I now seek to discuss what, in my opinion, is the best argument for atheism, and then I will debunk it—that being the problem of evil. Who has not heard an atheist say: how can you believe in a God who let the Holocaust happen? I am about to answer that question.
So God is the omnipotent and omniscient Supreme Act of Being. So he was perfectly able to reign fire from heaven to kill the nazis. He could fire a lightning bolt at Emperor Nero and destroy Stalin with the snap of His fingers. Why now has God allowed this coronavirus pandemic to occur and shut everything down? Relations between India and China are not going particularly well and it would be rather bad for the world if they were to go to war. I am an imperfect person, and if I were omnipotent, I am sure that I would not let such things as this happen. So why would our omnipotent God whose nature is in direct contradiction with sin allow such great human suffering?
Well, think first about it this way. Should God actually stop all evils? We have all done some evil at some point. If an eight-year-old chooses to eat four cookies when his mother strictly told him to eat no more than two, he does something wrong, this being, of course, a byproduct of the gift of free will (in itself, a good thing) which God has given him. So should God stop him? Or rather, could you imagine a reason why an omniscient God might allow that to happen? Is it possible that with infinite knowledge, God might allow this to serve a greater good? Or what about a natural evil, such as a five-year-old dropping her ice cream cone. After all, when one is five, what could possibly be sadder than ice cream? An atheist would probably admit that if an omniscient God did exist, he at least might allow lesser sufferings like this to prevent worse evils.
This is the place where I will probably be accused of being a terrible person. But before the reader comments saying something along the lines of how dare you compare a five-year-old dropping an ice cream cone to the Holocaust? let me explain my point.
Well, we can always see reasons why some natural evils might exist. The five-year-old, by dropping her ice cream cone, may learn the virtue of temperance or patience. Suffering, for instance, allows a person to develop virtue. What is courage but the willingness to do what is right in the face of suffering? What is compassion but suffering along side others? What is charity but putting another’s needs above one’s own wants? Natural evils may be an acceptable consequence a world governed by natural laws that lacks gratuitous miraculous interventions. A fire, for instance, is a good thing that warms us, but it can also kill us unless God miraculously prevents it. It is, in fact, an ideal place for mortal men to live, grow in virtue, and come to know, love, and serve their Creator.
“But how can good come forth from the Holocaust? I see nought reason, wherefore nought reason must exist!” The fact, however, that an individual cannot see the reason for God allowing something does not mean he has no good reason. On the contrary, this reasoning simply concludes that because no reason is immediately apparent, there must be no evil. When I see no hippo in my living room, we can generally conclude that it is not present. However, I cannot be justified for saying that there are no dust-mites in my back yard because I do not see any. Humans are limited in space and time and therefore cannot expect to understand the mind of an infinite God. We will never know why God allows everything he does until heaven. Perhaps the eight-year-old who was kidnapped by a serial killer and slain went to heaven, when otherwise he would have grown up to become a serial fornicator and usurer, dying and going to hell.
So atheists basically make this syllogism: If God exists, then pointless evils do not exist. Pointless evils exist. Therefore, God does not exist. I would respond with this syllogism: If God exists, pointless evils do not exist. God exists. Therefore, pointless evils do not exist.
This might seem hard for some to accept, but think about it this way. The eight-year-old whose parents were killed in a tsunami, what else ought he to hear, but Son, I am sorry, but if God would not have allowed this unless he had a good reason and I have the feeling that if you knew what that reason was, you’d be on your knees in prayer thanking God?
However, I must go deeper than this. We were not made to suffer and there is no suffering in heaven. The answer goes back to Genesis 3. We suffer because we have sinned.
Actually, we do not suffer because we personally have sinned, but because humanity collectively has sinned. The connection between sin and suffering is as necessary as the connection between running at an angry water buffalo and being trampled or empaled. The connection between moral evil and natural evil is the connection between the soul and the body. The soul and the body are in psychosomatic unity, wherefore as the soul declares independence from God, so does the body. The soul’s authority over the body is dependent. If the soul will not serve God, the body need not serve the soul. Hence all human suffering is a byproduct of free will since we were all harmed by Adam’s sin.
Now some would question why we must suffer individually. Most atheists would have no trouble with God raining fire and brimstone on Hitler and Stalin, but why us? Imagine if there were a man who was friends with the CEO of a massive airline. As a result, he could always get first-class seats for himself and his family when they fly. One day, he collaborates with a terrorist organization to re-enact 9-11. His friend, finding out about this, no longer allows him on his airline (and probably the man is arrested). The man’s children, therefore, also are unable to have free first-class seats on the airline. Is it wrong of the CEO to deprive the children of free first-class seats on account of the sin of their father? Of course not. Then why is it wrong for God, Who is infinitely above all, having made everything out of nothing, to allow us to inherit the sin of Adam rather than eternal life? Yet out of His great love and mercy, eternal life was indeed returned to us by the merits of Jesus Christ, His Son, Whom he sent to die for the whole world, but until then we must strive through this vale of tears on a journey ere were reach our final destination, knowing that God would not allow us to suffer unless He had a good reason.
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Chivalric Apologetics 