That the Existence of Evil Presupposes the Existence of God

It seems to me that the existence of evil presupposes the existence of God, though I am sure many would have great contention with me on this point. For, they might say, if God is God, being wholly good and all-powerful and all-wise or all-knowing, then how could he allow for any smidgen of evil, let alone the vast amount of evil and evils so rampant today and so widespread throughout the pages of history? Indeed, either God is good or he is not; either he is all-powerful or he is not; either he is all-wise and all-knowing or he is not. But, it is argued, he cannot be all three, since there is so much evil or any evil at all.

And since there is so much evil, one might say, whether senseless or intentional, physical or metaphysical, natural or moral, there cannot be a God who is all-good, all-powerful, and all-wise. If he were all-wise, he would know how to get rid of evil or never let it get a foothold in the first place. If he were all-powerful, he would be able to get rid of evil or never let it get a foothold in the first place. If he were all-good, he would simply get rid of evil and not let it get a foothold to begin with.

Indeed, God, it is argued, can be all-powerful and all-wise, but he can’t also be all-good, because there is evil. Or he can be all-powerful and all-good, but he can’t be all-wise, too, because there is evil. Or he can be all-good and all-wise, but he can’t be all-powerful, because there is evil.

God cannot be “all-three” because there is evil

The argument that God cannot be all-powerful as well as all-good and all-wise because there is evil runs something like this:

1. God is all-wise, all-powerful, and all-good.
2. If God knew about evil, he could outmaneuver it.
3. If God were able, he could overpower evil.
4. If God were good, he would get rid of evil.
5. There is evil in the world.
6. Therefore, God cannot be all-three.
   • God might be all-wise and all-powerful, but not all-good, because there is evil, since an all-good God would not tolerate evil, however much or little of it there might be.
   • God might be all-wise and all-good, but not all-powerful, because there is evil, which seems to indicate he cannot actually overcome evil.
   • God might be all-powerful and all-good, but not all-wise, because there is evil, which seems to indicate that he doesn’t really know how to overcome evil or whether he might actually be able to overcome it.

With this argument and these considerations, the traditional Christian view of God as all-powerful, -wise, and -good seems to be done for.

Two kinds of evil

Indeed, though there is so much evil out there, it all might be distilled down into two main kinds: natural and moral. Natural evil might be demonstrated by the tale of a ferocious wildfire in which some poor innocent creature, such as Bambi, is burned to death in great agony for no good reason. Moral evil is the kind of evil resulting from choices that agents, like us humans, make that are inadvertently not helpful or are actually bad for the the good of ourselves or others. There can also be combinations of these, such as global warming or climate change, which could be argued as a natural evil brought on by moral evil, or, at least, poor human choices.

Additionally, some delineate two more kinds of evil: physical and metaphysical or, as I like to say, concrete and abstract, respectively. Physical evil entails the physical pains we might feel or suffer from some incident, whether it be an accident or some intentional use of force against our bodies, like breaking a bone; it also includes mental pains or feelings, as anguish or mental distress. Metaphysical evil is that evil that is ideologically abstract in its form or essence, being the kind of thing like imperfection, such as societal injustices, or the result of bad luck or chance, like a deformity or illness or disease or some kind of calamity.

Not only that, there is so much evil in the world and has been for so long, it seems that if there were a good, powerful, wise God, then he would have long ago dealt with evil or, at the very least, been presently active in its defeat. If God is so good and powerful and wise, why doesn’t he deal with or why hasn’t he dealt with evil, in all its myriad faces and forms?

It is not only bleak for us, it seems rather bleak for God as well.

Some theodicies

A “theodicy” is just a way to justify God, to clear his name, as it were, to explain why or how he might allow evil and still be God, all-wise, powerful, and good. The word itself comes from the Greek term theodikia, which can be broken down into theos + dike, which is quite literally “God + justice,” meaning, “justifying God,” especially in light of the problem of evil. Yes, indeed, how can there be so much, let alone any, evil in the world, smattering the pages of history with death and destruction and mayhem, if there really is a good, powerful, wise God? Why doesn’t or hasn’t he dealt with it already?

The Christian conception is that he has, with Christ on the cross, but that is little comfort, though it is–or can be–a comfort. Another conception is that God had to balance so many different things, most especially of which is freewill, that he was “forced” or “limited” by his own free choice to make beings who had free choice, which entailed that they could choose against him and so bring about evil, since he is wholly and only good. Another conception is that God will deal with evil, that he’s just biding his time for now, not wanting anyone to miss out on the grand opportunity of repentance, even those very heinous and evil people who don’t seem to care one iota about God and his good ways. There are surely many other conceptions of God and evil, but let these three suffice: the one view is that he has already dealt with evil, namely, through Christ’s death on the cross; the second view is that he is dealing with it now, especially through freewill; and the third view is that he will ultimately deal with it on the Last Day, Judgment Day, when he eradicates all evil from the universe and our souls.

