Is God Dead?

The challenge of gratuitous evil

Over this miniseries of recent articles, we have gleaned several notions from the biblical text in an attempt to ascertain what God has to say in answer to the question, “Why does God allow evil and suffering to exist in the world?” From that exposition, we have identified evil and suffering as punishment for sin, as a consequence of other people’s sin, as a consequence of fallen angelic free will, and for a greater good that could not otherwise be obtained. Sure enough, the Bible gives multiple examples of each of these reasons why God may allow evil to exist in the world. There remains, however, a stubborn category that is perhaps one of the most vicious forms of evil and suffering that can be experienced: the notion of gratuitous evil (evil that seems to defy any reason at all).

Often, this form of evil and suffering involves the suffering of the truly innocent: the suffering of children. These are heart-wrenching cases of suffering that seem to have absolutely no explanation and defy our understanding. For the moment, however, I would like to briefly set the suffering of children aside as we will consider it more fully at a later time. At present, I would like to pose an age-old question and then attempt to answer it coherently. Quite simply, the question is, “Is there gratuitous evil in the world?”

Is there a reason, of some form or structure, that applies to every instance of evil? Or, is there evil and suffering in the world that makes no sense whatsoever? Evil that does not fit into any of the biblical categories we have been considering at some length over the last several weeks? This is an important consideration because the skeptics of theism and Christianity argue that the significant amount of gratuitous evil and suffering in the world indicates not only that God is dead but that God never existed, to begin with. The skeptic’s philosophical argument is present in this form: 1. If God exists, there are no gratuitous evils.

2. There are gratuitous evils. 3. Therefore, God does not exist.

Following the rules of philosophical reasoning, if premises 1 and 2 are true, then 3 is true necessarily. To each in turn.

Considering that the last 80 articles (yes, 80 articles!) of this column have set about presenting a cumulative and progressive case, we have now established a rather robust case for the existence of God. Given God’s existence, premise one can be restated: “Since God exists, there are no gratuitous evils. But this seems to be false; abundant cases of suffering seem to have no cause. In this sense, premise 2 is true. Logically, if premise 2 is true, the conclusion must follow: God does not exist. However, I categorically disagree with this conclusion because I believe that premise 2, in spite of what seems to be genuine gratuitous evil in the world, is false. Here is why. I want to argue that until human beings grasp the incalculable differences between the omniscience (all-knowing) that God alone possesses and the minuscule finitude of our understanding, we will continue to look upon some evil and suffering as gratuitous. God Himself makes this point abundantly clear in His questioning of Job (ch. 38-42), which begins, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?”

From there, God pummels Job with questions unanswerable from the finitude of the human mind. In the end, Job replies to God, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:3). Moreover, the Bible speaks directly to the perceptive limitations of human beings saying, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:89). No doubt God’s ways are higher than our own, and they are often shrouded from our view, arguably for our own good. Truly, there exists pain and suffering all around us that seems to have no cause, no reason, and no purpose.

Even still, the overwhelming abundance of evidence testifies not only to God’s existence but to His eternal power and divine nature as well (cf. Rom 1:20). Philosopher Doug Groothuis put it this way: “The morally sufficient reasons for these evils may be inscrutable, but they are not gratuitous.” From behind the veil, we are not so blinded that we cannot accept the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and benevolent God and, at the same time, the existence of evil and suffering.

Join us next week as we look at the first murder and how the God of Christianity responded. Until then, is God Dead?

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at [email protected].