Sandy Hook Massacre - Where Was God? (Part 3)

 

Many of us are still reeling from the recent Sandy Hook Massacre. The murder of 20 five and six year old children along with six of their teachers as caused many people to ask questions about God; how could he have let something like this happen?

The Bible says that God is all-knowing and all-powerful, which means that he must know how to end evil and suffering and that he is able to do so. The Bible also says that he is perfectly good which means that he surely would want to end evil and suffering. So, how could he let such an unthinkable horror happen? Clearly he could have stopped Adam Lanza. Why didn’t he?

In my last two blog posts I discussed what has been called the theological or philosophical problem of evil. In sum, skeptics of religion say that it is impossible to reconcile the Bible’s claims that God is all-knowing, all-powerful and perfectly good with the continuing presence of evil and suffering in the world. The horrible events at Sandy Hook shine a spotlight on what is a continual problem. If God really is as the Bible describes would have the knowledge and ability to end suffering and would certainly want to do so. The undisputed fact that he does not end evil and suffering can only mean that either the Bible is wrong - he is not able to end evil and suffering, which means he is weak - or he chooses not to end evil and suffering when he could, which makes him a monster.

This is a difficult problem. That’s why it’s been called the Achilles Heal of religion. I’m not, in this blog post, going to attempt to provide a wholly satisfying answer to the problem. And, I’m not, here, going to suggest how to help someone suffering from the effects of evil. My purpose here is to answer the philosophical issue. A good resource for someone looking for practical help in dealing with suffering is the book The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis.

To defeat the skeptic’s argument against God based on the existence of evil we don’t need an answer for every instance of evil and suffering. After all we are not God and as the Bible tells us, his ways are not our ways. We will never fully understand why God does what he does. To defeat the argument against God all that is required is to see that could be good reasons for allowing evil. The argument against God hinges on the assertion that a good God with the ability to eliminate evil and suffering would always want to do so. All we have to see that God could have a good reason for evil. So, is there a good reason for evil?

Theologians and philosophers have suggested a number of possible good or beneficial reasons for the existence of evil. In this blog post I’m only going to consider the two reasons that most often put forward to explain evil.

            God wants men and women to have free will, to be free to make choices choose good over evil. If people are compelled to do good contrary to their free choice they are, at best, merely robot-like going through the motions of doing what is right. At worst they would be dishonest.

If that is true, that people must have the freedom to choose good, then they must also have the freedom to choose evil. Otherwise there is not real choice. C. S. Lewis put it this way, “The freedom of a creature must mean freedom to choose: and choice implies the existence of things to choose between.” It is from this ability to choose between good and evil that all instances of actual evil have come.  Pain and suffering, all of which result from evil choices, are then a necessary consequence of the freedom of choice that God has given to people. In order to have a world in which men and women are able to make choices of true significance then there must be evil, and if there is evil there must be pain and suffering. There is no other option. God has determined that freewill for his creatures is a morally sufficient reason for the existence of pain and suffering. Thus, the argument that an all-knowing, all-powerful and perfectly good God would never permit pain and suffering is defeated.

No pain – no gain. That’s the basic idea of seeing evil as necessary for personal growth. None of us is fully developed. We all need to grow. Suffering can give us opportunities to show courage as we face it without fleeing. When we see others suffer our hearts can grow in compassion and kindness and we can learn to care for others. The pain and suffering that comes from evil can provide these and many other opportunities to grow and become better people. Of course going through pain and suffering is not pleasant, but it is necessary for our good. God uses evil to mold us into better people. This, some say, is a sufficiently good reason for God to allow evil and the argument that God would never allow evil is defeated.

 

Admittedly, many people will find these arguments to be not very satisfying. They do not take away the pain we feel because of evil. They don't tell us why in the specific case of Sandy Hook why God thought it was a good thing to let Adam Lanza carry out his horrible, murderous plan. However, the thoughtful person will see that the mere existence of evil does not mean that God cannot exist or that he cannot really be all-knowing, all-powerful and perfectly good. There can be beneficial reasons for the existence of evil.

The Sandy Hook Massacre - Where Was God?

            What happened to God last Friday when Adam Lanza forced his way into the Sandy Hook School? Was he asleep or distracted? Did he miss what Lanza was about to do? Why didn’t he stop it? How could God allow such an unspeakable evil? I thought he was good and kind.

            Whenever there is a tragedy like the Sandy Hook massacre there are people who wonder, “How could God let this happen?” It is a difficult question that can lead to a crisis of faith. It is hard to believe in God in face of such unspeakable evil.

            The problem of reconciling the existence of evil with the Bible’s portrayal of an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful God is not a new one. It has been called the Achilles’ heal of religion. Some say there is no way to reconcile these things and the only reasonable conclusion is that God does not exist. I've thought about these things for years and am going to take several posts here at Heart Matters to explore the question.

            For centuries thoughtful people have contemplated this issue and decided that either the Bible is wrong in the way it describes God or that God doesn’t exist. Their conclusion is that Christianity is a fraud and Christians are fools.  Even for those who continue to believe and embrace the Bible’s teachings about God this issue can cause serious obstacles resulting in serious doubts about his love and goodness.

Here’s the issue:

·         The Bible says that God knows all things; he is omniscient. The writer of Job said that God is “perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16) and in the Psalms it says that God’s “understanding has no limit” (Psalm 147:5b), it is limitless. If it’s true that God’s knowledge is limitless and perfect, then that means that God is always aware when people suffer, he knows the depth of their pain and he knows how to prevent evil.

·         The Bible says that God is all-powerful; he is omnipotent. God said through the prophet Jeremiah, “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” implying that there isn’t anything too hard for him. And, in the same verse in Psalms where we’re told of God’s limitless knowledge, it says, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power” (Psalm 147:5a). If it’s true that God is mighty in power and that nothing is too hard for him, then that means that he is able to stop evil.

·         The Bible says that God is perfectly good; he is omnibenevolent. David wrote of God that he is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all that he has made” (Psalm 145:8-9).  The apostle John wrote that the reason people should love one another is because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). John did not just say that God loves, but that he is love. Love is the very essence of who he is. If it’s true that God is love, acts in love, is gracious, compassionate and good to all, then it follows that he would want to end evil and suffering.

But he doesn’t. Not only doesn’t he prevent evil when he could, he has created and sustains a world in which evil and suffering is often horrific. He could have stopped Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook. But he didn’t. How can anyone believe that God is loving, powerful and knowing when he stands by and does nothing while 20 little children and their teachers are slaughtered? Let’s explore this together. Check back in a few days for another post.