The term "theodicy" refers to justifying the divine attributes of God, especially holiness and justice, while acknowledging the true existence of physical and moral evil.
The skeptical philosopher J. S. Mill has formulated the following argument to show that the God of the Bible cannot exist because evil exists:
- If God were almighty, he could destroy evil.
- If God were all good, he would want to destroy evil
- But evil is not destroyed
- Therefore there is no almighty and omnipotent God.
- If the premises of Mill's argument are true, the conclusion naturally follows. But the question is whether Mill's points are valid.
Theologians and philosophers have perhaps discussed this question more than anyone else when it comes to God. The answer is not easy, but it can be divided into the following points.
First, it must be acknowledged that evil exists. Unlike some faiths such as Hinduism and Christian Science, which deny the actual reality of evil, Christianity never does. Christianity confirms the existence of evil and divides it into (1) natural evils such as disease and physical disasters; (2) moral evils that can be summarized as "man's inhumanity to man"; (3) supernatural evils such as Satan and demons.
Christianity and the Bible are not afraid to assert that all three forms of evil are real and directly affect humanity.
Next, the Bible asserts that an almighty and omnipotent God exists. Only a few scriptures that confirm this assertion are the following:
"(Psalm 115:3) "Our God is in the heavens; he does all things that please him.
"Ah, Lord God! It is You who created heaven and earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too heavy for you" (Jeremiah 32:17).
"...but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).
"...the Lord our God is just in all the works he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice" (Daniel 9:14).
"... No one is good but God alone" (Mark 10:18).
"... God is love" (1 John 4:8).
When the Bible declares the existence of evil and an almighty and omnipotent God, there is only one inescapable conclusion: God has determined that evil exists.
The only way to escape the conclusion that God determines the existence of evil is to reinvent God so that he is either not omnipotent or not omnipotent, to attribute to process theology/open theism that says God did not know, that evil would ever come, or focus too much on man's free will, arguing that God has allowed man to override his will (that no evil should ever exist) by exercising his free will to prefer evil over good. (Free will provides some insight into the problem of evil. While God wants no evil to ever exist, He also wants people to exist. He has appointed people to exercise free will so that the relationship with Him is authentic. This means to give people a choice between their good and a lack of it (the evil)).
This explanation - that God orders the existence of evil - causes wheezing in many Christians who claim that such a thing means that either God created evil or that he is somehow personally responsible for it. Neither is true.
Rather, the answer lies in understanding that God has ordained that evil exists for a specific purpose. The Westminster Confession, Articles III and V, presents this truth as follows:
God, through the wisest and most holy counsel of His own will, has freely and unchangingly made any determination from all eternity; but just as thereby neither God is the author of sin, nor violence is offered to the will of creatures, nor freedom or the possibility of second causes is taken away but rather established. God, the great Creator of all things, holds, directs, decrees, and governs all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest to the smallest, by his wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge and the free and unchanging counsel of his own will, in praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.
In other words, God is not the author of sin by not realizing it - his creatures did it of their own accord. He has, however, ordered the existence of evil so that it may bring glory to him. God redeems what is meant for evil and uses it for his good purposes.
Scripture confirms this when it says, "But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? (Romans 3:5). Paul writes in Romans that there is a clear contrast between evil and God, which is shown by the unjust or evil deeds of men. Evil actually brings glory to God by showing his righteous character. There is no other way to understand such a thing.
Sin and evil also show the love of God, which Paul describes in the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans: "But God shows his love for us in the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8). The love of God is shown in all its beauty because of sin and the act of Christ's mercy for sinners. Again, without the evil/guilt, such things could not manifest themselves clearly.
Paul says the same basic principle in chapter 9 of the Epistle to the Romans: "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and make known his power, has patiently endured vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he had previously prepared for glory" (Romans 9:22-23). Here both God's wrath and his love are displayed, and both bring glory to him.
The purpose of Pharaoh's ruthless personality and his evil deeds over hundreds of years against the Israelites was to make known the power of God and bring glory to him. The author of the proverbs expresses it simply like this:
God receives glory from his anger against sin as well as by showing love and mercy. A brief illustration of this point is already found in the Romans when Paul says: "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this reason I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth'" (Romans 9:17).
Evil, then, serves a purpose in God's plan, but he will one day completely destroy evil after he has used it for his purposes. The author of Revelation says that God will one day "wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain; for the first things have passed away.
In this way, J. S. Mill's argument is defeated. God is omnipotent that he may destroy evil, and he is also omnipotent that he may destroy evil. But evil is not destroyed - not yet. But one day it will be. Therefore, everyone will finally know that an almighty and omnipotent and omnipotent God exists.