The problem of evil as stated in most philosophy classes is one of the greatest counter arguments to the existence of a good God, namely the God Christians believe in. This was the primary topic of Lee Strobel's "Case for Faith", but the book had a better explanation to my systematic mind was I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, the final contributing source to this blog is Switchfoot's The Shadow Proves the Sunshine. Ravi Zacharias very well argues peoples’ true reservations for philosophically denying God's existence is their own will to not want to have to answer for their behavior or submit to something much greater than themselves in The Real Face of Atheism, the presence and problem of evil is still one of the most popular topics of discussion.
I am writing this with an entirely different spin on the point, the "presence" of evil exists. For several years at my current point of maturity I am hard-pressed to say that I actually regret anything that I did. Not because I think I am some perfect being whose sins have not hurt or offended anyone, but because through my failures I have developed to be the person that I am today. If I had never experienced hardships, failure, and trials I suspect I would have a paper thin faith if any at all, at least on the personal level with Christ.
As I have read from several sources in addition to a number of sermons the most common answer to the problem of evil is that evil in itself does not exist. Instead evil is a description much like hot and cold. Cold is not tangible, cold by its very definition is the absence of heat. Just as the definition of darkness is an absence of light, evil is the definition of an absence of good. Philosophically it addresses the problem very well because one of the premises of the Problem of Evil as it is stated in philosophy is that evil exists. By defeating the premise, the argument is void. I think it also has the benefit of showing how we must promote and behave "good" to best combat evil. Although this reason philosophically by technicality is satisfying to some, to the majority of the population that has experienced evil, it is very unsatisfying to the heart.
My next point about the problem of evil, and why I think its feeling confirms the existence of God. People admit to themselves and others that they believe in absolute morals and therefore an absolute moral lawgiver by ones reaction to evil and pain. The best example I have is from a story about a college student and his professor. The student’s final paper was to argue for a point, any point. The student decided to argue against moral absolutism. When the student turned in the paper he was very disappointed with the grade. On the front of the paper it said "F, I don't like blue folders." The folder happened to be blue. Upset the student argued with the professor and claimed that the grade was not fair nor did it merit the F based on the color of the folder. The professor simply smiled and pointed out that, "you argued that there is no such thing as fair, moral, or right, therefore I don't like blue folders so you grade remains an F!" The moral of the story is that by the student’s reaction to injustice, his absolute belief in justice, fairness, and morality was confirmed. It is by people’s reaction to evil that they confirm what good should be.
Most people will argue that because evil exists that God doesn't exist, after all why wouldn't he stop it? Well the Christian answer to why evil is in the world is because sin is in the world. Sinful people commit evil deeds on people. Even more, natural disasters are also the result of sin, perhaps not as directly as a sinful person murdering another person as being evil, but because sin entered the world at the Garden of Eden. All of creation was rocked, the world was no longer as it was meant to be, and that is the world we currently reside.
To further elaborate people confirm what right and wrong is by our reactions to wrong, is the song I mentioned earlier. The Shadow proves the Sunshine I don't think I need to go further than the title of the song for the point to be made. Without the darkness we can't appreciate the good and justness of God. After all, if there was no light how would one recognize it is dark? We wouldn't because that is all that there would be. In the same way, the existence of the shadow proves that sunshine does exist.
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