Comments on: The Problem of Evil

By: Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 03:58:00 +0000

I thought he was too slow getting to the point; talking about irrelevant stuff such as Darwin etc; He did not offer any clear solution to coping with evil which can reside within us all. I read Scott Peck’s book “People of the lie” which is easier to read and shows evil as it exists in our lives. He was a Quaker turned Christian. Dr Ben Wiker is presumably a priest yet he does not clearly show us how to cope with evil in our lives; how to see evil in ourselves and others and how to cope with it. We all believe in evil unless we deny our conscience so there is no need to psychoanalyse Darwin etc.at great length; just get on with the job of coping with evil in our daily lives as this destructive evil destroy our souls and our loved ones.

By: Joe DeVet

Joe DeVet — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:32:00 +0000

What a wonderful and thought-provoking discussion of this eternal dilemma! Many ideas which I had not heard much about before, particularly that evil ceases to exist if God is not.

I would offer two “reference works” to extend the discussion. One is the movie, “Bruce Almighty”, starring Jim Carrey and Jennifer Anniston. Despite the actors, it’s really a good movie, both entertaining and thought-provoking. The theology limps at times, but mostly it’s a reasonable reflection of the faith life.

The other is my favorite non-fiction from CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain. Not a long book, but compactly written, tightly reasoned, and at the same time quite broad in scope. I don’t think it’s possible to read it with attention, without becoming a better person.

By: Andkaras

Andkaras — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 15:14:00 +0000

That is always the shocker isn’t it ,when we recocognize the evil within ourselves and beg Gods mercy ,not to over look it but to change us into a new creation. Sometimes when we want God to “eliminate” all the evil ,what we are really asking is to fix things to be pleasing to us according to our own sensabilities.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 20:31:00 +0000

Thank you Dr. Wilker for this thoughtful article. I have been struggling with the question of evil for a very long time. I red Job and commentaries over and over again. I struggled with Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor. I red what J. Hicks had to say about it, and N.T.Wright and G.Boyd. And still the question does not go away. Perhaps the best rumination I came across remains this grand beautiful design which is not yet finished and about which we have very little understanding. So yes, humility is appropriate but at the same time I cannot stop the mind from constantly inquiring. Is then all evil to be understood as having the form of lacking good? And moreover, is this lacking necessary in the process of becoming? And what about this more modern division between natural evil and moral evil? Or about the kind of suffering (disteleological evils or something like that) that seems to produce no good at all for the afflicted? I would greatly appreciate if you can refer further readings for this mind of mine does not leave me alone.

By: Mariosw63

Mariosw63 — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 14:59:00 +0000

A rich, meditative article. One that needs to be read over and over again. One small comment though – your ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’ approach to the simultaneous duality of what constitutes evil and progress is a little naive, I believe. This because I feel that certain actions are not open to such interpretation. Some actions are either all good or all evil. The coming of Jesus Christ to redeem humanity is such an example of an action which is all good. Even those who do not accept Christ as the son of God and part of the Holy Trinity can only, at best, see Him as a prophet of God (Jews, Muslims…) That is still (albeit lesser) good. No social movement or entity ever saw the coming of Christ as ‘the end of civilisation’ or as a terrible happening.

I love your eye-opening observation about the extent of the pervasiveness of evil (if God had to eradicate ALL evil where would he draw the line?)

Thank you for a wonderful (and more than slightly scary) post.

By: MaryK

MaryK — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 23:59:00 +0000

I’ve read the column several times now, and maybe retain 1% of it, but I am in awe of it, my mind overcome with the desire to know more. Years ago i studied on the subject, but you know how it is that life breaks in and initiates greater concerns; year on year. That’s a part of the human pain, that we cannot absorb everything in one lifetime.

Thanks for a great column!

By: Llkazlas

Llkazlas — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:06:00 +0000

Thank you very much for this excellent article. It’s enough food for thought for a long time, but it also settles some of the dust in this field of thought. I think that God can take evil and draw a greater good from it though, like He did when Jesus was crucified and evil seemed to have triumphed. The challenge then, is to allow God to do just that. Evil was converted through the heart of Jesus on the cross, into a greater good for all of mankind. I think that is what we are called to do with evil too, to deal with the problem of evil in our hearts and concretely convert it into a greater good. Draw something good out of the evil. Like the organization, Mothers Against Drunk Driving did. There have surely been more lives saved because of the new drunk driving laws, than the initial lives that were lost.