How could one believe in an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent benevolent God,
...if one were a victim of a brutal raped?
...if one were a parent of a child who was brutally raped?
...if one were one of the 800 million people on earth suffering from chronic malnutrition?
...if one were to be executed in Auschwitz during WWII or the Holocaust?
...if one were a parent/child/sufferer of a rare incurable debilitating or life-threatening disorder?
...if one were a victim of genocide, ethnic cleansing, human trafficking, poverty, or apartheid, or orphan of HIV/AIDS parents?
...if one were a domestic helper or a child unwarrantedly abused?
...if one were a victim of natural a disaster?
And even if one were not any of these...?
“When beggars die there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.”
William Shakespeare (English Dramatist, Playwright and Poet, 1564-1616)
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Friday, June 10, 2005
The Problem of Evil - A Theological Pain
Warning!!: Before proceeding, please read my entries on 1st & 2nd January 2005 and Personal Disclaimer.
As a Christian, one believes that God is in control of all that occurs. He has a plan for the entire universe and all of time, and is at work bringing about that good plan. But a shadow falls across the comforting doctrine: the problem of evil.
Read this excerpt from Millard J Erickson's Christian Theology - Evil and God's World: A Special Problem. Chap 19, pp 411ff. (Baker) which helps to describe the nature of of the problem of evil:
The problem may be stated in a simple or a more complex fashion. David Hume (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion) put it succinctly when he wrote of God: "Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing: whence then is evil?" The existence of evil can also be seen as presenting a problem for the mealtime prayer that many children have been taught to pray: "God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food." For if God is great, then he is able to prevent evil from occurring. If God is good, he will not wish for evil to occur. But there is rather evident evil about us. The problem of evil then may be thought of as a conflict involving three concepts: God's power; God's goodness, and the presence of evil in the world. Common sense seems to tell us that all three cannot be true.
In varying degrees, the problem is a difficulty for all types of strong theism. Specifically, it is a difficulty for the theology which we have been presenting in this writing. We have discussed the omnipotence of God: his ability to do all things which are proper objects of his power. We have noted that creation and providence are implementations of this omnipotence, meaning respectively that God has by his own free decision and action brought into being everything that is and that he is in control of that creation, maintaining and directing it to the ends he has chosen. Further, we have observed the goodness of God - his attributes of love, mercy, patience. Yet evil is obviously present. How can this be, in light of who and what God is?
The evil that precipitates this dilemma is of two general types. On one hand, there is what is usually called natural evil. This is evil that does not involve human willing and acting, but is merely an aspect of nature which seems to work against man's welfare. There are the destructive forces of nature: hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, and the like. These catastrophic occurrences produce large losses of life as well as property. And much suffering and loss of human lives are caused by diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, and a host of other illness. The other type of evil is termed moral evil. These evils which can be traced to the choice and action of free moral agents. Here we find war, crime, cruelty, class struggles, discrimination, slavery, and injustices too numerable to mention. While moral evils can to some extent be removed from our consideration here by blaming them upon man's exercise of his own fee will, natural evils cannot be dismissed from our consideration. They simply seem to be there in the creation which God has made.
We have noted that the problem of evil arises to varying degrees for different theologies; in addition, it takes differing forms. Indeed, John Feinberg (Theologies and Evil) argues that we are not dealing with a problem, but with a set or series of problems appearing in varying combinations. Moreover, the problem of evil may occur as either a religious or a theological problem or both. In terms of the distinction made in the opening chapter of this book, religion is the level of spiritual practice, experience, and belief. Theology is the secondary level of reflection upon religion, involving analysis, interpretation, and construction. 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's being what and who he is, but how any such problem does not necessarily imply personal experiences, but there will have been a specific situation at least vicariously encountered. The theological form of the problem, however, does not necessarily imply any such specific situation at all. One's focus on the problem may well move from religious to theological as a result of such an occurrence, or concentration on evil in general may devolve from much broader considerations. It is important to note these distinctions. For, as Alvin Plantinga (God, Freedom and Evil) has pointed out, the person for whom some specific evil (this is perhaps more accurate than the problem of evil) is presenting a religious difficulty may need pastoral care rather than help in working out intellectual difficulties. Similarly, to treat one's genuine intellectual struggles as merely a matter of feelings will not be very helpful. Failure to recognize the religious form of the problem of evil will appear insensitive; failure to deal with the theological form will appear intellectually insulting. Particulary where the two are found together, it is important to recognize and distinguish the respective components.
