Why God Allows Evil
Throughout the quarter I have been researching and writing about evil and how it fits into a theistic viewpoint. I have read many different articles and two philosophers’ viewpoints on the topic really stood out to me. In the following paper I will attempt to compare these two philosophers’ viewpoints on God and the problem of evil. Then I will discuss my personal viewpoints and how I believe evil fits into the theistic viewpoint of God and religion. The major points I plan to ensue are the problem of evil and what it means from a religious standpoint, the different forms of evil, and humans freewill.
First, I want to look at the Indian philosopher Ramanuja. In the Philosophy of Religion Reader there is a paper written by him entitled “God as Infinite, Personal, and Good” in which he speaks about the nature of his God. This is relevant because defining God’s nature was an important part of my personal research and I often looked to Ramanuja’s work to center my own. In his paper he states, “He is the sole cause of the entire universe and is its support. He causes all things to function.” This is a classical theistic view of God and shows God’s nature and what he is capable of. Throughout his paper Ramanuja describes God as being omniscient and omnipotent. He knows all and is capable of controlling all because he is the Creator.
Another philosopher I was interested in was St. Augustine. He is the creator of Augustinian Theodicy, which is a theory about the presence of evil in the world. St. Augustine believes that God is perfect and the creator of all. He views God as the highest power who has control of everything in the universe because it is all his creation. This view is important because of how he relates it to the problem of evil.
It is relatively easy to see the similarities between these two philosophers. First, they share the same beliefs on God and his power in the world. According to Ramanuja and St. Augustine, God is all-knowing and all-powerful and the creator of everything. They also each believe that he is perfect. Ramanuja states, “[…] He is free from even the shadow of anything defiling; […]” Also, they both incorporate philosophy in their religious viewpoints and beliefs. This is important because they are analytically looking at the points of religion and incorporating their findings into their faith. According to Chad Meister, the editor of the Philosophy of Religion Reader, Ramanuja “[…] was also one of the main Hindu philosophers to systematically interpret the Vedas from a theistic perspective, […].” Likewise, according to Oregon State’s article on Augustine, “Augustine produced a sophisticated interpretation of Christian thinking by merging it with the philosophy of Plato and Neoplatonism. […] Still, it was Augustine’s appropriation of Plato’s two-level view of reality that produced the mysterious non-material God who exists outside of all space and time (e.g. is infinite and eternal).” Both philosophers changed views on God in their respective religions and contributed to the beliefs about his character and nature.
One may say, how does this have anything to do with the evil in the world? As I stated both philosophers impacted views on God and in doing this, they impacted how we can interpret evil in the world and attempt to solve the problem of evil. I want to define evil and the problem of evil existing in a created universe. there are two main issues with evil in God’s created universe. First is the incompatibility problem, basically meaning logically God cannot allow evil in his creation because he is God. He is all-knowing and all-powerful; therefore, he could simply erase all evil from existence. Next is the evidential problem of evil, meaning the presence of evil must directly dispute any presence of a God. If there is evil in the world then God could not exist there as well or else, he would fix it.
In dispute of this, God is all knowing, and because of this, he is not oblivious to the presence of evil in the world. He is however, separate from evil because he is perfect and undefiled. Using the Augustinian Theodicy, God remains perfect and his creativity in giving humans the ability to decipher between choices caused the moral abilities of humans to become less than. This brings offers up another important topic in the discussion of evil and God, the different forms of evil.
There are two different types of evil in the world. There are moral evil and natural evil and they each serve their own purpose. First, the definition of moral evil is willful acts of human beings. These are the decisions and actions we make daily against a moral code. The next evil in the world is the natural evil. Natural evil can easily be defined as anything which occurs in nature and has a devastating toll on life. Events such as hurricanes, tsunamis, tornados, and earthquakes can be defined as natural evil. These natural disasters occur without the aid of any living being and likewise cannot be stopped by a living being.
Moral evil is what St. Augustine believed to be the source of evil in the world. Evil is in fact not a creation of God but a by-product of his creation. God created humans to have freewill and be capable of making free decisions about the things in their world. Freewill can be defined as the ability to make independent decisions based upon our own pleasures or convictions. In creating this God allowed evil to become a reality.
