Problem of Evil | The Evidence Course | Session 3 / Part 5 (2021-09-08) ​

0:00:15 a famous comedian and actor in the uk
0:00:18 he remarked on an interview
0:00:20 he said
0:00:22 about the world he said yes the world is
0:00:24 very splendid but he also has in it
0:00:27 insects whose whole life cycle is to
0:00:30 burrow into the eyes of children and
0:00:32 make them blind
0:00:34 they eat outwards from the eyes why
0:00:37 why did you do this to us and he's
0:00:38 referring to god not
0:00:41 you could easily have made a creation in
0:00:43 which that didn't exist
0:00:45 it is simply not acceptable
0:00:48 one of the key arguments brought up
0:00:50 constantly against belief in god is the
0:00:53 argument known as the problem of evil
0:00:57 and it's brought up by various atheists
0:01:00 uh people who have problems with regards
0:01:02 to the belief in the creator for a
0:01:03 number of different reasons or two main
0:01:05 reasons
0:01:06 the first one that they bring up is a
0:01:08 logical argument that is meant to show
0:01:11 the contradictory nature of asserting an
0:01:13 all-powerful all-good god
0:01:16 the second reason why people bring this
0:01:18 up is because an emotional argument
0:01:21 you know bad things happen to them
0:01:23 they're not happy about it they they
0:01:25 want to look to blame somebody therefore
0:01:27 they see
0:01:28 god as the the reason for the problems
0:01:30 and the difficulties in their life
0:01:33 and if god exists
0:01:34 why would i be put through these various
0:01:36 difficulties
0:01:37 why is it my life achieving only good
0:01:40 outcomes
0:01:41 why am i not achieving the maximum
0:01:43 benefit
0:01:44 so these are the two angles to the
0:01:46 argument one is a logical argument an
0:01:49 intellectual argument and the other one
0:01:51 is more of an emotional argument and to
0:01:52 be honest it's actually a harder
0:01:54 argument to address the emotional
0:01:55 argument
0:01:56 because it goes to the very emotional
0:01:58 disposition of a person
0:02:01 but let's take the first which is the
0:02:03 intellectual
0:02:04 or the claim that there's an apparent
0:02:06 contradiction in the logic of believing
0:02:09 in an all-powerful all-good god
0:02:11 so the argument is presented by the
0:02:14 greek philosopher known as epicurus an
0:02:17 epicorus
0:02:19 uh states
0:02:22 god is either willing to remove evil or
0:02:25 is not able or else he is both willing
0:02:28 and able
0:02:30 if he is willing and not able he must
0:02:32 then be weak
0:02:33 which cannot be affirmed of god
0:02:36 if he's able and not willing he must be
0:02:39 envious
0:02:40 which is likewise country likewise
0:02:43 contrary to the nature of god
0:02:45 if he is neither willing nor able he
0:02:47 must be both envious and weak and
0:02:49 consequently not god
0:02:51 if he is both willing and able which
0:02:54 only can which only can agree in the
0:02:57 notion of god
0:02:58 then why precedes evil or once then
0:03:01 precedes evil
0:03:03 so what epicurus is basically saying is
0:03:05 arguing that
0:03:07 if you got an all-good all-powerful god
0:03:10 then why would this all-good
0:03:12 all-powerful god create evil or allow
0:03:15 evil to exist within the world so either
0:03:18 god is not all good
0:03:21 and but he's also but he's all-powerful
0:03:23 so if that's the case then that can't be
0:03:25 the the what they call the conception of
0:03:27 god because god has to be maximally good
0:03:30 or god is not all-powerful he may be all
0:03:34 good but he's not able to stop the evil
0:03:36 so therefore he's not all
0:03:38 powerful
0:03:39 and in such a case he isn't a god
0:03:42 so they say okay this problem of evil
0:03:45 demonstrates the contradictory nature in
0:03:48 the attributes of the creator or
0:03:50 attributes of god being all good and
