A Christian’s Response to The Epicurean Paradox
You and your friend are having lunch. He takes out his phone and shows you this: the Epicurean Paradox. He says that this is logical and conclusive proof that your God is not all-powerful, all-knowing, and good or loving. He could be 1 or 2, but not all 3.
How would you respond?
1. The Problematic Conclusion
Epicuro made a conclusion that doesn’t make sense: If God does not want to prevent [today’s] evil, He’s not good or loving.
This is very short-sighted. What if God doesn’t want to prevent all of today’s evil but will one day destroy all evil? What if evil is not permanent but only temporary? Is that enough to conclude that He’s not good or loving?
A better conclusion will be: If God will never destroy evil, He’s not good or loving.
2. Our Limited Understanding
Then, why is there evil today? Epicuro suggested 2 reasons: To test us and satan.
God is all-knowing, we’re not. While we can speculate, we can never fully understand His reasons. But for now, let’s assume that there are other reasons why evil exists today and address the problematic question.
3. The Problematic Question
Epicuro asked, “Could God have created a universe with free will but without evil?”
That’s like asking, could God have created a universe where people have the free will to do evil but where no one exercises that free will? Can you see the problem?
After giving it some thought, the only way I see that happening is if God creates multiple universes to find the universe where people have the free will to do evil but choose not to do so.
For example, God creates Adam and Eve in the 1st universe, they choose evil. God creates Adam and Eve in the 2nd universe, they choose evil, and so on. This continues until say the 6,039th universe, where finally, they do not choose evil even though they could.
This leads to other problems. What should God do with all the universes that chose evil? What if this theory is true and we’re in one of the universes that chose evil? Should He destroy us and keep only the good universe? If He does that, Is He good and loving?
This is why I believe that God in His infinite wisdom made the best choice: He created a universe where we have the free will to choose evil which, unfortunately, we did. But because He’s good and loving, He only allows evil to be temporary. One day, He will judge (Romans 2:16) and destroy all evil (Revelation 21:4) and create a universe where there’s no more evil.
I welcome your comments and questions :)
