The evil in this world makes me want to be a Buddhist
Question:
I read your response to the person asking questions about theodicy. I don't feel you did a good job answering:
- Inasmuch as I can understand God "letting" a bad person hang themselves, it makes no sense that innocent, good, sincere people should suffer as a result. A young couple on their second date in Tennessee was abducted, tortured, raped, mutilated, and burned. What did they do to deserve all that? And God sat by.
- Innocent people were gathered up like animals and tortured and treated worse than animals all while God just sat by and did nothing. Unimaginable suffering, fear, terror, and no intervention.
- I worked as a missionary in Jamaica's poor areas. Ten-month-old babies are anally raped and ruined if they survive. Where is God when that is happening? How is that good, just, and OK? It's not.
There is more, but those three are terrible examples. What about all the thousands of people who were horribly tortured, far worse than crucifixion, while God just sat by?
It sure begs the question about Buddhism being a better choice. I'd like to still believe, but this sort of thing really messes up my faith. I'm open to hearing your answers. Lay them on me. I'm all ears.
Answer:
"Theodicy" refers to the defense of God's goodness when evil exists. I don't believe anyone denies that men have been and will continue to be guilty of horrible crimes. However, the existence of these evils does not mean God doesn't exist, that God isn't good, or that God isn't able to do something about evil men. One of the faults in your argument is that you are making a dependency where none exists.
I don't know which of the several articles on this site that deal with the problem of evil and suffering you read. The various authors have tried to approach the argument from a variety of angles. Some examples are:
- Why Does God Allow Evil?
- If everything comes from God, doesn't evil come from God?
- On the Relationship between Good and Evil
The fact that you recognize that these acts are wrong means that you agree with Christian teaching about morality. The Bible teaches against evil. It teaches men to be responsible and punish evildoers. And it warns that God will take action against the wicked, which He has done in the past and will continue to do, ultimately leading to eternal punishment in hell.
What I can't figure out is why you think Buddhism solves this problem. Evil still exists in this world even though there are believers in Buddhism. Buddhists rightly attribute the problem to the sins of men and they seek to escape this world. What they miss is that God is the source of good and that the escape from evil is through God and not through men's ideas.
