My Evensong
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God’s Providence and Evil
(cf. Psalm 73)
The doctrine of providence is a great comfort: knowing that God is in control of everything, that He is inherently good, and that He has the power to do whatever He wants is a source of hope for those who put their trust in Him. But the ubiquitous and seemingly undiminished presence of evil seems at odds with such a faith. As violent and troublesome as the twentieth century seems to have been, its wickedness is hardly unique to our own recent history. During the first half of the fifth century the Roman Empire was falling apart. The Vandals were invading North Africa. The Franks were pressing into what is now France and the Saxons were moving into England. The Goths had crossed the Baltic Sea and the Visigoths and Ostrogoths were marching toward Rome. To the average person, accustomed to the orderliness and peace of the Roman Empire, it must have seemed as though the world was about to end. Indeed, the Pax Romana was coming to an end and the future looked exceptionally bleak. These events prompted Augustine to rethink his biblical understanding of world order. Like many others he had thought of Rome as God’s servant for the redemptive work of Christ (and after a fashion it was). The church, he believed, under the mighty arm of Rome, would continue to expand eventually conquering the entire world with the gospel. The conquering church would then become the radiant bride of Christ. Such faith was not without existential warrant. Inroads with the gospel had significantly changed Roman culture and already the gospel had been promulgated among the Goths. The missionary, Ulfilas (ca. 311-381 [an early Wycliffe]), had translated the Bible into the Germanic language using the Greek alphabet to create a written language for the illiterate Goths. However, with Rome succumbing to the decay from within and the attacks from without, Augustine was forced to rethink his theology of the church and, in some measure, the nature of the conflict between good and evil. About this time, he wrote:
  • You are surprised that the world is losing its grip; that the world is grown old and full of pressing tribulation?  Do not hold on to the old man the world, do not refuse to regain your youth in Christ who says to you: “the world is passing away, the world is losing its grip, the world is short of breath. Do not fear, thy youth shall be renewed as an eagle."
But herein lies the rub – why is there ever a time of crisis? If God is all powerful and inherently good, how do we account for the presence of evil? Given the obvious presence of evil, the skeptic David Hume attacked the Christian doctrine of a good and almighty God as being oxymoronic.

  • Nor is it possible to explain distinctly, how the Deity can be the mediate cause of all the actions of men, without being the author of sin and moral turpitude. These are mysteries, which mere natural and unassisted reason is very unfit to handle; and whatever system she embraces, she must find herself involved in inextricable difficulties, and even contradictions, at every step which she takes with regard to such subjects. … Happy, if she be thence sensible of her temerity, when she pries into these sublime mysteries; and leaving a scene so full of obscurities and perplexities, return, with suitable modesty, to her true and proper province, the examination of common life; where she will find difficulties enough to employ her inquiries, without launching into so boundless an ocean of doubt, uncertainty, and contradiction! (An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, section 8, part 2)
Hume gave voice to a common criticism leveled against Christianity, though he was unable to offer any solution for the problems he raised. Hume rejected the truth of Scripture but offered no satisfactory alternative. While Hume was right in identifying the problem of evil as an important one for the theist, he was wrong in thinking there was no cogent Christian response. However, it must be admitted that the problem of moral evil may not be entirely answered this side of heaven. Millard Erickson’s comments are sobering: “It is important to recognize that this is a very severe problem, perhaps the most severe of all the intellectual problems facing theism. … We are dealing here with a problem that has occupied the attention of some the greatest minds of the Christian church, intellects of such stature as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. None of them was able to put the problem to rest finally and completely” (Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, vol. 1, p. 414).

Irrespective of the difficulties facing the believer there are some answers that may help to alleviate one’s mind. However, before we come to that, it may be helpful to note the distinction between the religious and theological forms of the problem. “In general the religious form of the problem of evil occurs when some particular aspect of one’s experience has had the effect of calling into question the greatness or goodness of God, and hence threatens the relationship between the believer and God. The theological form of the problem is concerned with evil in general. It is not a question of how a specific concrete situation can exist in light of God being what and who he is, but how any such problem could possibly exist” (Erickson, p. 413).

