The Problem of Evil

The problem of evil is pressing. Because of events like the Holocaust, in which human beings are so blinded to the suffering of others on such a massive scale, I believe there is an active intelligence to evil. This is the kind of thing that is so horrible it is supernatural. Genocide, torture, violence, terror continue in the world, and the problem is: why does God allow it to happen?

Any answer will be incomplete. Job, when faced with the loss of his property, his family, and his health, demands from God to know what he has done to deserve these punishments. The narrator tells us that in fact Job has done nothing wrong. In the climax of the book, God answers Job rather indirectly, asking if Job is capable of taming the great creatures or controlling the sea. Job humbly retreats, but the question remains: why did this happen to Job?

First, natural disasters are not evil in the way that human actions can be. The creation is a gift of God to us, but it’s not limited to that. The creation has its own purposes and its own processes. In other words, the world does not revolve around us; the pain and loss we may suffer is not personal or directed at us because of our actions. Similarly, disease and disability are not punishments for sin. Clearly, a gray area arises when the tragedies that afflict us are ones that we cause ourselves, for example global warming on a large scale, or a car accident caused by a reckless driver. But even in these cases, the suffering may or may not be proportional to the sin—as punishment—but only a consequence of it.

Evil, on the other hand, is not a natural process but a human capacity. In the Garden of Eden, Genesis tells us, Eve and then Adam each eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. This step from innocence to insight is a decisive one with ambiguous results. Because we can choose between good and evil, some people will choose evil. But what makes this necessary is the fact that God wants us to freely choose the good. Without the real ability to choose evil, the decision to choose good is equally unreal, and our relationship with God would be as immature as it was with Adam and Eve before their expulsion.

The next question is, though, if God is all-powerful and is good at the same time, shouldn’t God step in when there are cases of egregious evil? I’m not sure. First of all, it seems to me that God is not responsible for our action. While the Holocaust is an unthinking horror, it is also a human act. Second, this kind of evil suggests that God is not all-powerful, and I believe this is by self-limiting choice. The salvation of the entire creation is a long-term project, and God takes subtle action through the transformation of hearts and minds, not through sudden violence. It is when we harden our hearts to God, and thereby harden our hearts to our fellow humans – God’s beloved children – that we leave ourselves open to violent, dehumanizing, blinding forces of evil.