuels my faith.
Okay, enough of this. Back to sight seeing in the beautiful Colorado Rockies.
Bookmarking this one.
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