Theodicy: Answering the Problem of Evil

If Christians affirm the existence of an all-powerful and loving God, how can they explain the existence of evil in the universe? This page provides links to articles, including some by CADRE members, that answer that question.

• Answering the Problem of Evil.
  A series of transcripts from the Stand to Reason Radio Show, featuring Greg Koukl, that respond to the problem of evil. Good, basic material.
  
  
  
  1. A Good Reason for Evil -- What is evil? Could it have a purpose? Here is a view of evil from an adult rather than a childish perspecitve.

  2. Augustine on Evil -- Is God the author of evil or its helpless victim? St. Augustine's answer has been the most intellectually credible and emotionally satisfying solution to this vexing problem.

  3. Bosnia, Rape and the Problem of Evil -- Greg responds to a letter to the editor in which the writer's pain causes him to ask the age-old question of why God allows evil to exist.

  4. Complaints or Contentment? -- Does God owe us a perfect world? Your answer to that question will determine your ability to be content in this life. Greg discusses how two different responses to the untimely death of a teenager reveals two contrasting views prevalent the Christian world today...and which of them more closely reflects the biblical perspective.

  5. Euthyphro's Dilemma -- Plato's challenge concerning the nature of goodness is still being heard today: Is an act right because God says it's so, or does God say it's so because it's right?

  6. God Is Not Responsible -- Are people who commit crimes in the name of Christianity Christians?

  7. Hitler and Mother Teresa -- What kind of God would allow a Hitler to go to heaven if he believed in Jesus and a Mother Teresa to go to hell if she didn't?

  8. Is God Culpable for Evil He Knows Will Take Place? -- Why doesn't God save everybody?

  9. Sixty Second Theodicy -- How to respond to the problem of evil, neatly and quickly.

  10. The Strength of God & the Problem of Evil -- What makes you think the ability to take away evil from the world has anything to do with God's strength?

  
  
• The Craig-Nielson Debate: God, Morality, and Evil
  A debate between William Lane Craig and Kai Nielsen with annotations by William Lane Craig, held February 1991, at University of Western Ontario



• Eternal Selves and The Problem of Evil
  by William Ferraiolo
  "If the true self is eternal, then any impingements upon it during the person’s embodied lifetime can amount to no more than a vanishingly minute portion of that self’s experience over the course of its eternal existence. The most hideous embodied life that we can imagine is tantamount to no more than a pin prick by comparison with a postmortem eternity. No matter the severity or intensity of one’s terrestrial suffering, one’s subsequent eternal experience must, of mathematical necessity, dwarf the dissatisfaction accumulated from cradle to grave."



• Exploring Christianity -- Suffering
  A multi-page presentation of the problem of Evil from a Christian perspective: "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being."


• A Grief Observed
  On April 9, 2006, Maureen G. -- the wife of Cadre member Jeff G. -- went home to be with her Lord. Her passing was not sudden, as she had suffered for some time from the cancer that took her life. I can think of no greater heartbreak save perhaps the passing of one's child. In this account of his wife's suffering and death, as well his own response to these events, Jeff explores the effect and role of pain and suffering in the life of a Christian.


• God, Nature, Evil, and a Pizza Place
  Portions of an on-line debate between CADRE member NYJ and atheist named showme.
  "When God created the material universe, a natural consequence of this universe is that in order for it to progress following logical laws, suffering would be an inherent part of the plan. It was simply unavoidable. However, just because there is a potential for some uncomfortable aspect, does not mean the whole enterprise should be forsaken."



• If God Is Good, Why Is There So Much Suffering in the World?
  "While God did not cause suffering, he has given it purpose. It became the vehicle for our salvation when 'Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame' (Hebrews 12:2). Complete avoidance of suffering is not an option for any of us."



• How Can God Be Just and Ordain Evil?
  by John A. Battle (pdf file)
  "After dealing with some modern attempts to reconcile a loving God with suffering and evil in the world, Rood takes refuge in the mystery of the mind of God: 'Our only resort is to a God who is far beyond all human thought and imagining. . . . A God who can be fully comprehended is no God, and we cannot expect to be able to understand his mind as if we were greater than he.' As we approach this question, we must do so with humility and care."



• The WRS Journal — Volume 3:1 (February, 1996) -- "Theodicy: God's Justice in an Evil World"
  
  A collection of articles in the Western Reformed Seminary Journal relating to the problem of evil.



• The Problem of Evil
  from www.PhilosophyofReligion.info



• The Problem of Evil
  by Benjamin D. Wiker
  "[I]f we are to take evil seriously, it must be rejected because it is self-devouring and, hence, self defeating. If God does not exist, then there is no evil in the world. We can illustrate this seeming paradox by watching how quickly the cri de coeur is undermined in the most thorough and powerful denial of design: Darwinism."



• The Problem of Evil from Brisbane College of Theology
  "It may be that the best philosophy can do is show that a religious or theological solution is not impossible, i.e. to preserve compatibility."



• The Problem of Evil: How Can A Good God Allow Evil?
  by Rick Rood of Probe Ministries



• The Problem of Evil Part 1 and The Problem of Evil Part 2
  "No one will ever be able to completely comprehend why suffering exists while we are limited beings with a limited point of view. However, that does not mean that we cannot apprehend the idea that suffering can serve a purpose for a designated time, and it is not outside the bounds of reason to have a loving God allow that purpose to play out its role."



• The Problem of Evil in World Religions
  The problem of evil is a touchstone of any religion. Evil is present everywhere: in our society, in the environment, around us and even inside us. Out of our direct confrontation with evil results suffering, and thus endless questions about the meaning of life. That is why all religions have to give a proper answer regarding the origin, nature and end of evil.



• A Problem Too Hard for Albert Einstein
  by Dr. Gunnar Dieckmann.
  "Less known, but perhaps much more important because it was not only intellectual but also personal, Einstein failed to reconcile the evil he saw and lived-the evil of the Jewish Holocaust-with his strongly held views of a completely determined universe."



• Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job: A literary, legal and philosophical study
  by Robert Sutherland
  An on-line book by a Senior Fellow at the Mortimer J. Adler Centre for the Study of the Great Ideas, an American think-tank based in Chicago examining the Book of Job. Be warned: the book does deal with Job as being a myth and makes several claims that strike the webmaster of the CADRE as wrong, but the discussion of some of the points made are worth pondering.



• Why is There Evil and Suffering in the World
  "I think that the answer is two-fold. One, ultimately, no one is innocent. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). There is none innocent. . . ."