Why Does God Permit Suffering and Evil—While Simultaneously

Maintaining a World in Which Pleasure, Satisfaction and Levels of

Peace Persist?
Hal Flemings
San Diego Community College

Key Words or phrases: God, evil, suffering, intervening third factor, problem of
evil, deism, problem of pleasure, karma, Islam,

A principal argument challenging the notion of an all-powerful and loving Creator

is the claim that the long history of suffering and evil denies such a Being exists.
Atheists and agnostics have asked: Where was God during the Great China
Famine which led to the deaths of some 45 million people from 1958 to 1962?
Why did not God prevent the killing of some 6 million Jews caught in the cross-
hairs of the German Third Reich? How could a loving God have seen the cruel
torture and murdering of some 3 million persons by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
from 1975-1979 and not intervene to prevent the disaster that unfolded? What is
God doing now to end the suffering of millions around the world who as patients
are inmates in hospitals, nursing homes and family homes? Why does not God
thwart the plans of terrorists to destroy the lives of innocent people? The list could
go on.

This issue has been formally called The Problem of Evil or The Problem of
Suffering and it has been a subject of discussion in churches, synagogues, mosques
and in universities for hundreds of years. Typically arguments questioning the
existence of God take this form:

If one proposes that an all powerful loving God exists, then the presence of
evil shows that He may be all-powerful but cannot be at the same time all
loving
since evil continues. Or, He may be all loving but not all powerful since evil
exists.
Therefore since evil continues to exist, God cannot be all powerful and all
loving at the same time since such a God would possess both the love for
humans
to protect them and the power to end suffering and evil.

How solid is this reasoning?

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Intervening Third Factors

As popular as this common objection is to the proposition that a powerful and

caring Creator exists, a major oversight is made in the aura of the seeming power
of the objection. In an earlier paper I authored I cited the following situations in
which the same elements existed:
(1) You are driving to work one day. Nearing an intersection the light turns green for you
to continue forward. Suddenly a car from the intersecting street runs a red light nearly
colliding with your car. The driver from that car shouts hard-on-the-ear obscenities at you,
and combines that with profane gestures. You have the capacity to catch the driver’s car
with yours. You also are steaming angry at the driver. Even so, you decide to ignore your
capacity to catch up to the offending driver and you decide to contain your burning anger.
You continue on to your job. Getting into a fight may lead to injury, death and legal
problems.
(2) You are a police detective. One evening you observe person “A” selling illegal drugs to
person “B” on a street corner. You detest illegal drugs and their effect on the community.
You have the power to arrest the seller of drugs. But you restrain yourself from acting on
your capacity to arrest and your hatred of illegal drugs. You decide instead to surveil the
seller of drugs. This may lead you to the supplier. Once that is done you can sweep all of
the participants in this scene off the streets.
(3) A well dressed man is strolling down the street. After reaching for an item in his back
pocket he inadvertently pulls out his wallet which falls on the sidewalk. He keeps walking
completely unaware of his loss. A homeless man noticed what happened and walks over
and picks up the wallet. He observes that it contains twelve $100 bills. The homeless man
has not had a meal in two days and has suffered some cold nights over the last few days.
He now has the capacity to feed himself and pay for a nice warm place to wash and sleep.
Furthermore, he is highly interested in solving this personal problem. In spite of this, the
homeless man catches up with the well dressed man and returns his wallet. The homeless
man’s sense of honesty will not let him keep it.
(4) You and your family are enjoying a sumptuous meal. Among the variety of foods available
to all is a plate containing just one remaining item. You really want this item and you are
 able to get it. You decide not to act on your capacity and your desire because you know
that your younger, shy sibling also would like to have it. You pass it to her. In
circumstances like this, your personal standards will not let you put yourself ahead of
others.

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(5) You are in a hurry to get to a business appointment but you must go to the post office first.
After parking in front of the post office, you exit and hasten to the post office entrance. A
crippled man is about 15 feet ahead of you and he also has business there. You are fully
capable of getting ahead of him and you have a need to get your business done
expeditiously. You decide not to hurry ahead of the man but to align yourself behind him.

