Thursday, April 28, 2011

Evil a Problem?

The so called "problem of evil" and the reality of human suffering has long been used by some as proof that God does not exists; or if He does exist He is either not good or not all powerful. But atheists and agnostics are not the only ones who struggle with evil and suffering, many Christians seem to believe that their own suffering is a sign of God's displeasure with them or His inability or unwillingness to help them. In his little book A Primer on Apologetics John Gerstner attacks these charges head on and provides wise counsel for those dealing with evil and suffering. He begins by saying:

"So evil is bad and against God's nature but its existing must be good for the purpose God has. So the evil is bad but not the good God brings out of it. He could not bring good out of evil without evil's existing. So it is good that evil exists though evil as existing is bad. This is the divine method, not divine madness. God has seeming pleasure with evil but actual displeasure with evil. His pleasure is only in what comes out of it and therefore ultimately has pleasure in evil's existing. So God has no pleasure in evil; but more properly and fully stated, God has pleasure in evil-existing-for-the-good-God-would-bring-out-of-it"

He is saying that what we often deem as "evil" is on the one hand bad because it violates God's law and nature but that its existence is good since God uses evil to bring about good. He then argues that since evil is part of God's plan for good that evil does not actually exist. He says:

"This is what I mean by saying that evil does not, cannot, exist. It is all a seeming. Whatever God brings to pass is good. Everything that happens God brings to pass. Or, whatever happens is God's ordaining. Nothing not of God's ordaining ever has, ever does, or ever shall come to pass. In all the vast expanse of time and space there is no time, no space, for evil to be."

That is to say that what we experience as "evil" is not evil at all since God ordained it to bring about good in us and for us; this is what he means when he says that "It is all seeming." The word seeming is the key; we experience it as evil but it is good because God ordained it to bring about some good. Having address the problem of evil (which he calls "The non-problem of evil") he goes on to practically address how this relates to human suffering.

"What of suffering? I ask, What of suffering? You expostulate: That is certainly evil, isn't it? I reply: O course not. It is good, perfectly good, the best, the very best. There would be evil only if there were no evil in this universe of ours. We know there is no evil in suffering because God ordains it (we know this because it happens)...If we do concur in suffering, however, we cannot suffer. Those who approve of suffering, because God approves of suffering, are moral persons and moral persons are free from suffering, of from the pain of 'pain.' They know that such 'pain' is good and are glad to have it. Pain is joyful only for those who deserve it ans that makes the righteous rejoice."

He concludes this discussion with these words. As you walk through this world with Christ, contemplate these words and measure yourself in order to see how you handle suffering and evil.

"Who is the fool? The one who seeks relief but is happy even when he doesn't find it, of the one who seeks relief but is miserable when he doesn't find it?...You hang in there because you'll not give up your misery easily. You say that I must be a masochist who enjoys suffering when it is you who are a hypochondriac. I enjoy not suffering. I have no 'pain' that I cannot spare. Is that so bad? The masochist is miserable, he admits, but will not let his misery go. I gladly let my misery go. I don't even let it stay because I know that all that comes comes from God and is good for me. There is not evil coming the moral man's way. He knows it. There isn't any evil coming the immoral man's way, but he doesn't know it, or at least admit it."

To God be the Glory

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