Why We Believe

Intellectual (Logical) Problem

The intellectual problem of suffering argues that the coexistence of God and suffering is logically impossible

1. If God is all-powerful (omnipotent), He can create any world that he wants including a world without evil and suffering.
2. If God is all-knowing (omniscient), He would have the knowledge to eliminate evil.
3. If God is all loving, (omnibenevolent) he would prefer a world without evil and suffering.
4. An omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent being would eliminate evil.
5. Evil exists.
6. Therefore, God (an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent being) does not exist.

For the intellectual problem, the burden of proof is on the unbeliever.

David Hume, the eighteenth-century philosopher, stated the logical problem of evil when he inquired about God, "Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is impotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Whence then is evil?"¹ When the skeptic challenges belief in God on the basis of the logical problem of evil, he is suggesting that it is irrational or logically impossible to believe in the existence of both a good and all-powerful God and in the reality of evil and suffering. Such a God would not possibly allow evil to exist.

The atheist assumes a contradiction between the premises that God must be all loving, all-knowing and all-powerful to exist and that suffering exists. However, there is no inherent contradiction here. The key to the resolution of this apparent conflict is to recognize that when we say God is all powerful, we don’t go to ridiculous lengths to confirm this! When we quote Matthew 19:26 “with God all things are possible” we do not mean He can or will do obvious contradictions. For example, God cannot sin or tempt others (James 1:13). God cannot lie (1 Timothy 1:2). He cannot be irrational or act “out of character” as God. God could not have created a world with more goodness but less suffering and he cannot make a “married bachelor.” If there is such a thing as libertarian free will, (1) would not be true. God could have overriding reasons to permit suffering; therefore (4) is not necessarily true.

This is why, to understand how God’s providential working amongst mankind proceeds we must conclude that God cannot eliminate evil and at the same time accomplish goals that are important to Him. Beings created in God’s own image (Genesis 1 and 2) which He desires to maintain a relationship with must be capable of freely loving Him and following Him without coercion. Clearly, real love and obedience must be a choice or all we are is programmed machines. If we are free to love God, we must also be free to ignore or hate Him which, invoking Augustine’s free will theodicy, brings evil and suffering.

What are possible reasons for God allowing evil and suffering?²

1. There may be a group of people that would never know their complete dependence on God without pain and suffering (Psalms 119:71)
2. God may require humanity to experience things to complete some ultimate purpose within the angelic realm (Job 1-2)
3. Our suffering in the present may be necessary to prepare us for the afterlife (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

We know that though reconciling evil in the world with a loving, all-powerful and all-knowing God is a challenge, we must not lose sight that there is other evidence for the existence of God: evidence from the Borde, Guth, Vilenkin (BGV) theorem of a beginning of the universe, evidence from intelligent design and the historical evidence for the reliability of Scripture and of the resurrection. Our arguments for the existence of God provide an abundance of evidence that goes beyond merely offering a coherent response to the problem of evil and suffering.