X. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
CHAPTER X THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
I. THE PRACTICAL NATURE OF REVELATION
The fact that the Bible recognizes evil, and that it does not present an elaborated theory as to the ultimate origin of evil, but instead shows man how to overcome evil, is in entire harmony with the characteristic of the Bible which may be labeled as "practical." That is, the revelations contained in the Bible are not of such a nature as to satisfy the speculative curiosity of mankind. It was not given for that purpose; it was revealed that man might know how to overcome sin and to live right. As God said to the children of Israel, the secret things belonged to Him, but the revealed things to the people that they might learn to do all the words of the law (Deuteronomy 29:29). And that practical note is evident throughout the Bible, as Richard Whately has shown clearly in his Essays on Some of the Peculiarities of the Christian Faith. And thus with reference to the fact of evil, the Bible tells us what God is doing to help man overcome evil in his own life. And that, after all, is the practical thing. What matters it that the Bible does not give an elaborate theory of its origin; or go into a detailed theodicy; when it shows us how to deal with evil. That is what mankind needs to know; and to know that man does not need to have a great deal of information on the origin of evil or why God has allowed it to exist. The Bible, however, does give us enough information for all practical purposes concerning both the entrance of moral and of physical evil into this world. In Genesis three the entrance of sin, moral evil, is dealt with. In the same chapter we are told that the curse, which followed the entrance of sin, affected nature also. Thus in dealing with man and nature today we are not dealing with them as they came perfect from the hand of God but as they have been marred by sin and the curse.
Dr. L. Merlon Davies has dealt with the fact of the curse on nature in The Bible and Modern Science (Pickering and Inglis, Glasgow, Scotland) See Chapters VI-IX. Also his stimulating lecture delivered before the Victoria Institute, London, England, in Feb. 1947, on "The Present Status of Teleology." These subjects will be dealt with in one of the author's volumes on Christian Evidence.
II. THE PROBLEM OF GOOD
It will be well for the unbeliever to ask himself how, in the type of universe which his theory constructs, man became conscious of the fact that evil is evil, and how that there could be good in the world. On their theory of moral, as we plan to show in the book on the consequences of unbelief, there may be such things as convenient and inconvenient, unpleasant and pleasant, that really there could be no such thing as evil or good. In this place, however, it is enough to remark, in the words of Lamont, that the unbeliever owes his present moral criteria, by which he condemns evil as evil and uses it as an argument against God's existence, to theism. "Mankind in general regards evil as an enemy. It holds evil to be the opposite of good. It must therefore be in possession of some standard of criticism by which it judges evil to be the denial of good. When a man with moral sensibility, but without faith, founds his objection to Theism on the fact that God permits cruelties to go on unchecked, (he assumes God in no way checks it, the Bible and experience teach that He does exercise certain checks, J. D. B.) , he thereby employs a moral criterion. How did he come to possess that criterion? He may say, with the philosopher Kant, that the power to distinguish between right and wrong is an inborn human characteristic: but this at best can only mean, as it does with Kant, that man by nature is able to make a formal distinction between right and wrong, not that he is able to make the material distinction. What he naturally counts right may be essentially wrong, and what he counts wrong may be essentially right." He may be conscious that there is good and evil, but he does not thereby know, without some other criteria, that this particular thing is really the thing that is. evil or that is good. Although it may be true that he recognizes this in some instances, yet in the main he does not as is evidenced by the fact that men who really cut loose, in fact as well as theory from faith in God soon hopelessly flounder as to the good and the evil; and often it simmers down just to what is pleasant or unpleasant, or what their repudiated religious background said was good or evil; when this is done he is sponging off of theism to get some standard by which to discredit theism. "There was probably a time," Lamont continues, "when all people thought it quite right to be cruel when circumstances called for cruelty. Where did the critic of Theism, then, get the criterion by which he condemns cruelty? Not from nature, not even from what is called natural evolution, but from faith, which however he does not share, that God is merciful. He has received his standard of moral judgment from Theism, though he is not aware of it. Having ascended by the theistic ladder, he now 'scorns the base degrees by which he did ascend.' That is a common error, but not a respectable one. We ought to agree, not only that Theism wrestles with the human difficulty at its decisive point, but that it also provides the human race with its standards of moral judgment."
Not only are these questions in order, but the question ought also to be raised as to why--according to the unbelievers picture of the universe and life--man, in the face of the evil that there is in the world (which is sometimes overemphasized to the exclusion of the good in the world) , ever "evolved" the idea of a good God?
