Here is another article I wrote back when I still considered myself a liberal theist. I am now practically a deist.
Here’s an African child, about three to five years old, maybe eight or nine (it’s hard to tell the age of this little girl because starvation and disease have distorted her body and disrupted her growth). Possibly born with AIDS contracted from her mother and definitely undernourished, she has a major leg defect that causes her severe difficulty walking. But she duck walks and crawls to a UN relief camp about five miles away. Somewhere halfway her frail body starts to give up. She stops crawling, kneels, and bows down to rest her weary head on the ground, probably having the last few moments of her life.
A vulture lands nearby and patiently waits behind her, drooling in anticipation of a meal. As the child breathes her last breath, the vulture’s sharp eyes notice that all movements have stopped including the rising and falling of her abdomen as her damaged lungs desperately try to grab at thin dry air.
Now to those who believe that their religion is the only way to heaven, this child has probably never been baptized, and so her soul burns in hell even as the vulture feasts on her still-warm body, starting off with her soft entrails, then moving on to other soft parts – her eyes, her mouth, her cheeks, – and then finally tearing at her emaciated muscles until all that is left are her hair and bones.
The Problem of Evil has long been pondered and discussed by many theologians and philosophers, but it is so simple that ironically it has no simple answer, a satisfactory simple answer, that is. In simple terms, the problem of evil is summarized into the following:
If God is all-powerful and all-good, why is there gratuitous or unnecessary suffering and evil in this world? Either he doesn’t want to stop it (which makes Him not all-good), or he can’t (which makes Him not all-powerful). Logically, if there is gratuitous suffering in this world, then God cannot be all-powerful and all-good at the same time. Or, as the atheists would openly conclude, God does not exist.
But the faithful offer another explanation: God has a plan that we humans simply cannot yet understand because our minds are too finite for God’s infinite wisdom. Well that’s an answer, but I doubt if everyone finds it satisfactory. Just think of the African child. All her sufferings would be useless and extremely unnecessary if her soul would eventually just burn in hell for all eternity.
I’ve always prided myself as a man who gives paramount value to logic, science, and reason. And being a Christian, the problem of evil has been an eternal bug up my theist ass. Fortunately, I also pride myself as someone who thrives in mystery, who is quite comfortable with not knowing but nevertheless continues to seek answers only to question these answers in turn. For I don’t believe that the same God who gave us intellect would demand for us to relinquish it. And so the problem of evil, though it continually hovers just above my conscious mind and occasionally manages to land and provoke my thoughts, will just be a constant shadow which will keep me on my toes as I try to shed light into it.
Yeah, I think I am getting there.
Care to share your thoughts?
Nice post. To continue some of your thoughts, any serious theist must perceive God as an absolutely good being. If this is not the case, there seems to be no point in worshipping him – with the exception of saving your own skin.
Most of us consider ourselves a good person and would try everything within our power to help or save others. God has infinite power and can exercise absolute control over everything, but people still suffer in horrible and inestimable ways. I think when we consider the problem of evil, we are suddenly forced to define what ‘being good’ means, or what a ‘good being’ actual is. A good being would use every means at its disposal to prevent innocent beings from suffering unnecessary evil. This is obviously not what we are observing on a day to day basis, so doesn’t it call into question Gods being ‘all good’?
Look at what happened in Maguindanao. 50 people were heartlessly gunned down, and most of them were probably God-fearing people – some with children, some active in the church, etc. If any of us knew what Ampatuan had cooking for those guys, would we have warned them? How about Toto Mangadadatu, who had a bad feeling while on his way to the capital. He was part of the convoy but broke off and went back to his hotel room. If you guys don't mind, i see this as still on topic. From GMAnews:
"Zonio later found out that Jubelag insisted on going back to the hotel not only to pick up stuff he forgot, but particularly because he was having doubts about the trip.
