Posted on by Abe Austin

The Problem of Evil- Removing the Constraints

The Problem)

In my last post I explained how the Problem of Evil, the common argument that the suffering of the world is incompatible with the existence of God, was dependent upon two presuppositions.

  1. That God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-benevolent.
  2. That our reality is created out of nothing.

When both of these are combined it means that God could have created our existence to operate by any system that He wanted, but He chose to specifically use one where suffering was necessary for growth and transcendence. And what is more, because we, ourselves, are created ex nihilo as well, we never had any agency in being added to this system, nor any say in the consequences that await us on the other side.

But I finished the last post by promising to show that not all Christian faiths, and not all non-Christian faiths, hold to these two presuppositions, and that this conundrum comes apart in these other contexts. I will show one example of both.

Eternal Souls)

The first example comes from my own Christian faith: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our theology is unique among Christians in that we believe that we are co-eternal with God. Not only in the sense that we will live for eternity after death, but that we lived for eternity before birth. We believe that our souls, like God, are uncreated, and therefore their nature is not subject to His design.

This is important for two reasons. The first is because it suggests that the way suffering seems to be a necessary component for cultivating the fulness of our potential is baked into us from before the creation of this world. It is not a stipulation that God put upon us but a pre-existing quality that He had to account for. He designed this world to be suited to our nature, not the other way around. It is also likely that the pains of an afterlife torment are simply inherent to our pre-existing nature when we choose to live after the manner of rebellion, not an arbitrary consequence crafted by God.

The other important point is that our entering into this current state was voluntary. We believe that God proposed the creation of this world and mortal experience to us, with an understanding of all it would entail, including the hardships and dangers therein, and that we willfully chose it. We chose it because it was the right method to draw out our full potential, to develop us to be like Him.

From this perspective, the Problem of Evil is hardly a problem at all. The suffering of this world is essential to us. Not because God made it be so, but because of our inherent nature. Yes, God is all-powerful, and He could intervene in every tragedy and remove all suffering from us in the moment, but it would frustrate the entire purpose of our being here. If God prevented all pain, that would never teach us to stand forthright against the storm, only to cower behind God’s skirts. And God did not force any of this pain upon us, we chose it so that we might win the greater good on the other side.

Universal Consciousness)

Shifting gears now to a non-Christian perspective, Advaita Vedānta, one of Hinduism’s major philosophical schools, teaches a principle of universal consciousness, which states that all of us and all of creation are not separate beings at all. All of our perceived reality is but a part of one super-entity called Brahman. Thus, our perceptions of being separate beings that inflict pain upon one another, or being victims of a cruel and indifferent universe, are mere illusions. When people hurt one another, or when nature hurts humanity, it is actually just that universal consciousness hurting itself.

The Problem of Evil doesn’t make sense when our suffering is but the left hand injuring the right. No, the injury is not good, but there is no outer deity to get mad at for subjecting us to this experience. We only experience this pain because we are so insistent on our sense of individualism, trying to see ourselves as separate from the super-reality that binds us all together. All we have to do is to let go of the self, relax back into the universal consciousness, and we no longer become a subject of pain.

Thinking Outside the Box)

Obviously, I do not expect many of my readers to agree with either of these viewpoints, and therefore to not necessarily be freed from their anxiety about the Problem of Evil. But I think it is still important to see that the problem is one that arises because of presuppositional beliefs. This conundrum is not inevitable. It exists only because of context, and it evaporates in another context. It is, therefore, hardly a binding principle, and we do not have to be fettered to it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

May You Never be Content


May you never be content.
May you embrace the spirit of the chase.
May you always be improving on your character.
May you be content with forever journeying.
May you always progress.

