December 13, 2003
ALL THE EVIL?:
The Problem of Evil (Benjamin D. Wiker, December 2003, Crisis)
[I]f we were all suddenly given the power to eliminate evil and make the universe right again, each in accordance with his or her own list, we would very quickly end up in a chaotic and destructive free-for-all far worse than the condition we were trying to escape. The only way to avoid such chaos would be to lay aside all our differing opinions and figure out exactly what things are evil.But here we run into yet another problem. Not only are we confused about what is evil. We are also unaware of how much of a problem evil is; that is, we don’t truly see how deep and pervasive are the evils that actually afflict us.
Imagine the following: We, bemoaning all the evil in the world, cry out that we cannot believe God exists. No sooner has the conclusion escaped our lips than God abruptly appears. Of course, being God, He is not only all-powerful and so can remove all the evils, but He is all-knowing and so can see all the evils.
“Do you wish me to remove all the evil from the world?” God asks.
“Yes! Yes! Please do!” we cry.
“ALL the evil?” He asks again, leaning forward and looking straight through our eyes and into our hidden depths.
Well, we don’t really know about all the evil, do we? We begin rummaging around nervously within. Oh dear! Unkind words, unfulfilled promises, nagging resentments, and a thousand other failures in everyday charity. Sins of our youth, sins yet to be committed, sins of omission. The new clothes, new car, theater tickets, baubles, and toys we bought even while we knew that the money could have saved a thousand lives or made the poverty of a thousand more lives bearable. Even more frightening, what of the sins hidden even from us?
“ALL the evil?” He repeats yet a third time.
Under the omniscient gaze, we are made rather keenly aware that somehow all the evil in the world is not out there, and that we hadn’t really considered, in our cry of the heart, the evil within the very heart that cries. The problem with suddenly getting rid of all evil is that (at least in this imaginative exercise) we are making such a request to an all-powerful, all-knowing Being, and hence we’re likely to be caught in the very dragnet that we bid God to cast. This is all the more frightening given that we are often oblivious to the faults in ourselves that others find so painfully obvious.
In attending to omniscience, we’ve stumbled upon an oft-neglected aspect of the problem of evil. We generally focus on the problem of evil as if it were merely a problem of power. That is, we look to the heavens and cry, “Why don’t you do something?” or we look dejectedly down at the earth, shake our heads, and mutter, “If there were a God, he would have done something about this. And you wonder why I’m an atheist!”
But the problem of evil is not one that could be solved by power alone. Power exercised in the elimination of evil devoid of the penetrating knowledge that can accurately identify evil, root and branch, is either chaotic or ineffective. It is chaotic if it is governed by confusion about what is evil; it is ineffective if it does not get to the hidden roots of evil.
Again, we see the necessity of God insofar as we have discovered the necessity for divine wisdom. As we have seen, our disagreements about evil can only be settled by determining what things actually are evil. But that would take a divine-like mind, a mind that adheres unerringly to truth by its very nature and is not swayed by the passion-driven storms of human partiality. Further, we must admit that evil must be eliminated at the very roots, and for this, once again, we will need an omniscient being who won’t let us hide the evils within us, evils that would have to be eliminated if the world is to receive more than an ineffective whitewashing.
Why is there Evil in the world? Because we are in the world. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 13, 2003 6:18 AM
God designed it in?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at December 13, 2003 3:31 PMYes, when he designed us--it's central to what it is to be mortal.
Posted by: oj at December 13, 2003 3:41 PMThere was a short story in the "Inquestor" cycle where a High Inquestor is asked to remove evil from a world. He does it by turning the entire population in to computer controlled zombies.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at December 13, 2003 6:28 PMI finally read James Blish's Case of Conscience, in which a Jesuit is with a team exploring a planet where using reason alone the inhabitants behave perfectly morally. But, of course, because it's via the absolute application of reason there seems no free will involved.
Posted by: oj at December 13, 2003 8:37 PMIn response to a headline in the Sunday Times (in the mid-20s), Chesterton wrote a letter - "What's wrong with the world? I am."
Posted by: jim hamlen at December 13, 2003 9:09 PMWhy?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at December 13, 2003 11:04 PM"Why do you wonder that good men are shaken to make them strong? No tree stands firm and sturdy if it is not buffeted by constant wind; the very stresses cause it to stiffen and fix its roots firmly. Trees that have grown in a sunny vale are fragile. It is therefore to the advantage of good men, and it enables them to live without fear, to be on terms of intimacy with danger and to bear a fortune that is ill only to him who bears it ill..."But," you object, "many things which are sad and dreadful and hard to bear do happen." Because I could not make you evade their assault, I have given your minds armor to withstand them; bear them with fortitude."
Seneca
Posted by: carl at December 14, 2003 10:26 AMYes, but why did He set it up that way?
And that does not apply to all creation. Not to eyebrow mites, for example. Why did He exempt them?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at December 14, 2003 3:29 PMHarry:
What other way is there to set it up? If you don't have a choice between good and evil then there's no possibility of behaving well, as mites and the other creatures not made in His image show.
Posted by: OJ at December 14, 2003 3:35 PMHarry:
Putting that another way, why does the proposition that there are essential differences between humans and mites bother you?
Posted by: Peter B at December 14, 2003 5:20 PMIf by essence you mean soul, I don't believe there is any difference between me and the mites in my eyebrows.
Presumably, he could have set it up differently, Orrin, and according to the Scriptures I read, he did. So if you're saying He couldn't have, you've just junked the OT.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at December 14, 2003 8:50 PMThe OT is wonderfully eloquent on the presumption of your even asking the question: Job">http://www.bartleby.com/108/18/38.html>Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel
by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man;
for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?
Or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?
Or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 when the morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors,
when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof,
and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
10 and brake up for it my decreed place,
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further:
and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? Jer. 5.22
12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days;
and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal;
and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light is withholden,
and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?
Or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?
Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?
Declare if thou knowest it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwelleth?
And as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 that thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,
and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born?
or because the number of thy days is great?
22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?
Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23 which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted,
which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters,
or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26 to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is;
on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 to satisfy the desolate and waste ground;
and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28 Hath the rain a father?
Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice?
And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Plei'ades,
or loose the bands of Ori'on? Job. 9.9 · Amos 5.8
32 Canst thou bring forth Maz'zaroth in his season?
Or canst thou guide Arctu'rus with his sons?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,
that abundance of waters may cover thee?
35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go,
and say unto thee, Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?
Or who hath given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom?
Or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38 when the dust groweth into hardness,
and the clods cleave fast together?
39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion?
or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they couch in their dens,
and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provideth for the raven his food?
When his young ones cry unto God,
they wander for lack of meat.
Yeah, who?
But in the Garden of Eden, there was no evil, and, granting free will, even the Almighty couldn't be sure that the Serpent would have preferred glory over an idle life; that Eve would be so gullible; or that Adam would be so weak-minded.
I agree, Paradise would have been a duller place had its inhabitants been less restless, but that does not show that the world could not have been invented to have been dull. Or even that it could not have been livelier without evil.
The price of admission is awfully high, isn't it?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at December 15, 2003 4:49 PMOf course there was evil, there was the temptation to know too much too soon.
The price though seems well worth paying--our quest to understand, despite our current inability, is our glory.
Posted by: oj at December 15, 2003 4:58 PM