Evil exists. And by that, we mean that bad things happen. Cruelty happens, painful diseases happen, and death happens. The Epicurean Paradox, attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, extends the age-old Problem of Evil.
He says that God either:
Wishes to take away evils, and is unable,
He is able, and is unwilling,
He is neither willing nor able,
He is both willing and able.
Now, there are four outcomes of the above possibilities:
If He is willing and is unable, He is feeble, which is not in accordance with the character of God;
If He is able and unwilling, He is envious, which is equally at variance with God;
If He is neither willing nor able, He is both envious and feeble, and therefore not God;
If He is both willing and able, which alone is suitable to God, from what source then are evils? Or why does He not remove them?
To understand all the conditions and their outcomes better,
carefully study the flowchart in the image.
As we can see, the first three outcomes are there just to get us to the fourth outcome, as no deity or religion claims that their god is either powerless or unwilling to remove evil from the world. At least, all popular gods claim to be omnipotent and just; entities that are against evil.
We find that the fourth condition that God is both willing and able to eliminate evil from the world is the only logical outcome for an Omnipotent, Omniscient and Loving God.
But then comes a huge “But”.
Then Why Is There Evil?
So, apparently evil exists and an All-Powerful God does nothing about it. Now, several explanations are given for the presence of evil. The most common explanation is the presence of a satanic entity that causes and promotes evil. But then the question arises why a good and loving god who is also “willing and able to eliminate evil” will sit around and watch satan do its job when it can and it should destroy satan right away?
The most common response to that question is the temporal need for evil or satan in order to test human beings. It is said that the presence of evil is necessary if we are to be tested, this is because we need a range of choices to choose from. For example, if there are only good choices in the world and no evil ones, then this will be like an MCQ exam where no incorrect answers exist, thus there will be no purpose for such an exam.
In other words, for us to have free will and exercise it, the universe must have a variety of choices ranging from worse to excellent. Only in such a world can we realize our true human potential and nature.
Why God Tests Us?
However, Epicurus argues that God is also All-Knowing, so why does He have to test us anyway? Since He must already know which ones of us are good and which ones among us are bad. Then why test us?
These are a few main questions and they interlink each other in various ways as shown in the image. Without expanding further on the questions, let’s move directly towards an answer that is both simple and short:
Basically, according to the Epicurean Paradox, an ideal world will be where people have free will and yet there is no presence of evil. And Epicurus asks whether God can create such a world or not. If He can’t, He’s not Omnipotent, and if He can — then why doesn’t He? (and from here we can go circling in loops). So what are we missing? Is there a solution to this?
For the sake of argument, let’s say God creates a world where:
No evil exists
Everyone has free will
But wait a minute, doesn’t that world already exists? In the realm of the angels, the angels exercise free will while they do not have to interact with any kind of evils. They do not have to suffer pain or cruelty, nobody robs them of all their belongings. So, the angels have free will and there is no evil in their world. But you might be wondering if they really have free will. You may ask, “Don’t they just follow orders from God?” That brings us to the actual problem:
In the total absence of evil, there won't be any “choices” other than the best choice. The best choice will be the choice indicative of the highest good (which in our case is the perfect obedience of God.) In such a world, you can’t even have “slightly good choices” because a slightly good choice means that it has been slightly touched by some slight evil — and you don’t want that.
So, a world that is free of evil must essentially be free of choices as well. Unless by choices you mean what color dress to wear at a party.
We’ve thus reached a partial conclusion: An evil-free world with free will is an oxymoron.
But the question remains that does not God know the choices we will eventually make with our free will? So why doesn’t He judge us based on that knowledge and do away with creating a complicated universe that burdens us with making the actual choices?
The answer is that although God knows how you’ll perform in the test, the crux of the matter is that: You don’t! This whole world and your brief stay in it is for you to know who you are.
God already knows, but won't those who are being thrown in hell question why they’re being thrown in hell? Because of a God’s prior knowledge? Is that a good enough answer?
Absolutely not. For punishment to be meaningful and for the trial to be fair, one must know what he has done wrong and that justice was served.
But why create hell and people worthy of it in the first place? In simple words, why create human beings? And so asked the angels too. Were not the obedience of angels enough? Thus, we come back again to the importance of free will and obedience by choice:
Humans were created to demonstrate the beauty and power of free will, and sometimes, the ugliness of it. Regardless, their creation was one step ahead of angels, signifying the merit of conscious decision-making.
Let’s suppose all good souls were kept and evil souls were discarded. Again, God may know that these souls are actually good but they themselves are unaware of their potential. They themselves are oblivious to who they are. What will be the point of free will when there is no history or identity attached?
If the dwellers of heaven have no knowledge of, say, what it means to stand up against injustice or what it means to be patient in the face of adversity or what it means to give and sacrifice in the way of God? – What’s the point of it all if the souls haven’t gone through any of these experiences?
Now, some people might say, “Can’t God somehow instil their identity or history inside them, without making them actually live in a world full of evil?”
And I might say, “Well, who’s to say that’s not what’s really happening?”
The Illusory Nature of This World:
Ample religious literature and many modern scientific theories express the possibility of the universe being an illusion. Whether religious gurus call the life of this world a dream or fringe scientists call it a simulation, at the end of the day, they’re hinting towards a mysterious reality that is extremely likely to be true.
All the tests and moral dilemmas we face in our lives could be part of a simulation, meant to give us a history and identity we can relate to. But this is just a thought. In any case, our participation in it is real and representative of us and is being recorded for the purpose of evidence and fair trial.
At this point it is important to understand that evil does not really exist, what exists is pain. The difference is that, unlike evil, pain exists internally and subjectively. Without the perception of mental and physical pain, the concept of evil existing falls flat.
Creating only good souls and providing them with heaven is creating the potential alone. We are capable of experiencing pain in this world for the very reason of finding our own selves and realizing our potential. We need to see what wrong or right we are capable of in order to relate to our own self and to the privileges or punishments we’ll be met with, in the hereafter.
What’s The Worth of Free Will That Doesn’t Come Face to Face With Evil?
There is definitely something to cherish about goodness when it is seen in contrast to evil. There is something about challenging evil, something about denying carnal pleasures, that is not found in a world void of evil. And humans have it in them. They have the potential. Won’t it be a shame to put them in a world where none of it can be realized?
Why do the angels serve pious human beings? Because they see a realization of potential previously unknown to them. Otherwise, angels were all good and had free will so what made the human piety greater? What makes human obedience greater?
Also, given the possibility, should God not create a world that’s meant to bring about this greater and far more sublime form of obedience?
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For the purpose of reference: Quranic verses 3:185, 57:20 and others talk about the life of this world as the "enjoyment of delusion". There is a hadith quoted by Ahlesunnah and Shia alike, from Prophet peace be upon him and Imam Ali peace be upon him:
“الناس نیام فإذا ماتوا انتبهوا”
“People are asleep, they wake up when they die.” (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 50, p. 134.)
There are verses that say the life of this world is a sport or a game and that true life is that of the hereafter. (example: Surah Ankabut, verse 64)
In science, we see a growing concern regarding this world being an illusion and having properties more matching to those of a simulation or video-game-like sensory world. For reference study theories and hypotheses such as the Holographic Principle, the Simulation Hypothesis, the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis, Multiverse theory, etc.
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