In all of these scenarios a subject has an interest in solving a given problem and has the capacity
to actualize that solution but does not follow through because of what we may call “an
intervening third factor”8 which may delay solving the problem or avoids a certain kind of
remedial action completely. Intervening third factors that affect final decisions are made almost
every day in our lives. These modify how we deal with a heightened interest in a given problem
and our capacity to remove or solve that problem either now or later.

In some cases those who are viewed as God’s authorized representatives provide no defense or
satisfying explanation for God’s permission of evil. Unsatisfactory and unreflective responses
like “God needed another angel in heaven” or “We do not know why God lets things like this
happen” are often voiced to the survivors or victims who are looking to authority figures for
answers. This kind of shallow response has undoubtedly contributed to the success of the
atheists’ criticism under discussion. The “intervening third factor” – and there are at least two
presented in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures—is rarely presented, and apparently generally not
known.1

Classical Deism and Hinduism

For certain persons believing in God the problem of evil poses no difficulty to
address and for somewhat interesting reasons. For example, some subscribing to
classical deism might argue that God does not involve himself in the lives of
humans. For them God is indifferent to what humans do or experience. That
means, from their perspective, prayer is a waste of time since the Being on the
other end is not inclined to respond. It is not that he does not exist but that he is
not interested. The classical deist may declare only a fool would ignore the fact
that a living intelligence constructed the highly engineered universe but add only
an idiot would conclude the same living intelligence has a personal interest in
humans. Even so, the classical deist has apparently overlooked or discounted the
possibility of the “intervening third factor” illustrated earlier.

The Hindu is less challenged by this issue. Hindus believe in what is called the
law of karma. Some speak of 3 species of karma but fundamentally it means
1 See “Popular Unreflective Atheistic Arguments” by Hal Flemings at www.academia.edu

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the experiences in your present life are the consequences of the life you previously
lived. If you did not live a good and just life in your previous life, then expect bad
things in this life. So in this thinking, you have some control over what will happen
to you in your next life. This, to some extent, takes the Divinity out of the space of
liability. One writer put it this way:
Hindu philosophy, which believes in life after death, holds the
doctrine that if the karma of an individual is good enough, the next
birth will be rewarding, and if not, the person may actually devolve
and degenerate into a lower life form. In order to achieve good karma,
2
it is important to live life according to dharma or what is right.

This philosophy would change the direction of this discussion from Why Does
God Permit Suffering? to What Can We Do To Avoid Suffering in The Next Life?
But if the law of karma is to be accepted then one wonders: If we cannot recall our
previous life, how do we know what to avoid so as not to commit the same errors
in the present life? And what are the chances of improving morally and rationally
if you come back as a lesser creature?

Islam

When we ask: What is the Islamic response to this inquiry, we hear several voices
among them is this one:

There are a number of reasons why God allows hardship and adversity to befall
people. Even the genuine believers experience hardship and adversity at some
stage in their lives in accordance with God’s wisdom and Grand Plan. [For] 1-
 It is God’s design to subject people to various tests entailing hardship and
adversity so as to test their faith, their resolve and their trust in God. “Do the
people think that they would be left to say, ‘We believe,’ without being
tested?”
[Surah] 29:2… “We will surely test you through some fear, hunger and
shortage of
money, lives and crops, so give the news to the patient ones.” [Surah] 2:155…
2- Hardship and adversity is also decreed by God as a cleansing of our souls for

sins we have already committed. As a result, some of the bad things that
happen
___________________
2 Accessed online on July 27, 2018 at https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-karma-p2-1770055 , ThoughtCo, “What is Karma?”

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to us are a direct result of sins we have committed. “Whatever disaster strikes

you
is but a consequence of what your own hands have earned. Still, He pardons
quite
a lot.” [Surah] 42:30 3

Unequivocally this response places the Creator back in the space of liability with a
list of justifications. Because we are sinners we are disciplined by hunger,
shortage of money, loss of lives, loss of crops etc. Or, on the other hand, we are
subject to such experiences to test our love and trust in God. In this answer God IS
a major reason for human suffering. But, it does not close the conversation for
some since they may ask: How does a 2 year old girl dying of cancer factor in to
this? Or, how does an abandoned male child born with Dandy-Walker
malformation fit into this response to the cause of suffering?

