A fly in the divine ointment. The Problem of Evil A fly in the divine ointment.

Natural Evil Natural evil includes such things as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, diseases and the like. When you experience nature’s furious blind indifference you begin to wonder about evil. When a tree limb falls on your head while you’re walking in the woods, you may wonder if you are the butt of some cosmic joke.

Moral Evil Moral evil includes such things as murder, mayhem, terrorism, rape, torture, ruthless greed, and the like. When you are victimized by moral evil you naturally protest, “Why me, why this, why now!” Moral evil poignantly exposes God’s absence from the stage of history.

The Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky has Ivan reject God for creating a world in which innocents suffer. He relates a story of a general who used dogs to hunt down and tear to pieces an innocent boy. Ivan asks, “What should be done to such a man.” His brother, Alyosha, replies: “Shoot him.”

Protest Atheism Any being, human or divine, that knowingly permits the suffering of innocents deserves to be shot. Isn’t God such a being? History is “red in tooth and claw.” Just look at the waste of now extinct species. What kind of divine teleology can possibly justify such carnage?

Where’s God when you need God? The silence of God in the face of evil is a mystery, and a challenge to theism. David Hume puts the challenge this way If God is GOD, then God is malevolent. If God is GOOD, then God is impotent. Otherwise, whence cometh evil? God’s hiddenness, however, has not gone unnoticed.

Theodicy…the Defense of God The technical term for defending God from the problems associated with evil is theodicy. Theodicy can take many forms, some more, some less, helpful. Theodicy is an intellectual exercise, not suitable for people in the midst of some crisis. So, don’t start talking about theodicy when someone has just experienced trauma.