Putting the Problem of Evil to rest

Kenneth Hynek • 16th Apr 2009 • Religion, Atheism, Religion, Catholicism, Religion, Christianity
Adam, atheism, Christ, Christianity, Easter, evil, faith, God, Israel, Jesus, New Testament, Old Testament, Problem of Evil, Problem of Suffering, sin, the Bible, Theology, Vigil Mass, Vox Day

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Vox Day writes, briefly, on a subject I have been flogging for a while now: the atheistic argument against the existence of God that is called, variously, the “Problem of Evil” or the “Problem of Suffering” is fundamentally inapplicable to the Christian God.

The Bible is very clear on the existence of evil. It even goes so far as to explain, in part, the immutable evil of human nature. The Old Testament is full of one party or another doing “evil in the eyes of the Lord”; the phrase resounds like an ominous drumbeat leading toward the ultimate fall of the kingdom of Israel. The New Testament, for its part, repeatedly describes the world as an evil place ruled by an evil spirit, the customs of which the believer is to avoid. In fact, there is no science more readily falsifiable than Christianity, as finding a single individual, just one single man or woman, entirely free from sin will suffice to dismiss Christian Theology once and for all time.

If evil did not exist, then man would not be condemned by God. If man were not condemned by God, there would have been no reason for Jesus Christ to incarnate, to die and to rise again to pay the price of man’s redemption. Therefore, while one may use the problem of evil to argue against the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God, only an irrational fool would attempt to use the problem of evil as the basis of an argument against the existence of the Christian God or the tenets of the Christian faith.

One is reminded of the hymn sung as a part of the Easter Vigil Mass — “O Happy fault! O Blessed and Necessary sin of Adam, that has won for us so great a Saviour!” Because in the end, that’s what all suffering and evil that are in the world point to, and what both make necessary: He who is indeed so great a Saviour, Jesus Christ.