The Problem of Pleasure

Often overlooked in this debate is the sweep of beauty, pleasure, comfort and
excitement pervasive in the natural world. Some call this the Problem of Pleasure.
Humans inhabit bodies packed with the ability to have euphoric experiences. From
mild to intense pleasure can be experienced through the eyes seeing striking colors,
through the mouth eating incredibly tasty foods, through the ears hearing music
that stirs a wide range of pleasant emotions, through the nostrils inhaling
fragrances that captivate the heart. The capacity to love and be loved is so
precious, so comforting that it has found its way into all forms of the arts and
literature. Because of these pleasures even many who are orphans, widows,
homeless, physically challenged or deformed do not want to die but to continue
living so as to enjoy them. It would appear, at first reflection, that the Problem of
Pleasure complicates, or least, expands

____________________
3
See the complete response at:
www.quran-islam.org/articles/part_3/human_suffering_(P11381)html

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the discussion to: If there is a God how do we account for a contradictory world in
which overwhelming episodes of pleasure can be presented and at the same time
indescribable pain and suffering can be documented?

Intervening Third Factor in the Bible

It is amazing that few Judeo-Christian apologists seem to have given sufficient

attention to seeking what the Bible’s response is to this troublesome issue. The
Bible reports the Creator made the first man and woman, that is, Adam and Eve.
Further it relates that God decided to test their appreciation for all he had done for
them. They were informed that disobedience and lack of appreciation on their part
would result in the Creator taking back a vital conditional gift they possessed, and
that conditional gift was life. Would they defer to his expectations and his
standards? The narrative vividly shows they did not. The fact their lives were not
immediately taken but they were allowed to live long enough to produce children,
some of whom also were disrespectful to God tells us that some issue was at stake
which delayed their deaths. Why did the Creator permit this unfolding rebellion
unless some issue was at hand? The Creator certainly had the power to destroy the
dissenters and the desire to see his original intention for the earth and mankind
fulfilled but something intervened. What is that third factor? Digging deeper, what
seeded the rebellion? The answer would lead to the reason the Creator did not
instantly take the lives of those who were responsible extracting the intervening
factor. In Genesis 3 the conversation definitely settles on the questions whether or
not one needs to be obedient to God and whether or not one needs to accept his
notions of good and bad as opposed to leading an independent, self regulated life.
Was the Creator up to the challenge played out in the rebellion? Was the Creator
confident enough in his own ways as to allow others the opportunity of living
independent of his standards? What is definitely true is the fact that is what he has
done. He has stepped back and allowed humans to experiment living lives
independent of his direct control. The Bible proclaims that though God owns the
earth3, he is not ruling it at present. That means he has been allowing humans to
make their own decisions independent of him. This historical experiment once
over will have demonstrated whether humans can govern themselves effectively
without the governance of the Creator.

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3
See Psalm 24:1; Exodus 9:29

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In the interim, the nation of Israel was singled out as a demonstration model of a
people who were under divine direction; this presented a contrast with the rest of
the world. We find evidence of this intention in the following passages from the
Hebrew Scriptures:

He issued His commands to Jacob, His statues and rules to Israel. He did not
do so for any other nation; of such rules they know nothing. Hallelujah. --
Psalm 147:19, 20 Tanakh-The Holy Scriptures, JPS (1985)

And now if you will certainly obey my voice and will indeed keep my
covenant,
then you will certainly become my special property out of all [other] peoples,
because the whole earth belongs to me. – Exodus 19:5, New World Translation
When Israel bolted to join the crowd of other nations, consider the import of what
we learn at Psalm 81:11, 12

But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave
them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. –New
International Version

In the Christian Greek Scriptures we find the same message.

In the past, he [God] let all nations go their way, Yet he has not left himself
without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven
and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your
hearts with joy. –Acts 14:16, 17. New International Version

Collecting these bits of data prompts us to ask: Since “God let all the nations go
their way” have they been successful? What does history tell us about the human
condition absent God’s direct involvement over the millennia?