III. EVIL AND FREEDOM OF WILL
The account in the Bible of the entrance of evil into this world shows that death, and some of the present difficulties of man, entered into this world through sin. A curse was placed on the earth and man became subject to physical death. Belief, however, in the biblical account is a derived belief; that is, one believes it because he believes, on other grounds, that the Bible is the word of God. Thus it is that the believer is not overcome by the problem of evil, for he recognizes wherein it entered human life, since he has abundant grounds on which to believe that the Bible is the word of God. So to the unbeliever we say, study the basis of Christian faith and do not let the problem of evil keep you from seeing the reasons for faith.
The Christian believes that in so far as moral evil is concerned, the solution to that problem lies in the realm of the freedom of will. As long as God's mind was the only mind in the world there could be no problem of evil; but as soon as there were other minds, then there could be rebellion against the will of God. And thus it did come to pass that man chose to use his will contrary to God's will.
To illustrate more fully what is involved in man's freedom when it is abused, we shall briefly deal with the question which some ask: Why does not God step in and stop wars. Our suggestions, which follow, are not exhaustive, but they do indicate ways in which the question can be answered satisfactorily. First, God's will is that men walk in the paths of peace and love one another. This is clearly taught in the New Testament. Are we to blame God because men, who have the power of choice, will not listen to Him?
Second, when evil men persecute Christians, God may overrule it to the discipline and education of His people (Hebrews 12:5; Romans 5:3-5).
Third, God will not suspend the laws of the universe to keep us from being hurt if we ignore or rebel against these laws, and it is good that we cannot influence God to make us the exception. A man ultimately reaps what he sows (Galatians 6:7-8). If it were not so, life would be impossible both spiritually and physically for we would never know what produces what. If God made our will, rather than His the regulator of the universe, the universe would soon be wrecked, for the will of mankind is not united; instead there are millions of conflicting wills. Unless we could depend on the laws of nature, we could not plant a crop and know whether we were going to reap watermelons or grapefruit. This is not to say that God does not exercise any providence or answer prayer, but that it is His will which must be appealed to in all cases. We may entreat Him, but we cannot dictate to Him.
Fourth, for God to stop wars, to come back to our particular problem, one of two things must take place. (a) Either He must persuade all men through the gospel, and the leaven of the gospel, so that they become men of good will. (b) Or He must annihilate the will of man; thus annihilate humanity itself. The first thing is what God is now trying to do through the gospel, but because men have a will of their own, they must be persuaded, and thus Christ stands at the door and knocks (Revelation 3:20). He will not break the door down, we must open it. If God did the second thing, then He would have to remove the cause of war, which is sin in various forms. But God can remove that only through persuasion and our accepting of His gospel, or through removing the will of man. And if He removed the will of sinners or possible sinners, He would have to remove the will of all men, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one group of people entirely reponsible for the wars of the world; the sins of all make their contribution in varying degrees. And so then, for God to stop wars He would not stop eliminating men when He had eliminated all the Germans, etc., for in each man there is either greed, jealousy, and selfishness (which are at the root of war), or the possibility of these things. The process of annihilation of wills, and thus of personalities and the human being, would reach even unto me and to you.
Fifth, this world is a place of discipline and men must learn to be responsible for their own actions, for they shall reap as they have sown. To avoid reaping destruction, we must turn and sow to the Spirit.
Sixth, the world is also a place where righteous men often have to suffer because of the evil deeds of others. This fact is supremely demonstrated in the cross. We must accept it and recognize that the evil is in man's abuse of his power of choice, and that it may be given unto us to suffer for Christ's sake and if possible to reach the evil man and transform him, through the gospel, into a good man.
Seventh, in fairness to the Christian faith it must also be observed that the Bible teaches that although God may not always deliver Christian from death that He is able to deliver them by death. Death itself may be the means by which God permits them to be separated from their troubles and persecutions in this life, and to permit the spirit to return to God who gave it. Thus we conclude that even death itself is not the supreme problem to the Christian for he believes that life and immortality have been brought to light through the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 1:12) .
IN CONCLUSION
The problem of unbelief has not been dealt with intensively in these pages. Enough, however, has been said to indicate that the problem of evil need not keep an individual from accepting the credentials of Christianity. This problem he does not have to solve completely in order to have ample grounds for faith. The interested reader is referred to a book on this subject by C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.