The Problem(s) of Evil... There's a lot of Them

My first semester freshman year I took a (mandatory) GE Philosophical Perspectives class. Despite people referring to me as a “deep thinker,” an actual philosophy class seemed and was ultimately proven to be, very daunting. We began the semester studying logic. Ironically enough, logic is NOT logical. It’s this whole series of “if this then this” or “if this and this but not this then this” and all sorts of weird names like modus ponens or modus tollens. I never knew that something called logic would lack so much logic. While I have tried, rather unsuccessfully, to erase the illogical-logic part of my first year philosophy class from my memory, there were a few other lessons and topics that I learned and have stuck.

I still struggle to break down the things that I learned in that class. I have so much respect for people that study philosophy or venture into any classes past simply an intro because even years later, I am still trying to makes sense of the things that we covered in that class. Why am I talking about philosophy? Something that I know next to nothing about? I was recently cleaning out my closet and found some old notes from philosophy. I was going to dump them all but one set of notes caught my eye. Scribbled across the top of the page I saw, “Necessary Evil” Is everything in philosophy an oxy-moron? But I read through the notes and recognized why I saved these notes out of all the notes I could have saved.

In my Old Testament class this semester, I asked my professor a question and began to sob, “How can this God truly be good and loving when there is so much pain and evil and unnecessary suffering in this world?” This question is as old as time. There have been numerous theodicies, all the way from the free will defense to the soul making theodicy to the Augustinian theodicy and everything in between. It’s a question in which no simple answer, and perhaps no answer at all, exists. Some people have found their answer in cutting God out of the equation. There is evil because there is NO omnipotent, omniscient, and all loving God. If a God that was all of these things existed, evil wouldn’t exist. But evil does exist, so therefore God can’t That works for some people, great! But not for me. I find myself wanting to understand more about how my family, friends, and so many of my peers can surrender themselves to this God that I felt has abandoned so many people. Call me cynical, I know I am, but I have not only seen suffering in myself and my friends but through natural disasters, war, refugee crises, genocide… how can that evil exist? How can an all-loving God and evil and pain coexist?

I was reading through my notes about “necessary evil” We were covering a bigger topic called “The Problem of Evil” The whole point of this “problem” is attempting to answer the BIG question - how do we reconcile the existence of evil with an omnipotent, omniscient, and all loving God? If God exists, he must have all three of these properties, if he does not have all three of these aspects, he therefore does not exist. You with me? (Because I’m not sure I’m with me…) Under the main “Problem of Evil” there are 2 distinct forms - the logical problem of evil and the evidential problem of evil. While the end goal of each argument is similar, the forms utilize two different mechanisms of support. The logical form aims to use logic to show it is impossible for God and evil to coexist. The evidential forms shows that because there is evil in the world, it is unlikely for an omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good God to exist. Obviously though, there are still people that believe in God. They believe that there is an omnipotent, omniscient, and all loving God that exists in this world - that is also full of evil. I want to know how.

I don’t mean to turn this into a religious exploration post. Taking God out of the conversation for now, I just want to know why evil exists. Why is depression an epidemic? Why has Haiti suffered numerous earthquakes? Why are racism, sexism, and homophobia even things? Why does homelessness exist? Why is there cancer? Why do young children die? Why are there pedophiles and abusive parents and child molesters? Why! Why! WHY! I can’t seem to understand why there is or how there could be so much evil in this world. A common argument is the Free Will Defense. It claims that God maximized goodness in the world by creating free beings who can choose to do evil things and a world without freedom would be worse than a world without evil. But, as is commonly argued, this only addresses moral freedom, or freedom of human choice, but neglects natural freedom. No one chooses to get cancer, have a stroke, lose their baby, or die in an earthquake/hurricane/insert natural disaster here. Free will doesn’t cover these evils. There is no explanation and for many no understanding of these horrors.

This comes to the point of necessary evil. Some theodicies, claim that there has to be some type of evil in this world in order for us to understand what good is. But why can’t we have just a minimal amount of evil - such as a paper cut or accidentally forgetting a sweater and it’s a little cold. Why does there have to be murder, cancer, depression etc? What type of evil is necessary for us to understand goodness? The soul making (Irenaean theodicy) claims that in order to understand the full extent of God’s love we must experience evil; evil and suffering are key to spiritual growth. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s really freaking hard to seek out God during all the evil and suffering. Perhaps long term one might “come back around” but can you blame people who have been so damaged by the church for wanting to turn away from it? Can you blame people who have lost everything and suffered immensely for harboring anger towards God? If we need suffering to move towards God, then why is that sometimes suffering so immensely pushes people farther away? And if we need suffering to move towards God, and some people don’t want to move towards God, then why do they need suffering? They’re just implementing their free will.

I know these are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. It’s a lot of information and not a lot of concrete ideas or arguments, probably because I don’t really have many arguments - I’m still trying to make sense of it all myself. We live in a world in which there is so much evil. Perhaps the easy question is figuring out why there is evil and the harder question becomes why is there so much evil. Evil seems to permeate every aspect of our lives know and life can become a bit hopeless. With the current media and news stories, the strife in the middle east, children that are diagnosed with cancer, and the exorbitant rates of depression it’s hard not to focus on all the evil. In expressing all of this to my mom, she stopped me and shared a bit of her own story. My mom suffered greatly from post partum depression. When she was diagnosed, the top psychiatric, who typically has no availability, suddenly had an opening. One of the top mental health hospitals, which has up to a 6 month wait list for a bed, had an opening. She told me that those “little miracles” that happened amongst all the evil is what she had to hold on to. During the pain, suffering, fear, lack of answers, confusion, all the crap, she allowed herself space to heal but also found room to get some sort of courage; to allow herself somehow to continue.

So maybe the question isn’t the “problem of evil,” but rather the “problem of dealing/coping with evil” It’s a less philosophical approach - it sort of abandons the entirety of the “problem of evil” For me though, trying to find an answer as to why there is evil is leaving me in this never-ending black hole. So instead, trying to cope with this evil - which can include everything from anger, fear, positivity, courage, sadness, spending time with people, spending time alone… all of it. I wish I had an answer to “evil” I’m 20, have no college degree, and to be quite honest, philosophy is the OPPOSITE of my forte.

How do you all deal with pain (the pain in your life, the pain in the world, the pain in others’ lives)? How do you reconcile the fact that there is SO much evil? Please let me know - I don’t know all the answers and I’d love to hear!

photo credit: The Neuro Bureau, Brain Art Competition 2017

https://www.neurobureau.org/galleries/brain-art-competition-2017/