Interestingly, the Bible reports another aspect of the intervening third factor.

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Many will not be surprised that we find that aspect in the book of Job. At Job 1: 6-
12 we read:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan,
“Whence
have you come?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the
earth
and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you
considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless
and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan
answered
the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not put a hedge about
him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the
work
of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth thy
hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face.” And
the
LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon
himself
do not put forth your hand.” So Satan went forth from the presence of the
LORD. –Revised Standard Version

This introductory account in the book of Job is galvanized with relevance to our
central discussion. It is clear from the book of Job that some sort of issue involving
humans is going on between the Creator and a rebel spirit son called Satan.
Satan’s “going to and fro on the earth” inspecting humanity is tied to this issue.
According to the Biblical account Satan without obfuscation is arguing that Job,
like other humans, is a selfish man and that his interaction with Jehovah amounts
to a clinical quid pro quo relationship, not an unselfish loving and trusting
relationship. It appears that Satan is certain that what was true of Satan was
certainly true of other created intelligent life, Job being no exception, and that is
that self interests come before anything else, including God. So, the situation that
created the third factor is bifurcated consisting of a challenge to the Creator to let
created beings make their own choices without any direction from Him to show
that he was not needed and also the challenge to show God that no human really
loves the Creator over his own self interests. Since evidently the Creator felt
differently the test was on.

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The Resolution

Third factors like the one we have just identified invariably take time to resolve.
Although the following real life event does not have all the features of the
examples cited earlier, it clearly has some of the relevant characteristics. Ignaz
Semmelweis (b. July 1, 1818 d. August 13, 1865) was a Hungarian physician. He
lived during a time when physicians did not know or understand the value of
washing ones hand before providing health care to others. According to one
source: “He soon became involved in the problem of puerperal infection, the
scourge of maternity hospitals throughout Europe. Although most women
delivered at home, those who had to seek hospitalization because of poverty,
illegitimacy, or obstetrical complications faced mortality rates ranging as high as
25-30 percent. Some thought that the infection was induced by overcrowding,
poor ventilation, the onset of lactation, or miasma. Semmelweis proceeded to
investigate its cause over the strong objections of his chief, who, like other
continental physicians, had reconciled himself to the idea that the disease was
unpreventable. ..[Semmelweis] concluded that students who came directly from the
dissecting room to the maternity ward carried the infection from mothers who had
died of the disease to healthy mothers. He ordered the students to wash their hands
in a solution of chlorinated lime before each examination” 4 He ardently preached
the importance of washing hands while providing health care. He practiced what he
preached but was laughed at and his detractors argued that he was absolutely
wrong. It took time for the evidence to amass to the point that showed he was right
and they were wrong. Two opposing views of health care over time showed one to
be correct and the other to be wrong. In another similar but more recent case, we
may consider the challenge that almost destroyed the career of Dr. Elizabeth
Loftus.
One report discloses that she “got into very deep trouble for finding that human
memory is fallible and that some allegations of child abuse were based on false
‘recovered repressed memories’ of events that never happened. She was accused of
denying the possibility of child sexual abuse and attacking its victims, something
she

__________________________
4“
Ignaz Semmelweis”. Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Accessed from the World Wide Web on August 7, 2018.

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absolutely did not do. She was even sued over what she wrote, but her work was
eventually vindicated.” This challenge like the challenge that faced Semmelweis
took time for its resolution.

The Bible’s answer to the question: Why Does God Permit Suffering? shows us
that God has been challenged and that the resolution to that challenge though
taking time will vindicate God and end suffering. In the interim, God has
interacted with individuals who have chosen to love, respect and obey him. They
have been informed of their opportunity to demonstrate their faith and commitment
to God despite living in a world not only apart from God but in many cases hostile
to God. For centuries, those professing Christianity have been praying that one day
“God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven”; that clearly is a request for
God once more to take command of this earth and bless it with life, peace, love and
security. Once that reality emerges suffering, sorrow, pain and death will be gone.

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