Perhaps another simplistic way of looking at how the problem of evil affects me can be stated in the following way:
As a Christian, one believes that God is in control of all that occurs. He has a plan for the entire universe and all of time, and is at work bringing about that good plan. But a shadow falls across the comforting doctrine: the problem of evil.
Read this excerpt from Millard J Erickson's Christian Theology - Evil and God's World: A Special Problem. Chap 19, pp 411ff. (Baker) which helps to describe the nature of of the problem of evil:
The problem may be stated in a simple or a more complex fashion. David Hume (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion) put it succinctly when he wrote of God: "Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing: whence then is evil?" The existence of evil can also be seen as presenting a problem for the mealtime prayer that many children have been taught to pray: "God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food." For if God is great, then he is able to prevent evil from occurring. If God is good, he will not wish for evil to occur. But there is rather evident evil about us. The problem of evil then may be thought of as a conflict involving three concepts: God's power; God's goodness, and the presence of evil in the world. Common sense seems to tell us that all three cannot be true.
In varying degrees, the problem is a difficulty for all types of strong theism. Specifically, it is a difficulty for the theology which we have been presenting in this writing. We have discussed the omnipotence of God: his ability to do all things which are proper objects of his power. We have noted that creation and providence are implementations of this omnipotence, meaning respectively that God has by his own free decision and action brought into being everything that is and that he is in control of that creation, maintaining and directing it to the ends he has chosen. Further, we have observed the goodness of God - his attributes of love, mercy, patience. Yet evil is obviously present. How can this be, in light of who and what God is?
The evil that precipitates this dilemma is of two general types. On one hand, there is what is usually called natural evil. This is evil that does not involve human willing and acting, but is merely an aspect of nature which seems to work against man's welfare. There are the destructive forces of nature: hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, and the like. These catastrophic occurrences produce large losses of life as well as property. And much suffering and loss of human lives are caused by diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, and a host of other illness. The other type of evil is termed moral evil. These evils which can be traced to the choice and action of free moral agents. Here we find war, crime, cruelty, class struggles, discrimination, slavery, and injustices too numerable to mention. While moral evils can to some extent be removed from our consideration here by blaming them upon man's exercise of his own fee will, natural evils cannot be dismissed from our consideration. They simply seem to be there in the creation which God has made.
We have noted that the problem of evil arises to varying degrees for different theologies; in addition, it takes differing forms. Indeed, John Feinberg (Theologies and Evil) argues that we are not dealing with a problem, but with a set or series of problems appearing in varying combinations. Moreover, the problem of evil may occur as either a religious or a theological problem or both. In terms of the distinction made in the opening chapter of this book, religion is the level of spiritual practice, experience, and belief. Theology is the secondary level of reflection upon religion, involving analysis, interpretation, and construction. 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's being what and who he is, but how any such problem does not necessarily imply personal experiences, but there will have been a specific situation at least vicariously encountered. The theological form of the problem, however, does not necessarily imply any such specific situation at all. One's focus on the problem may well move from religious to theological as a result of such an occurrence, or concentration on evil in general may devolve from much broader considerations. It is important to note these distinctions. For, as Alvin Plantinga (God, Freedom and Evil) has pointed out, the person for whom some specific evil (this is perhaps more accurate than the problem of evil) is presenting a religious difficulty may need pastoral care rather than help in working out intellectual difficulties. Similarly, to treat one's genuine intellectual struggles as merely a matter of feelings will not be very helpful. Failure to recognize the religious form of the problem of evil will appear insensitive; failure to deal with the theological form will appear intellectually insulting. Particulary where the two are found together, it is important to recognize and distinguish the respective components.
Perhaps another simplistic way of looking at how the problem of evil affects me can be stated in the following way:
- If God exists, then God is omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect.
- If God is omnipotent, then God has the power to eliminate all evil.
- If God is omniscient, then God knows when evil exists.
- If God is morally perfect, then God has the desire to eliminate all evil.
- Evil exists.
- If evil exists and God exists, then either God doesn't have the power to eliminate all evil, or doesn't know when evil exists, or doesn't have the desire to eliminate all evil.
- Therefore, God doesn't exist.