To my mind, however, it seems that the definitive deathblow to evil is not in its absence, but in its presence.

The existence of evil presupposes the existence of God

Rather than dealing a decisive deathblow to the existence of God, evil actually resoundingly tells of the existence of God. Now, I don’t mean to say that evil acts or actions or incidents are good or that God is going to turn them around for good, though that does seem to be what the Bible teaches in Romans 8:28. And I don’t mean to belittle or make mean of real evil and the experience thereof: I only mean to say that evil, while being something we hate and ought to hate and rightly so, is not the final word on what is good or who is God or who God is.

Evil, rather, tells us that God is good.

Now, it is not true that in order to know good, we must also know evil; but it is true that in knowing evil, we know good all the more as good. Indeed, there might have been a world in which there was nothing but good in it; in fact, Genesis 1-2 seem to indicate that this was God’s original plan and intention, regardless of whatever his (fore)knowledge of the fallout of everything was. God intended there to be a very good world; he didn’t create junk and didn’t make a very good world so that it would get mucked up by us, let alone Adam and Eve and the serpent. But, here we are.

Indeed, evil in and of itself presupposes that God is.

That evil exists

Few, though perhaps a Buddhist, would deny that evil exists. For the rest of us, the daily news speaks of not just the existence of evil, but its widespread prevalence. And, if you’re anything like me, you’re quite aware of the inward and inner darkness of evil that plagues each one of us like a shadow. We see it in the very young, with their rebellious streaks, and the very old, with their bad habits. We see it in the atrocities committed by others in society. And we see it within ourselves, being committed by us through our acts of inaction as well as of action. We are rooted in evil and evil is rooted in us.

However, if one denies all this, and simply claims that evil is but an illusion that we must transcend, the question arises, if evil is an illusion, then what is or whence comes the illusion? And if the illusion is something merely to transcend, then why are were transcending it, if it doesn’t actually exist to begin with, since illusions are not real? To be sure, I’m sure someone, who believes in something like this, might say, “Yes, you are enlightened: there is no illusion and neither is there anything to transcend!” But if there is nothing to transcend, then why are we talking in the first place about the “nothing” that is there?

Furthermore, if evil is nothing and is an illusion and my feeling or experience of evil is also nothing and an illusion, then what do we make of experience or even existence? If my experience is nothing and my existence is likewise nothing, then who or what is the individual that is nothing? Is it not I? And if I, then who or what am I, the illusion that I am? For I cannot doubt my existence without presupposing that very existence; likewise, doubting the existence of evil as an illusion presupposes the existence of that illusion, namely, of evil.

Additionally, if evil does not exist, then there is nothing bad in life experience. If there is nothing bad in life experience, then I cannot trust my senses, by which I experience life, wherein I do experience bad. If I cannot trust my senses, whereby I come to know that which is about me, including the bad, then I cannot know that anything I know is true. If I cannot know that anything I know is true, then it is also possible or true that I cannot know that I cannot know anything is true. If I cannot know that I cannot know that anything is true, then I cannot know that I cannot trust my senses. If I cannot know that I cannot trust my senses, then I might be able to trust my senses. If I might be able to trust my senses, then I might be able to know that there is bad in life experience. If I might be able to know that, I might know that there is something as evil; hence, evil exists.

But what does this tell us about God?

Evil presupposes God

That God exists might be argued in this way:

1. As an object presupposes its contrary or opposite, so evil presupposes its contrary, as that which is presupposes that which is not that which is.
2. The contrary of evil is “not-evil” or “good.”
3. Good is of such a kind as to be in degrees, such that there are better or greater goods than others.
4. As an infinitude is impossible in reality, so there is no infinitude of the degrees of good, but such is capped by what may be called the ultimate good.
5. The ultimate good is supremely good.
6. This supremely good ultimate good might be called God.
7. Therefore, evil presupposes God.

But what does this do for us? It does not mend our broken hearts or repair the damage done by evil, whether caused by people or nature.

But it does tell us, reassuring us, that God does, in fact, exist, no matter how dark the darkness or vile the evil.

And God is good.

Whether he is all-powerful or all-wise is a matter for another longer and larger discussion, but that he is good, being wholly good, is as firm as stone.

Suffice it to say that his power and wisdom flow forth from his goodness, since for him to be good, he must also be all-powerful and all-wise, else he would be derelict in his goodness and so not wholly or supremely good. Thus, it is his goodness that makes him as he is.

Indeed, the shadow of evil is but a shadow, which is cast by the light of the goodness of God. And when will the shadows flee? When the light is fully illuminated.

We may not know why or how or when or where, but we do know who and what: God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.