GOD'S POWER 

Some theologians and philosophers attempt to solve the conundrum of evil through dualism. Zoroastrianism and Manicheanism were dualistic. The latter had some influence on the fourth century church. It was Augustine’s conversion and attack on Faustus (a spokesman for the Manichees) that helped defeat the dualism of this sect (cp. Confessions, book V, III). A contemporary variant form of dualism may be found in the writings of theistic finitists: theologians who attempt to limit God’s sovereignty with respect to evil. “Brightman says that ‘all theistic finitists agree that there is something in the universe not created by God and not a result of voluntary self-limitation, which God finds as either obstacle or instrument to his will” (Erickson, p. 415). Of course, they do not solve the problem of evil because there can be no assurance that God will one day overcome evil. After all, according to them, if God has not been able to overcome it thus far, is it reasonable to assume that he ever will? Though God may offer assurances of his victory, his limitations work against him (i.e., He lacks omniscience and Omnipotence).

God cannot work contrary to his nature. He cannot do anything that is self-contradictory (e.g., God cannot make a circle where the points are not equal distant from the center). He could not create a volitionally free creature without allowing for the possibility of evil. The question some will ask is: Why, then, create anything at all? We cannot answer this, except to say that God always chooses the greater good (Deuteronomy 29.29). He created man to have fellowship with himself and, in order to make this fellowship meaningful, there needs to be the option of not having fellowship with him. God anticipated the fall of man and evil and made provision for it before time began.

GOOD AND EVIL 

Few would dispute that God is perfectly good. Biblically we might define man’s degree of moral goodness as those acts that are in conformity with the character and will of God. Everything that is good glorifies God and conforms to his character (Romans 8.29; 2 Corinthians 7.1). However, what is good is not always pleasant: And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope (Romans 5.3-4). Discipline and training (in righteousness) do not seem pleasant, but they are of limited duration and for our ultimate good (Hebrews 12.10-13). Paul writes: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8.18-21).

The definition of good and evil is not quite as simple as it sounds. One may be inclined to say that what he likes is good and what he doesn't is bad (not necessarily evil). Examples of what is good in Scripture often involve hardship and self-sacrifice. If a person wants to compete with his college cross-country ski team, he must first endure long and arduous training sessions. Most would think such a prerequisite reasonable, even though it required some personal pain and discomfort. The analogy of training lacks something of the pathos of earthly suffering (though we find it used thus in Hebrews 12); still, it reminds us that our earthly troubles are temporary. As bad as things may be living in a world affected by sin (both naturalistically and morally), they might be considerably worse. Moreover, God has not deserted his covenant people; nor is his providential rule over the whole earth diminished in any way. He remains active in our affairs and works proactively to keep us from ultimate harm (Matthew 28.20; John 14.18, 27; 15.18-21). We know that evil is abroad in the world; yet, however bad that evil may be, it is restrained from unleashing its full fury (Job 1.12; John 12.32 [with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the prince of this world will be driven out; cp. Revelation 20.2]; 2 Thessalonians 2.7; Ephesians 5.15-16). John writes, You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4.4; cp. Romans 8.37-39; Ephesians 6.13). 

THE CROSS:  the final apologetic for evil

Just as God grants to His children the dignity of causality in prayer, so too He permits them to join in the struggle against sin and evil. But He has taken the frontal attack of its effect. Like the disciples in the midst of the storm, when the waves crash across the bow and threaten to sink the boat, we are safe in the company of Jesus. The believer may count it a blessing that he is invited to take up the cross and be counted among those serving with Christ (Matthew 16.24-25; Philippians 1.29; 1 Peter 4.12).

That God took sin and its evil effects upon himself is a unique contribution by Christian doctrine to the solution of the problem of evil. It is remarkable that, while knowing that he himself was to become a victim (indeed, the major victim) of the evil resulting from sin, God allowed sin to occur anyway. The Bible tells us that God was grieved by the sinfulness of man (Gen. 6:6). While there is a certain anthropomorphism evidenced in this text, there nonetheless is an indication that the sin of man is painful or hurtful to God. But even more to the point is the fact of the incarnation. The Triune God knew that the second person would come to earth and be subject to numerous evils: hunger, fatigue, betrayal, ridicule, rejection, suffering, and death. He did this in order to negate sin and thus its evil effects. God is a fellow sufferer with us of the evil in this world, and consequently is able to deliver us from evil. What a measure of love this is! Anyone who would impugn the goodness of God for allowing sin and consequently evil must measure that charge against the teaching of Scripture that God himself became the victim of evil so that he and we might be victors over evil. (Erickson, p. 432)