I desired to learn more about the problem of evil as a refutation of the existence of God and some of the solutions put forth by numerous theists of varying stripes. To my dismay, much of what I found and read - scholarly articles and non-scholarly articles alike - was unhelpful. What I ended up coming across were endless philosophical proofs and arguments for and against the problem of evil. Seemingly the most common defense from the Christian side is to argue in some form for libertarian free will. To be sure, on a philosophical level, this argument does offer a solution to the problem. Yet, I am equally convinced it misses the point in some ways. In its most basic form, the problem of evil states that;
1. If an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient god exists, then evil does not.
2. There is evil in the world.
3. Therefore, an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient god does not exist.
Basically, that's what it argues at its simplest level. Despite premise one being solvable philosophically, I argue that this is an off the rails adventure of missing the point, for some major reasons.
First, with a tip of the cap to presuppostional apologetics, the terms "good" and "evil" can't even be used without the existence of an objective unchangeable standard for what constitutes such things. Namely, the God of the bible, who gives these terms objective definition.
Second, theologically, the existence of the problem of evil argument at all shows clearly the law of God written on the hearts of all people everywhere; as unbelievers reject God on the basis of things that God alone can define in an objective manner. Hence, why do these persons even object when their rejection of God, by definition, makes good and evil wholly subjective? If this be the case, according to their own worldview, these terms themselves are nothing more than preferences and subjective opinion, which reduces their arguments to nothing more than irrational mumbo jumbo - that is, if their worldview is correct.
Get it? The argument of the problem of evil not only presupposes that "good" and "evil" are real, but for them to be real, it also presupposes the existence of God: the very thing it seeks to disprove!
Whereas this response and argument shows clearly the irrationality of an atheistic worldview, it too, is not the point.
The point is Jesus. That may sound reductionistic and may be dismissed as unscholarly, but it is the Christian answer to this issue. How so? Because in the Incarnation of Christ, God Himself not only suffers, but also swallows up evil in Himself by dying on the cross. (Isa 53, 2Co 5:21)
You've suffered? God knows what that is like. Jesus suffered and died.
You've been wronged by evil? So has God. Read the Passion narrative in the Book of John.
Sadly, the mainstream Christian message being taught and heard today is not Christian at all. Jesus is viewed as a means to make your live better or to make us all happier. It's a therapeutic message, but it's not the Christian one. It's what Martin Luther (and Lutherans today!) would call a theology of glory. In stark opposition is the Christian theology of the cross.
Mankind and Satan brought evil into the world in the garden, but Christ has done all that is needed to solve it. He has borne our sins in His body on the tree. He has suffered, died, and risen.
With all due respect to Christian philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga and his free will defense as a philosophical solution to the problem of evil, their arguments steer us away from the cross and are thus nothing more than the triumph of reason and a theology of glory. Fun to read and dissect, but the world needs Christ suffering, dying, and rising for them.
Christ has done it all. The problem we brought to this world is solved fully and completely in Christ and His work.
+Pax+
