The Mystery of Moral Evil, Part 2: A Rational Inquiry
Is the existence of moral evil compatible with belief in the existence of the Christian God? Those who answer “no” insist that it is irrational to believe in God in the face of the existence of moral evil. They contend that if God were all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, he would be able to, would know how to, and would want to eliminate evil. Yet, evil exists. Therefore, God must not exist, and to believe that he does is irrational.
Suppose we could refute that last claim? Still there would be a piece missing. Although there would be a certain intellectual comfort in knowing that it is rational to believe in God’s existence, even in the face of profound moral evil, such knowledge alone would not heal the heart. When loved ones are lost or made lame by means of bitter brutality and insane injustice, something inside of us burns savagely and then settles into a silent rage. It is the “Great Sadness” that Mackenzie carried with him after his daughter Missy was murdered in
“Isn’t that your complaint, Mackenzie?” [queried the heavenly messenger] “That God has failed you? That he failed Missy? That before the Creation, God knew that Missy would be brutalized, and still he created? And then he allowed that twisted soul to snatch her from your loving arms when he had the power to stop him? Isn’t God to blame?”
Finally, [Mackenzie] said it, louder than he intended, and pointed his finger right at her. “Yes! God is to blame!” The accusation hung in the air as the gavel fell in his heart (
After all, God created this mess, didn't he? But if God is to blame for evil, then God cannot be good, and the Christian God is a fantasy. So it is at this point where we must dig a little deeper.
Few would dispute that a world of goodness and order is better than a world of evil and chaos. However, only free moral agents can do moral good. For example, most would agree that love is the highest moral good. Love that is coerced, however, is not love at all. Therefore, a morally good world, a world in which love is the highest expression of goodness, must consist of people with moral freedom. But that freedom grants the power to make unloving and evil choices as well. Therefore, the presence of good actually implies the possibility of evil.
But how can God create a good world unless he also creates moral agents who are free to choose – to choose what is good or to choose what is evil? The only other option is for God to create a world without freedom, a world of organic robots. But such a world could not be called good. Goodness and love require freedom, and freedom entails the possibility of choosing wrongly. In his almighty power, infinite wisdom, and immeasurable excellence, God created the best possible world, a world in which people are free to love God and follow his ways, or to reject God and do evil. Evil, then, is not the result of any defect in God. It is the result of the poor choices of free people that God in his goodness lovingly created. Consequently, the existence of moral evil in the world is indeed logically compatible with belief in the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, and all-loving Christian God.
We could end here and simply say “So there!” However, when it comes to the impact of moral evil on the core of our being, the heart speaks louder than the head. When we are the victims, what do the grief, the rage, and the cry for justice that reflexively pour from our depths tell us about ourselves, the world we live in, and the God who has made it? We will consider the resolution of these questions in our next post.
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Blessings,
Arnie Gentile
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Posted by Arnie Gentile at 8/19/2009 6:36 PM 
Categories: The Problem of Evil
Tags: Christian Apologetics
Categories: The Problem of Evil
Tags: Christian Apologetics
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