Why some people think there is no answer to the problem of evil
Hopefully this will be a short and succinct list of reasons as to why some have in the past, and still today see it impossible for Christians to hold to a well rounded theodicy.
Many are spiritually unreflective
What it meant by this is they don’t spend enough time engrossed in the scriptures. If you do not thoroughly learn the story God is doing in our universe in the scriptures, then perhaps you’re minimising God unintentionally in his scope.
Many Christians do not understand the huge depths of human depravity
This is crucial for taking the picture as a whole.
People can be arrogant about the issue
When people encounter doctrines that appear counter-intuitive, they hold with unwise firmness that the doctrine must be mistaken over their own personal intuition. We need to grapple with scripture, not pretend or water down particular stories we can’t comprehend, but understand the why’s and the depths of scripture.
Many are simply ignorant of Christian doctrine and find it harder to weave all the pieces of the puzzle together as a result.
The problem of evil, if you look carefully, dips into just about every Christian doctrine
The book of Job is misunderstood
They see the end of the book and see that we should humble ourselves before the knowing creator, we know so little about his grand plans! As well as this being true, there is far more to Job than just that. The opening chapters of the book play out a Cosmic drama where Job’s loyalty is questioned by Satan and that he’s only loyal because nothing bad comes his way. But Satan is wrong.
Many don’t want this to be solved
This is especially true for the atheist but many Christians are content with leaving this too much in mystery. For some, they hold a grudge against God, and even for Christians, it can become a bargaining chip! God has done nothing wrong, you are in need of his forgiveness, not him for yours.
There are those who hold to absolute determinism.
The theodicy generally presented here will align well for the Calvinist election doctrine as well as the Arminian, but not determinism views within those fields of thought. If determinism is true then the man who fantasises about raping little children has no choice but to do so and if he commits the acts, was unable to do otherwise. This would be why R.C. Sproul said he had no solution to the problem of evil and that he doesn’t know anyone who does.
R.C. Sproul, the Invisible Hand: Do All Things Really Work for Good?
These eight reasons would be people not understanding the nature and value of free will and pre-suppose models of free-will only open theists or further over express (Later articles will go into depth here).
Understanding the future before them
Another reason would be that most people fail to understand the glory that awaits Christians forever in heaven. For the Christian, to separate the problem of evil with the eternal perspective of heaven is madness. Would you separate the Atonement from the trinity? (Good luck with that!).
The reason for illustrating this is the problem of evil is messy and clarifications need to be made. This can appear a daunting topic, but one worth having justifying reasons for.
Sources
Clay Jones, Why Does God Allow Evil?: Compelling Answers for Life’s Toughest Questions
