Epicurus: Some more thoughts on the problem of evil

I'd written a post several years ago dealing with the Epicurus riddle. As is often the case, though, there's a lot that can be said on certain subjects and this is one such subject. I still stand by what I wrote then but, since this is a very broad issue and one that is discussed frequently, I thought I'd refine some of the points I'd made back then and maybe add a thing or two.

The Epicurus Riddle goes like this:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?

Being Greek, and having lived before Christ, Epicurus certainly wasn't talking about Christianity, but his same arguments have been used to attack the God of the Bible. It's a series of questions meant to highlight the “problem of evil” and create some sort of dilemma for Christians: if God is good and omnipotent, why does He allow evil? The conclusion the critic wants us to draw is that God doesn't stop evil because there really is no god. As is always the case, any opinion that is not founded on the rock of Christ is founded on sand and cannot bear scrutiny. I see a few failings with this argument.

If an unbeliever wants to leverage evil to prove the nonexistence of God, he must first explain what he means by “evil.” As simple as that might sound, this is a real problem for unbelievers. If there were no god, then there is no greater being who administers justice. The universe would be all there is and the universe doesn't care what happens. An apple falling from a tree, a lion eating a zebra, one man killing another man, are just inconsequential events that happen while an indifferent cosmos just chugs along for billions of more years.

A star 1 billion light-years away goes nova and destroys a solar system? The universe doesn't care.

A meteor strikes the earth 60 million years ago and kills all the dinosaurs? The universe doesn't care.

A tsunami hits the coast of Japan and kills tens of thousands of people? The universe doesn't care.

A man pushes an old lady down and steals her purse? The universe doesn't care.

Of course, some things affect us more than others. I might not care about the rabbit fleeing from a wolf or a distant star going nova. However, I do care about a tsunami or an old lady being assaulted. What makes some things evil and not others? Does “evil” mean only “things we don't like”? Without an objective, transcendent standard of what makes a thing “evil,” Epicurus might as well have asked, “Why does God allow things I don't like?” Of course, that doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

Unbelievers regularly display a sort of schizophrenia. They claim to believe there is no god, yet still live their lives as though there were. It's like a deluded person who claims not to believe in gravity but still knows better than to step off a building. You cannot question God about the existence of evil without first acknowledging that there is a such thing as evil. Yet evil can only exist if God exists, so to even claim there is “evil” is to tacitly acknowledge there must be a God.

Let's concede, for the sake of argument, that evil is just a term we use to describe anything that affects the greater good of humanity. Something like stealing, for example, might be called evil because it helps one person but harms another. Never mind that it's not evil when a lion steals a zebra that a cheetah has killed. We can all agree that it's wrong for one human to steal from another... unless maybe it's to help someone. I mean, what if I stole a loaf of bread from a rich person so that I could feed my poor, starving family for a day? Does the skeptic believe God should not allow me to do this? A quick thinking skeptic might point out that, if God is willing and able to do good, then my family shouldn't be starving. I raise this point only to say that there is a spectrum of what we consider right and wrong.

Is rape wrong? Is pedophilia wrong? Is incest wrong? Is homosexuality wrong? Is adultery wrong? Is premarital sex wrong? Is viewing pornography wrong? Since the skeptic has no transcendent standard that says what is right and what is wrong, where to draw the line is somewhat subjective. Different people will draw the line at different places and who is to say which is the correct place? Many will say there is nothing wrong with looking at porn even though the Bible equates lust with adultery. So, does the skeptic mean God should not allow pornography? Should He not allow premarital sex? Which of his own sins does the skeptic expect God to punish him for? You see, most people who would use this argument really only mean for God to stop the really bad people but let the unbeliever practice his own pet sin. Anyone can justify his own sin by saying someone else is worse but if you expect God to deal with sin, be prepared for Him to deal with your sins as well!

I've watched several videos made by Ray Comfort where he asks people on the street to judge themselves. He asks them, for example, is it wrong to lie? Most people will say, yes. Of course, these same people will all admit to telling many lies. In fact, every one of us has broken all of God's commandments and so are guilty before God. You want God to do something about sin? OK, since we're all guilty, how would you feel if God just destroyed the world now? That would be just. It's certainly within His right. The fact that He allows evil to continue for a while is not because He is uncaring but rather because He is merciful. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

We sometimes expect God to act a certain way. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the people praised Him saying, “Save us, Son of David.” They thought Jesus would be a conqueror who would deliver them from Roman tyranny. They were looking for the Lion of Judah. They didn't understand that Jesus first had come to be a Lamb. In a very real sense, He did come to save them – just not they way they expected.

God has a different plan, a better plan, for dealing with sin. He took on flesh, became a man, lived a perfect life – one undeserving of death, and then shed His blood on the Cross as the payment for our sin. If we repent of our sins and believe in Him, we pass from death unto life. One day soon, the worries of this world will seem like a fleeting moment, the blink of an eye that is over as we go on to live an eternity in a paradise He has prepared for us. God is not only willing and able to deal with evil, He has already done it!!

