Is There A God?

When typhoon “Ondoy” caused massive destruction in some parts of Luzon I was practically clueless. I was merely sitting in my room doing nothing the whole day. Then, lights suddenly went dead. As darkness fell, I turned on my transistor radio hoping that I would find something entertaining to listen to. But I was devastated to hear that so many people were already missing as a result of the flood. And the numbers kept on increasing by the hour. Soon text messages coming from my loved ones started to fill-in my inbox. All of them asked the same question: Where are you? Are you okay? It never occurred to me that some parts of the region were already laid to waste by typhoon “Ondoy.” I then decided to come out of my room which is situated in the 2nd floor and see what was really happening in the outside world. I was shocked to learn that downstairs water rains started to occupy the entire receiving area of the dormitory. The dorm helpers were busy marching to and fro with their faces seemingly terrified and confused. Honestly, the feeling was similar to what I felt a few years back when I watched “Deep Impact” in the movie theater. In the streets of Taft Avenue, people were already preparing for the worst. In my 6 year stay in the Metropolis, this was the first time I witnessed such a frightening scene. In the midst of it all, I never felt so alone in my life.

I hurriedly went back to my room and composed myself. What should I do in the event the water rises and reached my room? Should I call my mom and tell her what was really happening here in Manila? But I brushed it aside, knowing that God is with me. I tried my best to stay calm until I heard a knock on my door. It was my next door roommate Ella, the call center agent who works in Ortigas. Her face certainly looked ashen. I then asked her what’s wrong. She told me, sounding so desperate, that she lost contact with her younger sister who works in Pasig. Panic set in when a field reporter on the radio announced that Pasig was among the critically flooded areas within the Metro. I instantly console her. But my comforting words seemed to fell on deaf ears. She blurted as if stressing a point in a debate: You are Christian aren’t you? I proudly said yes. Without missing a beat, he replied: Then tell me, where is God in all this? That question undoubtedly jarred my databank and to certain extent, magnified my hidden fears. I could almost hear Gary V. poignantly singing, Natutulog ba ang diyos, natutulog ba? Feeling the pangs of restlessness in her, I just proposed one solution, and that is to pray. In less than an hour she came back into my room, this time with a smile. Her sister was safe and sound. It was unfortunate that my friend never even bothered to thank God as she left the room.

My friend Ella did raise a valid question, isn’t it? What was God doing when typhoon “Ondoy” destroyed some parts of the country? Why did he not save innocent people, including those helpless children who drowned in the flood? Were the communication lines in heaven too busy for prayers at that time typhoon “Ondoy” unleashed its wrath? Or were they merely talking to a “tooth fairy” or an imaginary friend? Let me then position the question in the proper perspective. If there really exists a God, and that he is an all-knowing and all-powerful God, why does he allow suffering and evil in this world? Taken the question into its logical foundation, there are at least two inferences when the coexistence of good God and evil is being raised. First, if God is all-powerful and all-loving, how come evil is so evident and uncontained? The second is more difficult because it deals with the Christian notion of God’s nature and character viz: Assuming God exists, how can he be called good while allowing death and destruction to happen? These to my mind are among the most pressing questions against the Christian faith that speaks of a loving god who is in control of all things. For one, unlike hard philosophical or intellectual roadblocks, the problem of suffering and evil confront mankind in its day to day existence. Its impact in our lives can easily be felt and seen because it squarely deals with human emotions and reality in general. In other words, this is not a dialogue limited to a handful of purported “intellectuals” within the academic halls of philosophical studies for even Christians too asked the same questions.

As Christians, how then should we respond to the problem of suffering and evil vis a vis the existence of God? I think the question could be answered in two possible tiers of reasoning. First, the philosophical level of reasoning and second, would be through biblical reasoning or the existential response. To be sure, the question posed by Ella does not hinge on whether God exists or not. The question however is geared not against God’s existence but upon his nature and character. Nonetheless given Ella’s presupposition as a doubting Christian, I shall however deal with the philosophical implications on the problem of evil juxtaposed with the argument from morality as evidence for the existence of God.

