The Problem Of Suffering

November 20, 1998

by: Allan Turner

In dealing effectively with the question before us, it is first necessary to point out that, for the most part, suffering is the direct result of evil, whether it be moral or natural evil. Moral evil is the unrighteousness that occurs first in the hearts of free moral agents and then manifests itself in sinful deeds. Greed, hatred, selfishness, deceit, theft, lust, and envy are but a few examples of these immoral deeds. On the other hand, natural evil derives from either natural processes or a perversion thereof. Examples of the former would be flood, lightning, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, etc., all of which result in suffering and death. Examples of the latter would be genetic defects, diseases, insanity, famine, suffering, and death itself. Sometimes moral evil and natural evil may be combined in a single event. For example, murder is an illustration of moral evil on the part of the murderer which results in natural evil (i.e., death) for the victim.

The Problem Of Theodicy

The fact that there is so much suffering in the world presents us with a problem. The problem is, how is it possible for all the suffering and death that occurs in the world to take place, if the world is actually under the control of an all-good, all-powerful God? More specifically, how is our belief in the God of the Bible justified in view of all this suffering? The philosophers and theologians call this the “problem of theodicy.” The term “theodicy” comes from the combination of two Greek words (viz., theos = God, and dike = justice) that literally mean the “justification of God.” The problem is often stated like this: “You say God is both omnipotent and perfectly good. If so, there ought not to be any evil in the world, since your God would be both able and willing to prevent it. But there is evil in the world; so either there is no God, or he is not omnipotent, or he is not perfectly good” (Brian Hebblethwaite, Evil, Suffering and Religion, p. 60). In the space that follows, we will examine all three of these erroneous conclusions.

“There Is No God”

According to the Bible, “The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'” (Psalm 14:1). In syllogistic form, the atheist's moral argument looks like this:

1. If God were all-good, he would destroy evil.

2. If God were all-powerful, he could destroy evil.

3. But evil has not been destroyed.

4. Therefore, God does not exist.

Despite the popularity of this argument among atheists, this so-called “moral disproof” is, in fact, self-defeating. What do we mean by self-defeating? Well, if “destroy” means annihilate, then it should be obvious that God cannot destroy evil without destroying the vary basis for morality; namely, the free moral agent. Stated another way, as long as a free moral agent decides to do that which is evil, then the only way God could destroy evil would be to destroy the free moral agent's ability to make free moral choices. But if man is simply a robot with no free moral choice, then there is no moral problem. Why? Because, if such were the case, then there would be no basis for asking why God does not destroy the morally bad situation called evil.

On the other hand, if when the atheist says “destroy” he really means defeat, without eliminating free moral agency, then this argument still fails. In this argument, the atheist assumes that evil will never be defeated. But one could know this only if one were omniscient. Therefore, one would have to presume to be God in order to disprove God! Actually, once the time factor in premise # 3 of the syllogism is made explicit (viz., “3. But evil is not yet destroyed”), then there remains a possibility that God may yet defeat evil sometime in the future. This, of course, is exactly what the Bible says will happen—there is a day of reckoning that will bring about justice for all (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36; Acts 17:30,31; Romans 2:16; II Corinthians 5:9-11). In that day, Death and Hades, and, by implication, all pain and suffering, will be cast into hell (Revelation 20:11-15).