It is in accepting the eternity of growth, improvement, and progression that we surrender the need to be perfect, and that we gain joy in achieving each new portion of it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Do Not Long for Yesterday

Do not long to escape the troubles of today by a return to yesterday. For it was the culture and choices of “the good old days” that led us to where we are today. The only hope is in building a future that is neither like yesterday nor today, but that has learned from the mistakes of both.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Wisdom Inside

The fact that you can recognize wisdom in others, means that those same insights already exist within you. If they didn’t, you would have no reference to recognize it in others. All the realizations that we find by exploring the world can also be found by exploring within.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The First to Take the High Road

It’s not uncommon to wish that the people in our lives would treat us better than they do, even that they would treat us as well as we know we ought to treat them. We wish our friends would be the ones to reach out instead of us, that our spouse would say “sorry” first, and that our enemies would forgive us before we forgive them. But we know that we’re supposed to do the right things on our own, regardless of what the people around us do. This can seem unfair, as it might see us always being the bigger person first, always doing for others the things that we wish were done for us.

But really this is only a limited view. If we widen our perspective, we realize that before we ever showed unreciprocated good to someone else, Jesus did so first to us. Jesus was the bigger person who fought for our hearts when we didn’t deserve it. Jesus was the one that took the high road when we were selfish and sinful. Jesus was the one who loved us before we loved him. Thus, any lopsided good that we now put out into the world is only paying it forward.

Some might say that maturity is being willing to do what’s right even when there isn’t any reward, but deeper wisdom is recognizing the reward was already given long before.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Liking Bias

Once you’ve decided that you don’t like someone, then however they are is the wrong way for someone to be. And if they were the opposite, that would be the wrong way to be, too. It must be the wrong way, because you don’t like them, so how they are must deserve that disliking.

But, of course, then it isn’t really something about them at all. You don’t like them because of something in you, not them.

And the opposite is also true. People can give their love to another person, and then still love that person, even when given absolutely no reason to do so. They love because of something inside of them, not in the other person.

So, whether you look at God’s children and see much to despise, or much to love, is a reflection of what is going on inside of you.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Who Serves Whom?

John F. Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” With those words, he accurately identified one of the great problems we have in our modern Western culture: we invert who ought to be in service of whom. We get into painful situations because we constantly put ourselves above things when we are rightly beneath them.

Is my marriage serving my needs? Does this community match my preferences? Is my church supporting my beliefs? Does my conception of God align with my interests?

All of these are backward. Marriages languish because couples don’t submit themselves to the betterment of it. Society’s fracture because households don’t contribute to the whole. Churches go astray because parishioners rewrite its doctrine. God is lost because His children try to make Him in their own image.

Yes, the individual is important but never forget that some things are bigger than you, and you should be serving them, not the other way around.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Greatness of the Task

Sometimes, it isn’t the greatness of the task that you do
It’s the greatness of the opposition you overcame to do it

Posted on by Abe Austin

Views of a Building

Some might look at the foundation of the building and say:

“Look, it’s forced to sit there beneath everything else, subservient and in the dirt! That’s a fact that it is under everything else, you can’t deny it! That’s wrong, and we have to change it. We have to pull the foundation above the level of the ground, even put it at the top of the building!”

Of course, doing that would make the entire thing topple.

Some look at the foundation of the building and say:

“No, it is supporting the entire building! It’s really the most important part of it all! Better than all the rest. We should all aspire to be steady foundations like that.”

Both views have a claim to some fact, and by that each assumes that they are in the right and are incredulous at anyone with a different perspective. “I see a fact,” they say, “and that means that I am right.” But narrow-minded facts lacking context can lead us astray, just as surely as total ignorance.

There is also a third group of people, who are able to back up and take in a fuller perspective. They might say:

“Foundation, top floor, elevator shafts, facade…they are all building. They all serve an essential and beautiful purpose. The foundation is good, the first floor is good, and the top floor is good. They are different, but that is by design. No part is better, no part is worse, they’re just different. A foundation without a top is useless. A top without a foundation is ruinous. So, appreciate them for what they are and embrace them all.”