Says the British journal The Evangelical Quarterly: “One of the greatest hindrances to belief in an all-powerful, all-loving God is the existence of apparently undeserved suffering in the world.”

Some would therefore fault God for tolerating​—if not actually causing—​suffering. Wrote theologian John K. Roth: “History itself is God’s indictment. . . . Do not take lightly what God’s responsibility entails.”

Many religious thinkers since Augustine, though, have argued eloquently for God’s innocence. Seventeenth-century philosopher Leibniz coined a term for this endeavor: theodicy, or “justification of God.”​—See page 6.

Modern Theology Takes the Witness Stand

Efforts to clear God of blameworthiness have continued into modern times. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science Church, tried to resolve the problem by denying that evil exists in the first place! In Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures, she wrote: “God . . . never made man capable of sin . . . Hence, evil is but an illusion, and it has no real basis.”​—Italics ours.

Others have excused God on the basis of there being supposed virtue in suffering. A rabbi once said: “Suffering comes to ennoble man, to purge his thoughts of pride and superficiality.” Along similar lines, some theologians have theorized that suffering on earth is “necessary to prepare us as moral personalities for the life of the future heavenly Kingdom.”

But is it reasonable to believe that God brings or allows disasters so as to purge and punish people? Certainly those buried alive at San Ramón had little chance to improve their moral development. Did God sacrifice them so as to teach a lesson to the survivors? If so, what was the lesson?

Understandably, then, Kushner’s book When Bad Things Happen to Good People has popular appeal. Because its author personally knew the pain of suffering, he attempted to comfort his readers, reassuring them that God is good. However, when it came to explaining just why God permits the innocent to suffer, Kushner’s reasoning took a strange turn. “God wants the righteous to live peaceful, happy lives,” explained Kushner, “but sometimes even He can’t bring that about.”

Kushner thus proposed a God who is not wicked but weak, a God somewhat less than almighty. Curiously, though, Kushner still encouraged his readers to pray for divine help. But as to just how this supposedly limited God could be of any real assistance, Kushner is vague.

An Ancient Debate

The world’s religious thinkers have thus failed to mount a convincing defense for God and to render real comfort to victims of evil. Perhaps what should be on trial is not God but theology!

Examining Evil From Augustine to Calvin

IN HIS book The City of God, fifth-century theologian Augustine argued that man, not God, was responsible for the existence of evil. Wrote Augustine: “God, the author of natures, not of vices, created man upright; but man, being of his own will corrupted and justly condemned, begot corrupted and condemned children . . . And thus, from the bad use of free will, there originated the whole train of evil.”

The bad use of free will may explain much, or most, of the evil that has afflicted people. However, could a disaster, such as at San Ramón, be blamed on man’s free will? Are not many disastrous events caused by circumstances beyond the control of man? And even if man did willfully choose evil, why would a God of love allow evil to continue?

In the 16th century, French Protestant theologian John Calvin, like Augustine, believed that there are those “predestined [by God] to be children and heirs of the heavenly kingdom.” However, Calvin took matters a step further, arguing that God also predestined individuals to be “recipients of his wrath”​—condemned to eternal damnation!

Calvin’s doctrine had frightening implications. If a man suffered any sort of misfortune, might that not indicate that he was among the damned? Furthermore, would not God be responsible for the actions of those he predestined? Calvin had thus unwittingly made God the Creator of sin! Calvin said that “man sins with the consent of a very prompt and inclined will.”​—Instruction in Faith, by John Calvin.