As an atheist, this was one of the easiest arguments to have with a Christian:
How can God exist with so much evil and suffering in the world?
Stated in a logical syllogism:
- The God of the Bible is all-Good
-
The God of the Bible is all-Powerful
-
The God of the Bible is all-Knowing
Yet, Evil exists!
Therefore, the God of the Bible does not exist.
As you can see from the meme, this is not a new argument in all its variations – Epicurus died 300 years before Jesus.
However, today I’m amazed that so few Christians have an answer to this, as the argument is completely without foundation, and represents very shallow thinking.
In fact, as I was an honest seeker after Truth (most of the time anyway), it would have taken but ONE person to set me straight, but no one did!
I had to read a book written by someone I disagreed with! (shocking, I know…)
So how is this a baseless argument for atheism, or more specifically against the God of the Bible?
On at least two grounds actually:
Firstly, the argument presupposes that evil actually exists, which by definition means that “Good” actually exists.
Without an eternal moral standard that stands outside of the human sphere, the concept of “Good” or “Evil” is nothing more than an opinion formed by complex molecular interactions and vibrations in something we like to call our brains.
In other words, you don’t get to talk about Good and Evil unless you accept that a Moral Law exists outside of the existence of the human condition, which in turn requires a “Moral Law Giver”.
Otherwise, regardless what other mechanism you think up, your idea of evil (and good) is just your opinion, and it matters not one jot how many others you share that opinion with if it is possible for anyone to disagree with you at any time, ever. And there ARE people who do disagree with you!
Hitler, for one …. And an entire nation – as well as many other groups around the world in nations such as England and the USA – were in complete agreement with him.
There is a second reason that this deductive “reasoning” is false: it stands entirely on the assumption that it is impossible for a perfectly Good God to allow evil to exist (premise 4 in the diagram below).
The fact that this assumption is not necessarily true – and only very shallow thinking would insist that it is – means that the logical deduction is immediately falsified, without having to go any further.
For instance: what about a higher but unseen purpose?
The Bible is clear and completely unembarrassed about the fact that God allows evil to exist, and that he even uses it to further his purposes, without it having any impact whatsoever on his being absolutely Good, Just, Fair, Righteous and Holy.
The fact that a human mind may struggle to see that this is true has nothing to do with God, and everything to do with the human mind contemplating it.
What remains an absolute truth is that most human minds decide on what is “true for them” based on expediency, not rational reasons.
Stated plainly: most people cannot afford for the God of the Bible to be real, or for the Bible to be true – the implications for their way of living are unacceptable.
And THAT, folks, is why there is so much evil in the world …