If you ask me, it is unbelief that is truly a riddle. People want to deny God. They want to mock the sacrifice of His Son. They want to flout the Law and live their lives however they want, indulging the most base desires of their flesh. Then they have the nerve to ask why God allows bad things to happen to them?! Incredible!

Galatians 6:7, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

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A Rebuttal to the Free Will Argument for the Nonexistence of God

Dan Barker is a former evangelical, Christian preacher turned zealous atheist. He and his wife, Annie Gaylor, co-preside over the activist atheist group, Freedom From Religion. He also spends a lot of time debating Christians. By the way, in his own words, his apostasy began with a rejection of a historical Adam & Eve and his embracing of evolution – but that will have to be the subject of another post.

I was watching a video on YouTube where Barker was debating Matt Slick of CARM.org about the existence of God. I normally invite people to watch the whole video but it's pretty long. If you're interested in watching, the part I'll be discussing was raised by Barker in his opening comments beginning at about 20 minutes into the video but, for the sake of brevity, I found an article online where he explains his point more concisely. He calls this, The Freewill Argument for the Non-existence of God (FANG, for short). In his article, we find the following summary:

The Christian God is defined as a personal being who knows everything. According to Christians, personal beings have free will.

In order to have free will, you must have more than one option, each of which is avoidable. This means that before you make a choice, there must be a state of uncertainty during a period of potential: you cannot know the future. Even if you think you can predict your decision, if you claim to have free will, you must admit the potential (if not the desire) to change your mind before the decision is final.

A being who knows everything can have no "state of uncertainty." It knows its choices in advance. This means that it has no potential to avoid its choices, and therefore lacks free will. Since a being that lacks free will is not a personal being, a personal being who knows everything cannot exist.

Therefore, the Christian God does not exist.

As I listened to Barker make his point, it reminded me a little of the Omnipotence Paradox people sometimes use to argue that God cannot exist. In that case, critics ask, “Can God make a rock so big that He can't lift it?” The answer is either yes or no but, either way, it would mean there is something God cannot do so, therefore, an omnipotent God cannot exist. Barker's argument is very much along the same lines and has been described before as the Omniscience Paradox. At the end of the day, it's simply another gimmick of logic.

I believe the flaw in Barker's argument lies in his definition of free will. His definition just sounds unusual. For example, Barker adds the qualifier, “This means that before you make a choice, there must be a state of uncertainty during a period of potential: you cannot know the future.” Since when is uncertainty a condition of free will? When I googled a definition, I found that free will commonly means, “the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.” That certainly describes God since He is not bound by either fate or necessity. I found no mainstream definition that included any discussion of indecision, uncertainty, or knowing the future.

If you think about it, it's rather ridiculous to argue that free will must mean making a decision without knowing anything about the outcome. Barker is essentially saying that since God knows the future, He cannot exist. What? You can see how Barker's argument is completely non sequitur. The Bible attests that God knows the future. Let me rephrase that: what we call the “future” is simply the coming to pass of the things He has already purposed. It's not a prediction as though God's some kind of psychic; He writes the future and then brings to pass what He has already decreed. He had the ability to make things any way He wanted and He made them this way. According to Barker, that's proof He doesn't exists. //RKBentley shakes his head//

Free will is a notoriously thorny subject. One might even ask if humans have free will. We may have choices but we have little say in the consequences. I could choose not to eat, for example, but I then I couldn't choose not to be hungry. I could choose not to breath, but then I couldn't choose to keep living. Sometimes it seems life is like a game of chess we are playing against a better opponent. We might think we are deciding which pieces to move but our decisions are only unavoidable responses to the better moves the other player is making. The game we think we're playing is really the game he is playing and we continuously have fewer and fewer choices until, finally, we have no choices. Checkmate!

As we live day to day, it may seem at any moment like we are free to choose from a near infinite number possibilities, but the consequences of each decision continuously restricts the number of our future options. I could decide to walk to work instead of driving. However, walking takes longer so the decision to walk affects what time I decide to get up in the morning or whether I decide to get to work on time. Do you see what I mean? My future choices are the victims of the consequences of my present choices.

In the theological realm, especially, Christians have often debated if we have free will. If God is sovereign, then perhaps I cannot choose to believe or deny Him. Perhaps everything I do is as He has commanded. This debate has raged for centuries. But Barker fails to see how this is a problem for his argument. He is hoisted upon his own petard, if you will, because if humans do not have free will, how is that an argument for their non-existence?  Let's reduce this to the absurd: do rocks have free will?  Do rocks exists?  It's rather obvious that free will is not a condition of existence yet that is what Barker argues!

There is much more that could be said on this subject but why bother? Just the few paragraphs above show that Barker's argument is a tangle of logical fallacies. If I say I will do something, and then I do it, it may not be proof I have free will but, at the very least, it's evidence that I exist. God has declared the end from the beginning. He spoke to the prophets centuries in advance of things that would come to pass and they came to pass! It's laughable to say that's evidence He doesn't exist. If anything, that is proof of His existence!

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