0:03:52 all-powerful but yet evil exists and if
0:03:55 evil exists therefore god does not exist
0:03:57 that's the that's the argument there's a
0:04:00 number of flaws in this contention
0:04:02 and this is what we'll seek to address
0:04:05 firstly
0:04:06 what they the atheists claim
0:04:08 what are they when they claim that
0:04:10 there's evil they're referring to two
0:04:11 types of evil
0:04:13 firstly
0:04:14 evil like natural events volcanoes
0:04:17 earthquakes diseases floods etc these
0:04:21 are things outside of human control
0:04:24 but is labeled
0:04:25 as evil due to the damage they cause on
0:04:28 life and the environment
0:04:31 then there's another type of evil called
0:04:32 moral evil
0:04:34 that is where humans decide to perform
0:04:36 evil acts like murder theft rape etc
0:04:40 so the problem with this argument
0:04:43 is that the the problem of evil argument
0:04:46 is that presupposes that god exists with
0:04:48 only two main attributes of being
0:04:52 all-powerful and all good
0:04:55 however the the argument
0:04:57 ignores the fact that allah the creator
0:05:00 has other attributes like all knowing
0:05:03 and all wise amongst other names
0:05:06 there could be a conceivable reason why
0:05:08 evil exists
0:05:11 and that it's and such a reason might be
0:05:13 that it leads to a greater good
0:05:15 let me give an example of this
0:05:18 imagine if you had
0:05:19 an illness you go to your doctor your
0:05:21 doctor says you got a bacterial
0:05:23 infection so you're given antibiotics
0:05:25 and you find that while taking while in
0:05:27 the middle of the course of antibiotics
0:05:29 you get an upset stomach and maybe even
0:05:31 diarrhea
0:05:32 in the short term you don't feel much
0:05:34 better in fact you probably feel worse
0:05:37 but in the long term your condition is
0:05:39 cured
0:05:40 and the side effects from the medication
0:05:42 they're gone
0:05:43 so would it be rational to claim that
0:05:46 the doctor is evil or not capable
0:05:49 because in the short term you suffer
0:05:51 from side effects for the treatment
0:05:54 no because it leads to a greater good
0:05:57 and so you suffer from some side effects
0:06:00 in order to achieve to cure something
0:06:02 better
0:06:03 similarly we have to appreciate that
0:06:04 while we are temporal creatures meaning
0:06:07 we live within you know time so we can't
0:06:10 see the the
0:06:12 the future you know we go from the past
0:06:14 to present to the future we can't see
0:06:16 what's going on
0:06:18 that
0:06:19 we have a very limited perspective
0:06:22 and a very individualistic perspective
0:06:24 you know from an individual i can only
0:06:25 see from my own perspective at a very
0:06:28 limited scope of the reality
0:06:31 the creator however is not bound by
0:06:33 these limitations
0:06:35 the creator exists beyond time
0:06:37 and the creator is all-knowing
0:06:39 and therefore knows past present and
0:06:41 future as one source of knowledge
0:06:44 while we have a very small perspective
0:06:46 of the universe allah has total
0:06:48 perspective of the universe i the whole
0:06:51 the whole picture
0:06:53 and so
0:06:54 the quran allah mentions in the quran a
0:06:58 particular story and i'm going to
0:07:00 not go into the details of the story but
0:07:01 just make one or two points to highlight
0:07:03 this issue
0:07:04 the quran explains a story about khidr
0:07:08 and musa alaysalam
0:07:10 and those various examples in which
0:07:13 he undertook actions that from musa
0:07:16 al-islam's perspective from his view
0:07:19 he saw it as evil as wrong
0:07:21 but when hidden finally mentioned
0:07:23 overall reasons behind this
0:07:26 and behind why he did it and why god
0:07:28 told him and ordered him to do it then
0:07:30 musa alaysam was able to see the good in
