Hey Deacon

Perhaps this is the most popular argument against the existence of God. Typically, the argument is: "Since our world is full of evil and a good, all-powerful God would never allow for evil, God therefore cannot exist." This argument involves more emotion (usually anger) than reason, but the question is important to consider. 

 There is one thing every person knows – that the world we live in is broken. Things are not the way they’re supposed to be. And I am not referring to culture or society ways of the world that we don’t like. That’s relativism. I am speaking about consensus agreement on things that really are evil, wicked things that take place (objectivism).

 Because this awareness is universal and an undeniable feature of reality, the existence of evil can be used to make the case for God. Contrary to popular belief, the problem of evil is not a good argument against God. It’s actually one of the best arguments for God. Here’s why.

 The complaint about evil itself requires transcendent, universal laws that govern the world—objective morality—in order for real evil to exist as a violation of those laws. Transcendent moral laws require a transcendent lawmaker—God. Saying the world is “supposed” to be a certain way requires a “supposer,” so to speak, someone who intended the world to be much better than it is.

 If there is no God, then there is no transcendent moral lawmaker. If no lawmaker, then there are no universal moral laws that we are all obligated to obey. If no moral laws, then no broken laws. And if nobroken laws, then no problem of evil. Simply put, if there is no God, there can be no evil (or good, for that matter). Yet there is the problem with evil. 

 Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), considered by many the ‘Godfather’ of modern philosophy, summarizes the moral argument for God’s existence like this:

 “If there is no God, then there is no objective morality (no lawmaker, then no laws). But there is objective morality (evidenced by the problem of evil). Therefore, there is a God.”

 Our Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about the existence of evil.  

 “If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all his creatures, why does evil exist? To this question, as pressing as it is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will suffice. Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil.”  CCC 309

 The simultaneous existence of good and evil is a mystery to human intelligence, but it in no way proves that God does not exist. It only points to our own finite and limited existence. Our God is infinitely good and just. We are called to live in goodness and justice as a response to our love of God. God loves us, but it is up to us to return His love.