The Problem of Evil

Well, it looks like another exciting day on the campaign trail. John McCain doesn't want Hagee's endorsement anymore because Hagee said something that wasn't exactly PC. "Adolf Hitler was fulfilling God's will." Astounding on many levels... to people who may fall on both sides of the fence. But forget about the theological tit-for-tat that could follow for one minute. There's a deeper truth here.

Why is it offensive to think that Hitler was fulfilling God's will? Because the atrocities that Hitler and the Nazis committed were horrible. They were despicable. They may even be called downright evil. But for now, let's just call them wrong. So what are the implications?

The "Problem of Evil" has been a charge leveled against believers for centuries. They say, "If God exists, why is there so much evil in the world? Or so much pain, suffering, and injustice? " They jump to the conclusion that God could not possibly exist.

Many start to respond to this question with "well, God made humans with a free will and therefore allowed the possibility of evil, etc. etc." And a valid point that is; with lots of explanation that we could delve into. But, Aha! What about natural disasters? Hurricane Katrina, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, the earthquake in China? Those are not the products of free will, no human is involved. So God, if he exists, must be responsible for causing these disasters. But a good God would not allow such pain and suffering. Therefore, no God exists. This too, has a valid theistic response, which I'll set aside.

For now, I'd like to call your attention to the underlying premise in both of these objections. That is, that we can recognize good and evil, right and wrong. We can agree that what Hitler did was wrong. But how do we know what wrong is? It would be wrong for a good God to cause pain, suffering, and death with natural disasters. But how do we know what's required of a good God?

We just know. (gee, good answer Chris). No seriously, this is not a case of subjective opinion determining what is good or bad. There are some things that we know are right, or wrong. This is because of what is called the Moral Law. The Moral Law is an objective standard of right or wrong, good or bad against which things are measured.

So how do we know there really is a Moral Law? Here's several ways:

1. We know by our reactions. Any time we think we've been treated "unfairly" we're appealing to a standard of right behavior that we think others should conform to.

2. It is the basis of human rights. For example, the Nuremburg trials proved that there is a greater standard to which the Nazis were held accountable.

3. It is the basis for making moral comparisons. For example, we know that Mother Teresa was better than Hitler.

4. If we can agree that there is even one thing that is absolutely wrong, at any time, in any place, then there must be an objective moral law.

5. If there were no Moral Law, we wouldn't make excuses for violating it.

OK, there's a Moral Law, "so what?" The "so what" is that a Moral Law requires an author, a Moral Law giver. So, the existence of God is presupposed in the question of the Problem of Evil because it assumes that we can identify acts as right or wrong, good or bad. So the Problem of Evil is a bigger problem for the atheist.