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THE ATHEIST'S PROBLEM WITH EVIL |
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Suppose that your friend Bob, an atheist (someone who claims that God does not exist), says that he cannot believe in God because there is evil in the world. How would you respond? It is important for you to understand that Bob is saying that God and evil are like oil and vinegar – they cannot both be in the same place at the same time. In Bob's opinion, since it is obvious that evil exists it is equally obvious that God cannot exist. There are many ways that you can respond to Bob. Perhaps the most effective way is to begin by asking him what standard he uses to determine that something is good or evil. Ultimately, the only standard that an atheist can appeal to is personal preference, and so Bob will say that he gets his standard from human society (the one he prefers to live in), human legislation (the laws he prefers to live under), or human desires (the ones he prefers to entertain). The problem with personal preferences is that they are always changing. Whatever society approves of today may not be what it approves of tomorrow, etc. But in order to say something is objectively evil (evil in and of itself), Bob must compare it to an unchanging standard of good. Since his standard of personal preference changes it is impossible for him to say what is objectively evil. Once you have made this point you can explain to Bob that according to the Bible God's character is the unchanging standard by which we determine what is good and what is not. Therefore, the existence of evil actually requires the existence of God. It simply makes no sense to say that evil exists but God does not. This is the Atheist's Problem With Evil: he cannot say
something is truly evil unless he has an unchanging moral standard to compare
it too. The only unchanging moral standard is the character of the God, who the
atheist says does not exist. Since
the existence of evil requires the existence of God, there are really only
two options open to Bob: (1) to say that both God and evil exist; or
(2) to say that neither evil nor God exist. Since Bob refuses to
acknowledge God (Rom 1:18-25), he must take option #2. But if neither evil nor God exist then
there is no meaning to words like "love, goodness, wickedness,"
etc. This is just foolishness. Truly David was right when he said "The
fool says in his heart 'There is no God'" (Ps 14:1, 53:1). |
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