"Iyong assessment ko lang sa situation. Kasi, bago kami umalis, sinabi na ng Mangudadatu na hindi pumunta ang military at PNP para sa security (That was how I assessed the situation, because before we set off, the Mangudadatus already told us that the military and PNP did not provide any security)," Jubelag said.
"Inisip ko kasi ang aming safety (That’s because I was thinking about our own safety)," he added."
Sure, Mangudadatu was thinking about his own safety alright. The rest of the convoy was mowed down. This massacre is completely on topic. Gods existence and the existence of evil seem logically incompatible to me. So whats his logic?
From the link pinoyatheist made:
…after their airplane touched down in the village of Ayod, Carter began snapping photos of famine victims. Seeking relief from the sight of masses of people starving to death, he wandered into the open bush. He heard a soft, high-pitched whimpering and saw a tiny girl trying to make her way to the feeding center. As he crouched to photograph her, a vulture landed in view. Careful not to disturb the bird, he positioned himself for the best possible image. He would later say he waited about 20 minutes, hoping the vulture would spread its wings. It did not, and after he took his photos, he chased the bird away and watched as the little girl resumed her struggle….
The evil here is ignorance, and indifference. Kevin Carter was so admired for his photo and awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He wanted to a have a fruitful career and recognition rather than helping which reflects society in general. Despite his indifference he was given a prize. The evil here is the war in Sudan which has and continues to affect its citizens. This is just a dramatic representation. After this picture, still a few would care about what happens to the countries in Africa and only see their troubles as a source of inspiration and appreciation of what plenty they have rather than initiating a move to establish an independent Africa.
Effects of Neo-Imperialism using Darwinistic ideals for motivation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa
It begs the question – what would sunglight taste like?
"Mmmm! Taste the UV! Freshly picked this morning! I prefer mine with a hunt of moonbeams."
haha, ingat lang yung mga outdoorsy-types, they'd turn obese 🙂
maybe people would need to put on sunblock if they need to go on a diet 🙂
@ Wes: that would have been great! And every creature should be able to walk, swim (and breathe underwater), fly, and even burrow in the ground so the whole planet is optimized.
I had a good-natured debate with a friend regarding god's design. My take was that if god was really the benevolent creator religion makes him out to be, he'd have created every living thing to be capable of photosynthesis. There's be little to no hunger in the world, no need to kill other creatures to feed… It was a funny thought, but it does put into question the grand scheme of "intelligent design"
@pinoyatheist Thanks for the links.
"I hope this picture will always serve as a reminder to us that how fortunate we are and that we must never ever take things for granted." – Kevin Carter
Indeed, he was thinking of letting the world know of the suffering he witnessed.
@innerminds You seem to be talking more about 'injustice' rather evil. Why should the child experience such suffering when she bears no fault? It seems to me you've already hinted at an answer so I'll simply follow your trail:
Obviously, God's existence has no bearing in this since there's injustice either way. So what is left really is basic sense of fairness – a sort of 'karmic wheel' – good begets reward, evil begets punishment. Unfortunately, the universe doesn't work that way. As far as it's concerned the child died because of starvation because she had nothing to eat. It is merely part of the cycle of life, of cause and effect, etc. 'Good and evil' is simply how we label our actions. 'Evil' is a way for us to say, "I don't want that", just as 'Good' says, "I approve of this". But whether we approve or not, it is 'allowed'. The universe simply doesn't revolve around our morals. And if that is true, then sadly, there can be no justice. 🙁
Thanks innerminds, I have to say that was very well written and thought-provoking.
The guy that took that picture @ Mekong was Kevin Carter. After taking that picture 3 months later, he killed himself due to depression.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/kevincarter.a… http://atheistangpinoy.blogspot.com/2005/10/for-g…
The first thought that came to mind was "What the hell was the photographer doing?". Well, the person could be thinking it's for the greater good, letting the world know of the suffering. Sorry, I'm going off topic here.
But here's a list of the top 15 excuses that the religious people give for the horrible behavior of "God":
http://augustberkshire.com/2009/11/13/problem-evi…