Religion and Theology

Why has an infinitely powerful and good God permitted moral evil or sin in His universe  And why has an infinitely powerful and good God permitted pain and suffering in this universe

Among the Christians, this is a question frequently asked whenever one would face a crisis or encountering evil which tends to disrupt the order or perfect harmony of the world.  One of the most common answers to this question boils down to free will.  This is corroborated by Saint Augustine of Hippo who was one of the early fathers of the church and a renowned scholar of the Church whose works form the basis of Christian teachings.  According to him, evil has no independent existence (Abe, 143).  When God created the world, He made it so perfect that it did not include the creation of evil.  It was only when Adam and Eve disobeyed God that evil came into the world. It can be inferred here that evil is not the result of the devil as many would like to believe, it boils down to free will.

Furthermore, the main idea here is if Satan or Lucifer exists, he exists because God created him in the first place but he did not create them inherently evil.  When Lucifer chose to defy God, evil came about and that was the result of his exercise of free will and when he tempted Adam and Eve, the decision to follow the devil was also the result of free will.  What is ironic here is that God endowed mankind with free will.  He wanted to create human beings in His image yet He did not want to create automatons and to make this creation unique, He endowed them with free will.  He hopes that this creation would use that free will to act accordingly to His will.  Pain and suffering is the by product of evil and going back to Saint Augustine, this is because mankind deviated from Gods will and design.  As Christians, we are taught to obey God and submit to His will and when we do, everything would be fine.  The reason therefore why one encounters pain and suffering is the result of not following His will (Abe, 140).

As to why it has to happen to those who have led or are trying to lead righteous lives, evil, as well as pain and suffering, serve as trials to test if an individual will put his or her faith in God and follow His will or choose to rely on his or her own judgment and take chances.  However, this does not mean mankind is doomed in the sense that once sin is committed, we are destined to suffer eternal damnation forever.  This is the reason why God wants us to be saved, all the more reason He sent His son, Jesus to save us from sin by dying on the cross.  By doing so, we are thereby redeemed and it is only a matter of exercising our free will in acknowledging it in order to receive the graces we stand to receive.  It is through Christ that we are reunited with God, provided we choose to accept it.  Noted author and Christian scholar, C.S. Lewis put it this way

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust... Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies (45-46).

Buddhism is not a religion in the strictest sense but it is more of a (moral and ethical) philosophy since it is non-theistic and does not subscribe to any theodicy.  Unlike Christianity, it does not rely on anything external like grace and salvation but rather it is internal (self-reliance).  Buddhism is in a way similar to Christianity in the sense that evil is not an independent entity but rather exists within us and this is driven by our personal desires.  When we feed on our desires, we experience suffering and pain when we fail to satisfy our desires.

What Buddhism teaches us, no matter which school of thought one subscribes to, is to follow the path to enlightenment.  This entails arousing what is called Sunyata or emptiness.  What this essentially means is for us to be totally free of suffering and pain, we have to be willing to let go of our desires.  So as long as we are attached to it, we will continue to experience suffering and pain.  If one can accomplish this, we are considered one with the universe and the harmony and stability is restored (Abe, 148).

The bottom line of both Christianity and Buddhism is that all the imperfections of this world is not caused by an evil existing in this world.  It is the product of our free will when we deviate from the grand designs of a supreme being or the order of the universe.  Only by going back to the original course that our pain and suffering shall end.