Divine Wisdom and the Problem of Evil

So far, we have demonstrated that Devine Activity is calculated and that God’s actions seek good and reasonable ends benefitting His creatures. An important and highly controversial question that arises in this connection is how we can reconcile the fact of evil in the world with Divine Wisdom. If God means to benefit His creatures, why, then, is there so much evil and pain in the world? The presence of evil in the world would seem to contradict God’s Mercy and Beneficence.

The confusion and difficulty in finding an adequate answer to this question has led many in the course of human history to espouse two distinct gods-a good god and an evil god, which are in a perpetual state of war Some, however, have negated the existence of God altogether after failing to satisfactorily answer this question. Yet others have retained belief in God but have denied some of His Attributes that seem to be incompatible with the presence of evil-such as omniscience, omnipotence, and benevolence.

The problem of evil at first seems to belie Divine Wisdom and what was said concerning the purposiveness of God’s Actions and the fact that God mems to benefit His creatures rather than deriving any benefit for Himself. The evils that occur in the world are detrimental and harmful to all creatures and especially humankind. So how can we reconcile these two facts? On the one hand, we know based on definitive rational reasoning that God’s Actions are purposive and that the ends of His Actions are to the benefit of the creatures. On the other hand, however, we cannot deny the existence of such evils as earthquakes, foods, diseases, and volcanoes that inflict pain and death on thousands of people and innumerous numbers of other creatures every year. 

This question has received numerous answers. In this part we will concentrate on only one of these answers, laying special emphasis on the nature of evil and the reason for its existence. We will show that the instances of evil, such as those cited in the above, are not utter evil and that the good in their existence outweighs the evil that they bear. The existence of these evils is on account of a superior good that can come about only by their means. In other words, rather than being the result of arbitrary or malignant cases, these seemingly evil phenomena are in line with the overarching and homogeneous purpose in creation, though this might be difficult to grasp at first. But before going on to expand on the many advantages and benefits of evil phenomena, we will consider a few very important general points that will enable us in better pursuing this discussion.