A willingness to live with unresolvable questions is a mark of intellectual maturity, not a matter of logical nonsense as some unwisely regard it.” – Oxford Professor Alister McGrath

The problem of evil is often deployed by atheists as their decisive “nuclear option” against theism. Evil can precipitate a “crisis of faith” on the part of a believer who may be tempted to follow the advice of Job’s ‘friends’–to ‘curse God and die’.

There are three good reasons why the problem of evil is important:
1) It is the apparent proof of atheism
2) It is universal
3) It is not merely a theoretical problem but an intensely practical one.

Here is a typical formulation of the logical problem of evil:

Premise 1: If God were all-powerful, he would be able to prevent evil.
Premise 2: If God were all-good, he would desire to prevent evil.
Premise 3: So if God were both all-powerful and all-good, there would be no evil.
Premise 4: But there is evil.
Conclusion: Therefore, there is no all-powerful, all-good God.

Apologetics is not only defensive; sometimes it must be offensive, attacking false beliefs. While we will address the problem of evil from the Christian worldview, we must also insist that opposing worldviews also explain it. We go on the offense and insist other worldviews also address the problem of evil. Every other worldview will necessarily self-destruct with the problem of evil. In fact, it is only Christianity that seriously addresses the problem and evil ends up confirming the Christian worldview, rather than destroying it.

Here are inadequate conclusions from other worldviews:

• Evil as illusion (Christian Science, Hinduism, Buddhism)
• Evil as non-existent (Naturalism)
• Evil as subjective (Postmodernism)
• Evil as an equal ‘power’ in conflict with the ‘good’ – Dualism

“It is not only Christianity that cannot completely explain the problem of evil; no worldview can. The real question, then, is which worldview offers the most satisfying explanation of the problem of evil, which is both livable and intellectually defensible, even though that explanation will inevitably leave important questions unanswered.” — Apologetics at the Cross: An Introduction for Christian Witness by Joshua D. Chatraw, Mark D. Allen

Some evil, from our perspective may appear to be “pointless.” “Skeptical theism” decrees that a finite mind is incapable of understanding all the potential justifying reasons of an infinite mind. We must approach the problem of evil with skeptical theism, recognizing that we cannot possibly explain or justify every instance of evil (Job 38-42). We are not God and cannot comprehend everything he does.

Next in part 2 here, the logical problem of evil answered