If freewill was not a concept then there would not even be the concept of good, let alone evil. From an article in Philosophy Now entitled “God and Evil”, Dr. Kola Abimbola states, “One possible response is the argument that the concept of goodness makes sense only if it is discussed in a world where good and evil co-exist; the concept of good cannot be understood unless there is also evil for it to contrast with.” Therefore, good and evil are compliments of each other. Without freewill, and evil, humans would have no concept of good and there would be no higher being or state to strive for.
This still leaves the question of natural evil and how it can be explained. Natural evil is just that, natural, so it cannot be pointed to the corruption of humans and their choices, it is of the earth. Once again, God is the creator of all, including the earth so he created the natural disasters which befall it. One attribute of God, in a theistic perspective, is that he is omniscient, meaning he is all knowing. He created the world to operate harmoniously and natural disasters can be an effect of his planning. Since he is omniscient, he can see the future and determine what effects current actions will have on the future.
Therefore, natural evil can be a way God is resetting the earth for the betterment of its health and longevity. An example of this concept is conducting a controlled burn in a patch of forest to rid the land of impurities and breathe life back into it. Another example is when rivers overflow banks and flood the surrounding areas. The aftermath of the flooding however brings about fertile land and produces bountiful crops. The evil in natural disasters is meant to provide relief and regrowth and is eventually transformed into good.
I earlier stated about there not being anything for humans to strive for if there was no good or evil. This introduces the concepts of heaven and hell. More importantly, hells purpose and if hell is truly evil. From Dr. James Hall’s article in The Great Courses Daily we find this quote, “There is no highest good without freedom. There is no freedom without the potential for and the occurrence of evil. For this to be the best of all possible worlds, as far as human beings and their conduct are concerned, there must be as a practical means to a greater good, namely, freedom itself and evils in the world.” Essentially, with freewill comes consequences from decisions we make, so evil has a consequence the same as good. One of the consequences of evil is hell.
Hell is a place where the wicked of the world are sent to receive punishment for their non-moral actions and decisions performed during their time on earth. It is often described as a place of constant torture and is an undesirable destination, as one could imagine. Quoting from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s article entitled “Hell”, “Furthermore, the passages from Revelation and the Qur’an suggest that the denizens of hell experience torment (extreme conscious suffering). So, on the traditional view, the felt quality of hell is suffering (this implies that the damned exist and are conscious), […].” Hell is the ultimate location for the souls who refused to follow what God deemed as a moral and sinless life.
Hell is the consequence for deviating from a morally correct life as God has outlined. Returning to Ramanuja’s paper he states, “His essential nature is distinct from all entities other than Himself by virtue of His opposition to all evil and His being wholly infinite perfection.” Therefore, if a human chooses to go outside of God’s nature, they are separate from him. The place which is opposite of God is hell. However, this does not make hell evil. The existence and purpose of hell is for punishment of evil and this does not make the place itself evil. Returning to Dr. Abimbola’s statement I earlier quoted, following his ideas, hell is the counterpart to heaven.
In conclusion, I believe evil is necessary in the world. It offers balance and allows everything to be complete and whole. Also, the presence of evil allows freedom in more ways than one. God is separate from evil acts and the influence of evil, but he allows it to remain because of what it offers his creation. Therefore, the presence of evil does not disprove God but rather proves his existence and intelligent design. Philosophers Ramanuja and St. Augustine knew the love God implemented into his creation and they knew his nature. Because of their philosophical views into religion we can obtain a better understanding of who God is and how evil plays a part in the world. Evil is not a creation of God but a byproduct of his creation of freewill and a highly functioning universe.
Works Cited
Abimbola, Kola. “God and Evil.” Philosophy Now: A Magazine of Ideas, Philosophy Now, 1993, philosophynow.org/issues/8/God_and_Evil.
Dorbolo, Jon. “Great Philosophers: Augustine.” Great Philosophers: Augustine, 2002, oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Augustine/augustine.html.
Hall, James. “Does Evil Have a Purpose in Life?” The Great Courses Daily, The Great Courses Daily, 1 May 2020, www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/evil-purpose-life/.
Meister, Chad V. “Ramanuja.” The Philosophy of Religion Reader, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2008, pp. 123–123.
Ragland, C.P. “Hell.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/hell/.
Ramanuja. “God as Infinite, Personal, and Good.” The Philosophy of Religion Reader, by Chad V. Meister, Routledge, 2008, p. 124.
