Stating the Problem

The problem of evil is a rather obvious problem in the world, visceral as it is in the common experience of humanity. Many have taken a stab at it, either to prove or disprove the existence of the Almighty, who seems to rather hide away within the whole matter. Even the biblical account of Job portrays God as giving no answer as to why evil exists and is permitted.

The problem of evil is very similar to the problem of pain, which is to say that so much of the time life in a very real way sucks. This is not just my opinion but can be supported by various quotes and citations, one of which I shall place here: “Life sucks, and then you die…” (Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Series).

Many have been asking, since the age of Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher known for his “Pleasure/Pain Principle,” which states that we ought to pursue pleasure insofar as it does not cause us pain as well as seek to avoid pain. In so doing, we thereby seek most often a middle way of balance between pleasure and pain, not excessively seeking pleasure nor excessively avoiding pain. He is also known for his idea that God cannot be all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing, since there is evil in the world. Thus, either God does not exist or does not exist with all three of these apparent essential characteristics.

Now, many have taken on the task to show Epicurus or others like him that he and they are wrong, by arguing that God has some good reason for the evil in the world, like free-will whereby we freely choose God over evil, or a kind of soul-making mechanism whereby we come to know God in his goodness all the more deeper than if there were no evil. Others argue that evil is a non-entity, a contingent reality, a privation really, in order to get God off the hook from having to have necessarily created evil; still, this answer leaves us wanting to know why God would even allow or permit evil, even if he didn’t create it. Still another argument is to say that matter or creation is inherently evil, but this goes against the biblical account and even reality itself, for if the world were truly and wholly evil, it would self-destruct…though perhaps that is what is currently happening….

I propose to argue that evil is real, though at times it may be or appear to be a privation of reality, like a shadow or absence of goodness, and that God is real, though not necessarily visible or easily perceived, like light waves or particles or energy. I further propose that God is all three aforementioned essential characteristics, namely, he is all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing. Finally, I propose to argue that evil, while not disproving the existence of God as such, rather proves the existence of God.

Some might think this preposterous on the face of it–and perhaps all throughout it as well. Others might think I mean to say that there is some sort of standard by which to judge evil as such, and this standard indicates a Standard-Bearer, namely, God, who is himself the very standard that he bears. I do not mean this, however: I mean what I have written, that evil presupposes the existence of God, and, dare I say, metaphysically so.

How Can Evil Presuppose God?

But, you ask, how in all God’s green earth can evil presuppose God’s existence?

Well, I’m glad you asked!

It seems apparent to me that where there is evil, there is therewith it its corollary and contingent reality–indeed, its substantiating reality.

Think about evil for a moment: it is that which is not, if the privation account prevails. Or, it is that which is not good. Now, if existence is that which is or is that which is good, then evil is against or opposed to existence. If evil exists, then it thereby by its very existence testifies to the existence of existence, which is and is good.

Now, about this matter of whether existence itself is good: if life sucks, then how in all the whole world, can I say that existence is itself good? Let us consider life, for a moment: life is akin to existence and is that in which we live and dwell and have our being. It can be good or it can be bad. In order for it to be good, we must harmonize the living of our lives in accordance with the nature of reality, else we will soon find ourselves up against a wall or face down dead in a ditch.

Here the Pleasure/Pain Principle of Epicurus is handy: we want to maximize pleasure while minimizing pain, but we can only do this by living a balanced and well-measured life, not overindulging in pleasure or aberrantly avoiding pain. This indicates that we are made to live our lives in a good way, a well-balanced way, a way that avoids pain and pursues pleasure in a goodly sense. We are not seeking out death–and even those who do seek out death, are really seeking out life. And life is a state of existence wherein we are and things are and we “be,” as it were.

Thus, even though life doth suck, it is good in and of itself. Existence, the foundation of life, is also good in and of itself. The aberration of reality, of life, of existence, then, is evil.

As evil is the aberration of existence, not the cause or source or substantiation of existence, we might then call existence good, because it is not evil. If it is not evil, then what does that make it? Very good…it makes it good!

Now, we have existence as good, and evil as the aberration of existence. Now, God is the substance, foundation, being, ground, whatever you like to call it, of existence. As such, God is very good, and evil predicates upon the existence of God, thereby indicating that evil by its very existence presupposes God!

Still, whence cometh evil, if not from God, who is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful?

Whence Cometh Evil?

Evil is that thing which is dependent or contingent upon existence and reality for its existence. Take a donut hole, for example: it exists so long as the donut ring exists. (Now, I am not here stating that evil is non-existent, like the hole of the donut, which is the space within the ring of the donut. I am only stating that as the hole is contingent upon the ring for its existence, so is evil contingent upon reality for its existence.) As a contingent reality, evil is a secondary reality, while existence and the foundation of which is God are primary realities.

Still, this does not seem, however, to bode well for God, because if he would like to or were able to, he might well do away with all evil, or so we suppose.

It seems it’s not that simple, however.

Think about the number two: no matter how you slice or dice it, it remains as (1) a number, (2) the number two, (3) a kind of useful fiction, (4) nonphysical and immaterial, etc. The same is true with shapes, like squares or circles, no matter how you think of them or draw them, they remain squares and squarish or circles and circular: sorry to burst your bubble, but there are no square circles or circle squares. Neither is there a reality wherein the sum of what we call one and one equals anything other than two.

Aside from that, God cannot go against his nature, which is utterly and wholly good: he cannot sin, lie, be unfaithful to his character, etc. Neither can he go against the nature of logic, which emanates from his character, essence, being. So he can’t do anything illogical, like create a square circle or a circle square or make a rock so big that he wouldn’t be able to lift it; such things are nonsense, and are as good as saying that the paint on a particular wall is the hat on my head, or that the car I drive is as fast as lettuce.

When God created, he created all that which he could create, namely, a created creation. It seems his intention was for creation to be as much like himself as he could make it–hence, creating humanity in his image. Of necessity, God could not create uncreated creations, so all creation is created.

Now, the perfection of God is essentially in his being uncreated, and insofar as we as creation are perfect, we are not perfect in being uncreated, but only as created beings. Further, we are perfect in being created only insofar as we rely upon the uncreated Creator God of all. It’s a little like air: try and breathe without it.

What that means is that there is room in there for something bad to happen, like death, which is the evil of “un-life”: successfully hold your breath long enough and you will be cut off from life. The room for error appears to be there necessarily, because God cannot do that which is logically impossible, namely, create uncreated beings.

But he is so good that he did not want to keep all his goodness to himself, so he created the next best thing to himself: created beings, which are supposed to reflect the goodness of God back to himself and to one another, sharing and splashing around in the greatness of God’s goodness, like children at a waterpark.

Being created, necessarily brought along with it all the problems we now see today. Rather than disproving the existence of God, however, these problems reveal God and his goodness.

So, where does evil come from? To put it plainly, it comes from creation turning away from the Creator. Why would God allow creation to turn away from him, though? Much in the same way that he “allows” for logical states, possibilities, and consequences to exist: he must, as it is all logically necessary.

Of course, God always had an answer to the problem of evil with the Incarnation and the death and resurrection of his Son.

But that is a story for another time.