My Perspective on The Problem of Evil

The problem of evil is question that arises in philosophy/theology that basically says, “If God loves us and is all-powerful, why is there evil in the world?” This is the same thinking that leads people to ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

A couple weeks ago, I taught the lesson in Elder’s Quorum from Elder Anderson’s talk, “Wounded.” I think Latter-day Saints in general have a pretty good idea why bad things happen, so I did not focus on that and instead was more about how we react to pain and suffering-- by looking to Jesus Christ. But this is something I’ve thought of over the last several years, and I was thinking about this again this week, and so wanted to put it into writing.

When I’m trying to understand something about the gospel, I find it helps to break it into three categories: Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial. A simplistic example is that the Terrestrial says “Thou shalt not kill” while Telestial is the result of the wicked who do what they want. But Celestial law says it is wrong to even get angry.

I’m sure we could find many reasons why evil exists, but as I study the scriptures, I find that there are three main categories.

Telestial

In the Book of Mormon, when Alma and Amulek are teaching the people of Amonihah, the people got angry with them, they threw believers out of the city throwing stones at them, and they took their wives and children and threw them into the fire. Amulek knew that they could save them with the power of God. What is interesting is how Alma responded:

“The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day.”

People responding to the Problem of Evil usually say something like, “God won’t take away our free will” which is true—Satan’s plan was to remove our agency and take the Father’s glory to himself—but this is more than that. Heavenly Father doesn’t only have perfect love and all power, he also has perfect justice. Alma is basically saying that you cannot punish the wicked for things you prevent them from doing. (This was also part of the plot of the movie Minority Report.)

Terrestrial

A pattern we see in the Book of Mormon is that when the people are righteous, God blesses them. Because of their blessings, they become prideful, and they forget God. Then bad things happen to them that makes them humble, and then they again look to God. This has been called “the pride cycle.” I think Mormon describes it best in Helaman 12, and the part I’ll quote is verse 3:

“And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.”

Pride has been called the “universal sin” -- it’s something that we all fall to, not just the Nephites. Although we may try to be righteous, we may fall into this pride cycle ourselves. And like the Nephites, sometimes it is by these horrible things that we learn to be humble and remember God.

Celestial

This is the perspective I think Latter-day Saints focus on the most. We know that through the fall, death and sin entered into the world. But we treat the fall as a good thing-- the ground was cursed for our sake and through the fall we may have joy.

Why do we see it that way? I think the best scripture is from the Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail, he grew discouraged. God had chosen him to be a prophet, and had given him the calling to build up Zion, but all Joseph saw was the enemies of the church destroying it—many of whom had once been members of the church—and God seeming to do nothing about it. In response, God provided a revelation that offered some perspective:

    6 If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
    7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
    8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

Learning from our trials is the best attitude that we can have. I often describe this case of the problem of evil as though life were a gym. The owner has the power and could remove all the weights, but that isn’t the purpose of having a gym. Likewise, in life we grow spiritually as we overcome sin through Jesus Christ.

Isaiah and Zechariah describes trials and afflictions as a refiner’s fire. The refining process gets rid of impurities in silver and gold until it becomes pure.

Other Thoughts

We know that the day will come when Jesus comes again, and the wicked will be destroyed, and Jesus will reign a thousand years in peace. Knowing this, some wonder how any of the above can still apply? In other words, why wait, can’t God destroy the wicked now?

In Matthew 13, Jesus gives the parable of the Wheat and the Tares. The angels are ready to reap, but the Lord instead tells them to wait until they are fully ripe to prevent rooting up the wheat also.

All of us are capable of change. Just because you do something wrong doesn’t mean we lost our chance. We are all sinners, but time was granted to us to repent, and through Jesus Christ we can become cleansed of our sins.

Hardships come to everyone, but it is how we act on them that makes the difference. We should break free from sin, break free from the pride cycle, and use our hardships to make us stronger spiritually that we may have the strength to face other trials that come, or so that we may better help one another.