One of the more dazzling encounters with the dark side of God that I have ever had came the first time I tried to read "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Specifically that famous chapter in book five titled "The Grand Inquisitor."What an absolute sucker punch.
For those of you who have never read it, part of the chapter is a poignant and somewhat disturbing discussion of God and the problem of evil. You know, why do so many BAD things happen if there is a God out there who supposedly loves us and has the power to do something about it?
It is a tough question to wrestle, especially if the tried and true Christian answers leave you wanting more. Things like "God doesn't want bad things to happen, he just chooses to allow bad things to happen."
That one doesn't work for me. The way I look at it, the difference between "allowing" and "wanting" is so small as to afford little or no moral absolution for a deity who is supposed to be all powerful. If God could stop children from starving to death, why doesn't he?
It makes you want to cry out along side the prophet Habakkuk. "Where's the Justice?"
2 comments:
Good stuff. Dostoevsky is the best.
The problem of evil is the most significant argument against Christianity. You're right, when you're dealing with an omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign God, what is the difference between causing and allowing? I don't think God gets off the hook with that out.
However, the fact that evil bothers us at all suggests God to me. Ivan Karamazov's statement is true--without God, everything is permissible. If there is no God, evil is not a problem.
One of the reasons that I am a Christian and not another religion is that Christianity provides the most satisfactory answer to the problem of evil--God hurts with us. By becoming a man, God did not subject His creation to that which He was unwilling to suffer himself.
I love Alyosha's response to Ivan. After Ivan's long diatribe against God, Alyosha walks up and kisses him. Love ftw!
That's true, so it's almost as if Dostoevsky is arguing that the ambivalence/angst/pain we feel because of evil is as much of an indicator of the divine as selfless love would be.
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