For some more additional reading, click here
Sunday, January 02, 2005
My Spiritual History
Since birth, I was raised by Christian parents. Then, they were attending a Brethren church. They subsequently left the church and became members of a Roman Catholic (RC) church! - yes I know, how unusual.
As a young child, I used to go regularly to a peranakan service with my Godma (my Dad's elder sister who kinda adopted me). But when my parents decided to become RCs, I joined them too. I was enthusiastic. I attended a special and private catechism class under a very fatherly, warm, pious dutch priest. Eventually, I became baptised and confirmed. I was about 11-12 years old. I did enjoy a very special and at that moment a very real spiritual experience. I found tremendous solace in God. I even starting going to Church on my own - if my parents weren't going. Then, I decided it was time to start learning to contribute and be more involved in church community. Since I love music, I decided I would join a church "choir". There were several in the church. The one I joined was more a singing group than a choir - many of us do not have any music training (theory or otherwise), but they - and so was I ;) - were a very talented bunch nevertheless, young, energetic, rather jazzy. I learned many things from them. I learned how to sing, play the guitar, how to smoke, drink, BGR, party, dance, perform in public, learn what grown-ups do (I was the "baby" of the group amongst the mostly young working members), and other very useful life lessons including RC religiousity or piety. I didn't really learn much more about God but they were fun time.
Towards the middle of my teenage years, I started becoming dissatisfied with my "shallow" spiritual life and state. Going to church was becoming a mundane exercise. I love collecting bibles of all shapes, sizes and versions but I didn't read them. I knew a lot about God, church and all but I didn't know God. Hence, I decided I would give myself a last go at re-discovering God. I wanted to understand and experience true spirituality, not piety. I wanted to be a Christian, not religious person. I wanted to know my creator, not a religion. If I should find out that there is no such being as a God, I would be happy to be an atheist. I didn't I needed any pyschological blanket.
After some soul searching period which included brief (and superficial) attempts at considering other religious beliefs, I decided that Christianity was the most consistent, more "timeless" and least "form-focused". Hence, I embarked on a quest to read, learn and understand the Bible - the Word of God. After about a year and a half of reading, learning, asking questions, talking to my RC priests, my non-RC christian friends, attending workshops, visiting churches, and attending Bible Study group meetings, I got to know God more intimately. This was to be another significant milestone of my Christian pilgrimage. God was no longer just a transcedent being. I was beginning to experience his immanence. I was communicating with him. He became my life foci and compass. I tried as much as I humanly can to obey his precepts. I even thought I was experiencing some inexplicable spiritual phenomenon - perhaps just short of being miraculous. I was like a giant, specially designed 3M sponge. I was soaking up almost everything - including the loads of rubbish you often get in church.
Another milestone. I decided I would do anything and everything I can to "serve" God - not necessary as a full-time Christian worker. But as things would turn out, an opening to serve in a Christian para-church organisation became available. One thing led to another, I was serving as a Christian worker. My limited knowledge in God (theological knowledge) became more apparent. My inability to discern between the truth, the myths and the lies that we being taught over in church and over the pulpit became increasingly frustrating.
One more milestone. I decided to enrol into a theological college so that I could be equipped to read, interpret and understand the Bible in its original script to its original audience and sitz im leben. Perhaps only then I could know what, when and how to apply what the Bible teaches. In some ways, they were luxurious time - to be able to study the Bible and do theology fulltime. One thing was for sure. The more I learn, the less I seem to know. The more I learn, the more questions I have unanswered. The more I learn, the more I realise I did not know. The more I learn, the more apparent how ignorant I was. But don't get me wrong. I am much happier knowing that I know little than to ignorantly think I know much. I became more aware of how childish, ignorant, if not erroneous many of my own teachings or understanding were. But why should understanding God or his teaching be so difficult?!
Anyway, I hopped on - another milestone. I started working with churches. Began taking up more teaching assignments. Did consider very seriously the possibility of pursuing a priesthood career but decided against it. Too many things one would have to do as a Christian priest that I did not subscribe to. Didn't think I would make a competent one too. Could not fully appreciate the need to distinguish between the lay and the clerical professional other than for the sake of church order and administration. Simply a church worker, I was happy to be.
From this point on, my milestones became more and more like bolders of problems and obstacles I had to roll away - some perhaps of my own doing.