Very well, when one raises the problem of evil as evidence for God’s non-existence, he is more likely to assert that there is such a thing as good. And when there is such a thing as good, the necessary implication would be that there is a moral law or some standard by which to differentiate between good and evil. In the ultimate analysis, you have to posit a moral lawgiver as the source of the moral law-and that is God. In Mere Christianity, renowned Christian thinker C.S. Lewis says that moral law cannot be merely a social convention. It is more like a mathematical table, according to him. We would never say that the math table is a social convention made up to help us and that we could have made differently if we wanted to. To put it more bluntly, two plus two will always equal four irrespective of culture. Hence, a moral law could not have been a mere product of consensus amongst human beings in this planet. Regardless of culture, people seemed to agree at some point, whether consciously or not, that there is such a thing as right and wrong in their dealings with each other. They act according to some kind of standard of behavior most of the time, if not all the time. For instance, as C.S. Lewis put it in The Law of Human Nature, “Quarrelling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are, just as there would be no sense in saying that a footballer had committed a foul unless there was some agreement about the rules of football.” But having established the existence of some kind of moral standards, are we supposed to assume directly that there is indeed a God? And that no moral law can exists apart from Him?

If life, as they say is random or guided purely by chance, how come moral rules or standard exist? We have seen one of the goriest events in history such as the mass extermination of the Jews in Nazi Germany and Stalin’s exploits in Russia. All of these horrific events are attributed to a society which is built partly upon Kantian theory of ethics. To reiterate, it was the philosopher Immanuel Kant who sought to provide a moral impetus within man and attempted to build a system of right and wrong based on reason alone. The end result of a godless society wherein moral rules were made dependent on one man- in the name of Adolf Hitler- had been catastrophic and terrifying. If rules of morality are being measured on reason alone, which is clearly subjective, we can never have objective moral rules to follow. Everything is wrongheaded and is bound to be meaningless. With reason, as postulated by Kant, the telos or the purpose of human life is missing. Obviously, we cannot have at least a common ground from which to establish the starting point of an objective moral order. But with God as the starting point of a moral law, the logical connection can easily be established as evidenced by the Christian experience.

To raise the classic question on the problem of evil and morality actually proves, rather than disprove God’s existence. The esteemed Dr. Ravi Zacharias, one of my favorite contemporary philosophers on the subject, tells us that the existence of God cannot be disproved by introducing the reality of evil or wickedness. Those categories, as explained above, only exist if an absolute moral law exists. And an absolute moral law exists only if God exists. To justify the question, God must remain in the picture otherwise there can be no rational basis from which the question is based. For how can one raise the problem of evil using reason or “feeling” alone as the criterion from which to distinguish good and bad? Who sets the rules under this setting? See, the question of coexistence between a good God and the reality evil cannot be resolve on the basis of sheer relativism. For the simple reason that one cannot make an absolute statement based on one’s personal feeling on a matter-that would be an entirely subjective statement. In response to militant atheist Sam Harris’ diatribe against Christianity in Letter to a Christian Nation, Dr. Zacharias in his book entitled, The End of Reason had this to say: “For Harris to convince us that Hitler was wrong to do what he did, he has to borrow from an objective moral framework to support his point. Let me put it in another way. If Harris’ assertion that no moral order is visible in the world is true, we may well ask why Hitler couldn’t introduce his own order. What was wrong with what he did? What is the basis on which Harris is calling Hitler immoral? Or is he calling him immoral?” The point that the author wishes to make here is very clear. To raise the question on the reality of evil, one must first recognize the existence of God otherwise the question is not justified because he has no objective moral framework to begin with from which to judge what is good and evil. Verily, he has no standing whatsoever to put into question God’s character as moral or immoral other than his own personal preference of what morality is. Either way, the question self-destructs or loses its meaning along the way. This is not a cop-out to be sure, for in order to raise the question validly and credibly one must first justify the argument from morality vis a vis God’s existence. As mentioned earlier, reason or feeling alone cannot be the source of an objective moral law or standard because for one, it lacks the element of a moral point of reference that we Christians have and that is God-the revealer of right and wrong.

As I write this piece, another typhoon in the name of “Santi” has just landed in some parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila, where I m actually sitting at this very moment. Rains started to pour early afternoon and we will be expecting strong winds to come at midnight. Again, electricity has been preemptively cut-off for the safety of the general public. While everyone is preparing for the worst sort of a déjà vu, here I am writing this piece, which to my mind is far more important than any other preparations for the impending calamity. With my reasonable faith in God solidly intact, no amount of strong winds can blow my deep-seated belief away from God. With my faith resting on solid foundations, no amount of gigantic waves can shake it nor wipe it away from Him. Bring it on then!


postcript:
I shall be dealing with the book of Job from the Old testament in my next writing(The personal level of reasoning) The above discussion centers on the philosophical aspect of the reality of suffering and evil as espoused by Christian thinkers of our time.