Problem of Evil (part 5)

Transcript Problem of Evil (Part 5)

Kevin Harris: Dr. Craig, the Christian faith actually has a lot to say about the problem of evil.

Dr. Craig: Right. I think that on the Christian view it is not so surprising that the world is filled with suffering and evil. There are a number of Christian doctrines that actually make it more probable that evil should exist in the world. Therefore, the Christian isn’t surprised at the existence of suffering and evil in the world; on the contrary, he expects them.

Kevin Harris: What are some of these things that we would look at?

Dr. Craig: Well, I would list four doctrines that are important here. The first would be that the purpose of life is not happiness as such but rather it is the knowledge of God.

Kevin Harris: That really throws some cold water on us because we tend to think that that is our ultimate goal – to be happy.

Dr. Craig: Exactly. People think that if God exists then his purpose for human life is to make them happy, to furnish a comfortable environment for his human pets. But of course on the Christian view that is not correct. We are not God’s pets. The purpose for life is not happiness in this life but rather it is to find a personal relationship with God which will carry on into eternity and will issue in ultimate human fulfillment and everlasting happiness.

Kevin Harris: Is it OK to be happy now though?

Dr. Craig: Oh, of course, but it is not guaranteed. God is under no obligation whatsoever to give you a happy life in this world.

Kevin Harris: Happiness depends more on circumstances, it seems. If everything is going your way then you are happy.

Dr. Craig: Fair enough. That is right. And many times incidents occur in our lives – terrible tragedies, horrible sufferings, disasters – that are not at all conducive to human happiness. So if we were measuring the probability of God’s existence on the basis of whether or not events in our lives are permitted with a view toward making us happy, we would be apt to conclude God doesn’t exist. There is no God because these things that are happening in my life aren’t conducive to my human happiness. I would agree with that, if that were the purpose of life. But on the Christian view of God and humanity, the purpose of life is not happiness in this life. Rather, it is to find a personal knowledge of God. Many events which occur in our lives may be utterly pointless with respect to producing human happiness but they may not be pointless with respect to producing a deeper knowledge of God. When suffering enters our lives, this is a summons to deeper dependency and trust in God either on the part of the person who suffers or on the part of the persons around him. And whether or not God’s purposes for our lives are achieved through what we suffer all depends on our response. I think, Kevin, that God may be much less interested in what we go through than in our attitude while going through it. Do we respond with bitterness and anger and fist-shaking against God or do we respond with confidence and trust and deeper dependency in God? Whether or not his purposes are achieved through what we suffer all depends upon our free response while going through it.

Kevin Harris: Bill, many people are going to disparagingly say, “This is just pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by.”

Dr. Craig: Well, remember it is the atheist here who has the burden of proof. It is the atheist who is claiming God does not have adequate reasons for permitting suffering in our lives. And I am saying that on a Christian point of view, this has always been part and parcel of the Christian faith. This is not given in answer to the problem of pain. This is the Christian view of God and humanity. God’s purpose in human life is to bring people freely into personal relationship with himself. Now, if you were to say to me, what good reason is there to think this is true, then I would recur to all of the arguments and evidence for the existence of God, the person of Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus. So it is not pie-in-the-sky, there are good reasons to believe that it is true. But remember it is the atheist who has the burden of proof here. So he has got to show us that God cannot, or does not, have good reasons for permitting these things to enter our lives. [1]

The second biblical doctrine is that mankind is in a state of rebellion against God and his purpose. That is to say, rather than submit to and obey God’s moral law, people rebel against God. They flaunt his moral law and they plunge themselves into moral degeneracy and they pursue their own ends apart from God. So they find themselves spiritually separated from God, alienated from him and groping in spiritual and moral darkness. The horrible human evils that occur in life are simply testimony to man’s state of depravity in this condition of spiritual alienation from God. The Bible says God doesn’t interfere to stop this depravity. He lets human depravity run its course. This only serves to underline our need of God’s moral cleansing and forgiveness in our lives.

Kevin Harris: Your third point would seem to be that we need an eternal perspective on all this.

Dr. Craig: That would be the third doctrine. God’s purpose is not limited to this life but his purpose spills over into eternal life. On the Christian view, this life is not all there is. This life is but the cramped and narrow foyer that opens up into the great hall of God’s eternity. Many evils which occur in this life may seem pointless within our limited perspective here and now but they maybe seen within God’s wider perspective to have been justly permitted. It may well be the case, Kevin, that God permits certain evils to enter our lives which serve no earthly purpose whatsoever but which God allows simply so that he might reward us with a compensation that is beyond comprehension in the life to come because we have born these evils in suffering and patience and confidence and trust in God.

Kevin Harris: And number four?

Dr. Craig: Number four is that the knowledge of God is an incommensurable good. That is to say, it is incomparable. Nothing on earth can be compared to it, nothing can measure the good of knowing God. God is the infinite source of all goodness and value. Infinite love, infinite value. So to know God is an incomparable good; nothing can be compared to it. So the person who knows God no matter what he suffers, no matter how awful his pain, can still truly say, “God is good to me” simply in virtue of the fact that he knows God, an incommensurable good.

Kevin Harris: Bill, it is almost like a person who suffers with a disease for thirty years. That cannot be compared with the eternal joy of knowing God.

Dr. Craig: That is absolutely right Kevin.

Kevin Harris: It is tough while you go through it, but this eternal perspective that you are talking about sheds light.

Dr. Craig: It changes everything and it gives us the courage and strength to go through the suffering during this veil of tears that life often is. This is not just hypothetical. I had a colleague, Tom Schmidt, with whom I taught at Westmont College, who had the habit of visiting convalescent and nursing homes in the Santa Barbara area as a ministry to those who were shut in there. He told a story about a woman he met there once named Mabel who was blind, who was nearly deaf, whose face was being eaten away by cancer so that her one eye had dropped on her face, her mouth was distorted so that she constantly drooled out of one corner of her mouth. This woman was horribly disfigured. She had been there bedridden, unable to move, for twenty five years. As Tom got to know her he discovered that despite her external deformity she had a very clear mind, very cogent, clear thinker. And he discovered that this woman was a Christian; that she believed in Christ and had a positive and joyous outlook on life. One day as Tom was preparing for final exams there were so many things cluttering his mind, he just couldn’t keep them all straight he had some many things to think about. And it occurred to him, he said, “I wonder what Mabel thinks about, lying there in bed, blind, unable to talk to anyone. What does she think about?” And he went to ask her, and he asked, “Mabel, what do you think about while you lie here?” And she said, “I think about my Jesus.” And Tom thought, “What does she mean?” He said I find it difficult to think about Jesus for even one minute. And he said, “Mabel, what do you think about Jesus?” And she said, “I think about how good he has been to me. I am one of those old fashion types. My life has mainly been good and I am basically satisfied with my life.” And Tom said that she began to sing an old hymn about how when “I am sad I go to Jesus and he makes me glad, he is my friend.” And Tom said it stunned him. He said this isn’t fiction, this really happened, there really was a person who lived like this. For twenty five years, bedridden, unable to move, hardly able to speak to anyone, blind, and she lay there and sang hymns and thought about Christ and how good he is to her because she knew that knowing Christ was an incomparable good, better than anything else. Tom said that what hit him at that moment was that Mabel had something that a lot of us don’t have very much of – she had power. Lying there in bed, unable to move, unable to see, unable to speak, she had unbelievable power. And that is the power that Christ gives to those who trust him as they go through the suffering that he calls upon them to endure. [2]