If God Didn’t Exist
Or even worse, if God was evil...
…then every sunrise,
every blooming flower,
every wave gently sweeping to shore
is a lie, actually hiding a sinister intent. In fact, all the good thoughts we think and feelings we feel also must be lies, or at least meaningless, because they are no longer tied to any deeper good.
The argument is usually that God cannot exist or is not all powerful and all good because there is pain, heartache, death and pure evil in the world.
This is certainly a problem and its explanation is not simple, otherwise the Bible would be a poem or a pamphlet. But this argument against God’s goodness or existence can only exist, if there is an underlying implied agreement that there is something in this world that is both true and good.
In other words, discussions of the existence of evil and the problem of pain, do not remove God’s power, goodness or existence even though they most certainly deserve an explanation – one that fits our own human limitations.
In other words again, we will never know the complete truth in this area or any other aspect of life simply because our minds are limited – sometimes to the point of concluding that our limited thinking is as good as thinking can get. There is no being in existence who could possibly have a mind any better than ours even though every day we have the opportunity to see a sunrise,
a blooming flower
or a gentle wave lapping the shore.
Sure, we can write all this off as an illusion, which is consistent with our human nature, because it is easier to believe in random chance than it is to believe we are not the center even of our own lives.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
To you, O LORD, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
“What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!”
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!