CHALLENGING SKEPTICS TO GIVE A SOLUTION TO EVIL AND HUMAN SUFFERING IS GOOD APOLOGETICS—HERE ONE WAY TO DO IT

Many atheists claim the so-called “problem of evil” is the most powerful and compelling argument demonstrating God does not exist. Here’s how the argument is usually stated:

If God is all-loving and all-powerful, He wouldn’t allow evil and suffering. But evil and suffering exists. Therefore, God is either not all-loving and doesn’t care that people suffer, or He’s not all-powerful and can’t stop it. Either way, God doesn’t exist as you Christian believe.

 Entire books have been written in response to this powerful and emotionally-laden argument against the existence of God, and it’s impossible to give an adequate reply during a coffee break at work or a casual encounter at a party. But we can apply the technique we’ve examined in the previous blog posts in this series—asking questions that shift the burden of proof onto skeptics. As we saw, we do this by challenging them to clarify, justify, and explain why they believe their position on the issue at hand is true.

Nowhere is this a more effective technique than with the problem of evil. In particular, it helps the atheist and other skeptics to see that the problem of evil is an even more daunting issue for them than it is for Christians. Once they admit this, we are in a position to give the Christian response—which I do in detail in my updated and revised edition of Defending Your Faith; Reliable Answers for a New Generation of Seekers and Skeptics.

Consider asking a question like this:

If God doesn’t exist, what is the solution to evil and human suffering? It’s easy to blame God, so let’s remove Him from the equation. What’s left? Can you think of a solution to evil and suffering without God?

Unbelievers will have one of two responses: They may suggest alternate solutions (which I’ll refute in next week’s blog post), but with a little reflection, it’s easy to demonstrate that no non-Christian religion or secular philosophy can provide an adequate solution to evil and human suffering. They may deny it, ignore it, or claim there is no solution—but they can’t solve it.

Or second, unbelievers may admit there is no solution, which opens the door for us to provide a biblical response.

The idea of challenging atheists and skeptics to provide a solution to the problem of evil is to get right to the heart the problem: There is no solution without God; No one can reject God and explain the existence or origin of evil and suffering. ©