Q&A: The Problem of Evil (Moral Evil)
The Problem of Evil (Moral Evil)
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I found a problem with God, and I’d be happy if the Rabbi could help me.
Usually the problem is presented as: God is good, and yet there is evil. I want to formulate the question in a more extreme way. Not only is God good, He must prevent evil. This is the question:
Basic assumptions:
1. God is moral
2. Morality means a commitment to prevent suffering
3. God is omnipotent
4. There is suffering
Conclusion:
The God we have described does not exist
Specific problems with God:
1. For Him to exist, He would have to ensure that there is no unnecessary natural suffering. That is, the level of natural suffering that occurs should be the level of suffering that needs to happen in order to lead to something good, and no more than that.
Two sub-points in the difficulty should be emphasized:
First, why do exactly a certain number of people suffer from diseases, and not one fewer?
Second, why does a large amount of suffering occur in the same place? (For example, many people suffer from malaria in Africa, while in America there is much less.)
2. One must provide an argument that is not only possible but also plausible. The burden of proof is on the believer.
3. Why is there suffering caused by human beings? Even if human beings have free choice, God could have given us the option to choose between good actions (like helping a woman cross the street) and neutral actions (like picking up a pencil case).
4. Why is the amount of free choice at the level that it is? Why not limit us more in order to reduce the amount of suffering?
Answer
These things have been discussed here at length several times. Search the site for “evil world” or something like that (natural evil and human evil).
Briefly, regarding natural evil, my claim is that the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the world to operate according to rigid laws of nature (perhaps so that we can function within it. Without rigid laws of nature, it is impossible to function, because you do not know what will happen when you do X or Y). In my opinion, there is no system of rigid natural laws that would bring about all the current results (which are presumably what the Holy One, blessed be He, wants) without the components of suffering. These are a necessary byproduct of the laws. Anyone who challenges the Holy One, blessed be He, on the basis of His omnipotence must prove that there is such a system of laws. Only then can one ask why the Holy One, blessed be He, did not create the world according to those laws.
Regarding human evil, I argue that if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to intervene and prevent all evil, then we would have no choice. We could do only good. In such a situation, there would be no meaning to good or evil, and in fact there would be no meaning to the world. It was created so that we would make use of our power of choice (that is the only thing the Holy One, blessed be He, could not do by Himself. See column 360 and many others). You ask that He increase His intervention, but even if He did increase it, you would ask about whatever remained. There is no line at which it is reasonable to stop.
That is the short version; now go and learn the rest.