My Attempt to Explain the Problem of Evil and Suffering in the World

Mick Watson

June 6, 2011

It seems to me that there are five major alternatives to explain why there are evil and suffering in the world. None of these alternatives answers all questions or is completely satisfactory; yet each has been used to one extent or another by different groups of people.

1. There is no God or higher creator and no purpose in our lives but those purposes that each individual makes of his or her life. Evil is simply the way of existence—the natural order. We all try to survive and do the best we can for our own sakes. Some people choose to alleviate suffering in others as well, at different levels: (1) live and let live; don’t create suffering; (2) alleviate suffering in one’s sector of the world; (3) go out of one’s way to serve others at the expense of benefits to oneself. These approaches can alleviate suffering for some people, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter because there is no end purpose to existence. This alternative is truly an existential view.

2. God exists and created everything (perhaps in the Big Bang). However, he isn’t good (in the sense of being morally good and supremely and perfectly good), nor does he care about us or have anything to do with us. It is as if someone planted some seeds and never came back again. In this case, our actions might as well be the same is in Alternative 1 above.

3. God exists; he isn’t good; but he pays attention to us and may have something to do with us. Perhaps he is playing a game with us or being entertained by us or doing an experiment with us. Perhaps he is “mentally ill” or “emotionally unstable” as we think of mental illness or emotional instability. Perhaps he is a sadist or a narcissist. If any of these situations is the case, we certainly don’t need to love or revere him. However, we had better fear him and try to learn the contingencies—what it might take to get help or prevent him from hurting us. In the past, this may have led to offering human sacrifices or paying “protection money.”

4. God exists; he is good (in the ultimate, moral sense); and he is omnipotent; but evil doesn’t really exist. Evil is an illusion. This alternative is difficult to accept because evil and suffering seem so prevalent and obvious. However, there is a form of this alternative that might exist. Although evil seems like evil to us, from a more long-term and broader perspective, evil and suffering may be of benefit to us as they help refine us to make us stronger and better. Through facing evil and suffering, we learn skills, patience, compassion for others, faith, humility, and we work to help alleviate suffering. Nevertheless, this approach is difficult to accept if this life is all there is to existence. How does suffering, disease, and abuse help a little baby who may die in infancy because of these evils? How will he be made better? Or would the baby’s well being be sacrificed to help another grow and progress? Then God would not be ultimately good.

5. God exists; he is good; evil also exists and indeed is bad. But God is not omnipotent. Though God created the Universe and is extremely powerful, he does not control everything. In other words, there are some things that co-existed with God (e.g., evil, other agents). God fights to alleviate evil and to spread good. But free will is more important than elimination of all evil. He can’t have it both ways. We can be partners with God in overcoming and alleviating evil, but we have to realize that there are some things that God simply cannot do. If this alternative is true, then where did the co-existing agents and the evil come from? No matter which alternative one takes, there is an infinite regress: where did God come from; why is there a God in the first place?