To be continued....sorry!, more to add. The entry dates are not accurate. I use them to organise my blog more than to indicate the real date of my thoughts or journal.
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As a young child, I used to go regularly to a peranakan service with my Godma (my Dad's elder sister who kinda adopted me). But when my parents decided to become RCs, I joined them too. I was enthusiastic. I attended a special and private catechism class under a very fatherly, warm, pious dutch priest. Eventually, I became baptised and confirmed. I was about 11-12 years old. I did enjoy a very special and at that moment a very real spiritual experience. I found tremendous solace in God. I even starting going to Church on my own - if my parents weren't going. Then, I decided it was time to start learning to contribute and be more involved in church community. Since I love music, I decided I would join a church "choir". There were several in the church. The one I joined was more a singing group than a choir - many of us do not have any music training (theory or otherwise), but they - and so was I ;) - were a very talented bunch nevertheless, young, energetic, rather jazzy. I learned many things from them. I learned how to sing, play the guitar, how to smoke, drink, BGR, party, dance, perform in public, learn what grown-ups do (I was the "baby" of the group amongst the mostly young working members), and other very useful life lessons including RC religiousity or piety. I didn't really learn much more about God but they were fun time.
Towards the middle of my teenage years, I started becoming dissatisfied with my "shallow" spiritual life and state. Going to church was becoming a mundane exercise. I love collecting bibles of all shapes, sizes and versions but I didn't read them. I knew a lot about God, church and all but I didn't know God. Hence, I decided I would give myself a last go at re-discovering God. I wanted to understand and experience true spirituality, not piety. I wanted to be a Christian, not religious person. I wanted to know my creator, not a religion. If I should find out that there is no such being as a God, I would be happy to be an atheist. I didn't I needed any pyschological blanket.
After some soul searching period which included brief (and superficial) attempts at considering other religious beliefs, I decided that Christianity was the most consistent, more "timeless" and least "form-focused". Hence, I embarked on a quest to read, learn and understand the Bible - the Word of God. After about a year and a half of reading, learning, asking questions, talking to my RC priests, my non-RC christian friends, attending workshops, visiting churches, and attending Bible Study group meetings, I got to know God more intimately. This was to be another significant milestone of my Christian pilgrimage. God was no longer just a transcedent being. I was beginning to experience his immanence. I was communicating with him. He became my life foci and compass. I tried as much as I humanly can to obey his precepts. I even thought I was experiencing some inexplicable spiritual phenomenon - perhaps just short of being miraculous. I was like a giant, specially designed 3M sponge. I was soaking up almost everything - including the loads of rubbish you often get in church.
Another milestone. I decided I would do anything and everything I can to "serve" God - not necessary as a full-time Christian worker. But as things would turn out, an opening to serve in a Christian para-church organisation became available. One thing led to another, I was serving as a Christian worker. My limited knowledge in God (theological knowledge) became more apparent. My inability to discern between the truth, the myths and the lies that we being taught over in church and over the pulpit became increasingly frustrating.
One more milestone. I decided to enrol into a theological college so that I could be equipped to read, interpret and understand the Bible in its original script to its original audience and sitz im leben. Perhaps only then I could know what, when and how to apply what the Bible teaches. In some ways, they were luxurious time - to be able to study the Bible and do theology fulltime. One thing was for sure. The more I learn, the less I seem to know. The more I learn, the more questions I have unanswered. The more I learn, the more I realise I did not know. The more I learn, the more apparent how ignorant I was. But don't get me wrong. I am much happier knowing that I know little than to ignorantly think I know much. I became more aware of how childish, ignorant, if not erroneous many of my own teachings or understanding were. But why should understanding God or his teaching be so difficult?!
Anyway, I hopped on - another milestone. I started working with churches. Began taking up more teaching assignments. Did consider very seriously the possibility of pursuing a priesthood career but decided against it. Too many things one would have to do as a Christian priest that I did not subscribe to. Didn't think I would make a competent one too. Could not fully appreciate the need to distinguish between the lay and the clerical professional other than for the sake of church order and administration. Simply a church worker, I was happy to be.
From this point on, my milestones became more and more like bolders of problems and obstacles I had to roll away - some perhaps of my own doing.
To be continued....sorry!, more to add. The entry dates are not accurate. I use them to organise my blog more than to indicate the real date of my thoughts or journal.
BACK TO TOP
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