0:07:33 them for example when hidden he damaged
0:07:36 a ship that was laden full of goods from
0:07:39 a town
0:07:40 and it stopped it from you know
0:07:42 traveling in order to engage in trade to
0:07:45 faraway towns and heder mentioned the
0:07:48 reason why he damaged the ship was
0:07:50 because the ship was going to pass
0:07:53 through the the seaways of a king who
0:07:56 would who is going to take that wealth
0:07:59 and use it for his own revenue and so to
0:08:01 save the revenue and the wealth of the
0:08:03 town he damaged the ship to prevent it
0:08:06 from sailing
0:08:07 this striking example
0:08:10 shows that sometimes
0:08:12 certain things we see as bad
0:08:15 but rather they have a greater good that
0:08:19 results from them there's a greater
0:08:20 reason for these limited uh bad things
0:08:24 even if we don't know the reason another
0:08:26 example of this is like volcanoes they
0:08:28 may be destructive but they also
0:08:30 fertilize the soil to allow plants to
0:08:33 grow and also therefore crops
0:08:36 so the first criticism criticism to this
0:08:38 argument of the problem problem of evil
0:08:40 that atheists give us
0:08:42 is to say that we cannot term something
0:08:44 truly evil or bad while being ignorant
0:08:48 of the full picture of what will happen
0:08:50 we are arguing from an ignorant
0:08:52 perspective
0:08:54 secondly
0:08:55 terms like good and evil are problematic
0:08:58 terms anyway for atheists
0:09:00 what do we mean by good what do we mean
0:09:02 by evil how do we assess these terms and
0:09:04 make moral judgments particularly from a
0:09:06 materialistic outlook
0:09:09 are volcanoes for example evil or are
0:09:12 they simply events within the universe
0:09:14 from a materialistic perspective from
0:09:16 you know just viewing everything that we
0:09:17 are just a product of the universe from
0:09:19 the physical universe
0:09:21 then events like hurricanes like
0:09:24 volcanoes like earthquakes that damages
0:09:26 lives and properties
0:09:28 they're neither good nor bad they're
0:09:30 just events within the universe
0:09:33 so this materialistic or atheistic
0:09:36 worldview has a fundamental problem in
0:09:38 being able to determine whether we can
0:09:40 even make these types of moral judgments
0:09:43 against
0:09:44 uh against uh
0:09:48 earthquakes and natural disasters but it
0:09:50 gets even worse it gets even problematic
0:09:52 for them
0:09:53 for instance
0:09:54 if the universe began to exist from
0:09:56 nothing by nothing and for no reason
0:10:00 whatsoever
0:10:01 and that the universal laws are deter
0:10:04 that determine the behavior of objects
0:10:06 and events within the universe just
0:10:07 happen to exist the way that they do the
0:10:09 universe came into existence happens to
0:10:12 have these laws and these laws you know
0:10:14 affect the behavior of matters
0:10:16 then events like earthquakes etc are
0:10:18 simply the product of these universal
0:10:20 there's no morality
0:10:22 but also
0:10:23 there's no morality for human beings as
0:10:26 well
0:10:27 we cannot say what is a morally wrong or
0:10:30 what's a morally right or morally wrong
0:10:32 judgment
0:10:33 and that's because the human
0:10:35 decision-making process from a
0:10:37 materialistic atheist worldview
0:10:39 the human decision-making process is
0:10:41 built upon
0:10:43 blind
0:10:44 you know naturalistic
0:10:46 non explain explanatory uh events that
0:10:50 take place so blind materialistic events
0:10:52 that take place
0:10:53 then we have so we have no choices over
0:10:56 our behavior think about it
0:10:58 if your choices are determined by
0:11:00 unconscious processes taking place in
0:11:03 your brain only
0:11:04 and these conscious processes are simply
0:11:07 following universal laws
0:11:09 nobody determined these universal laws
0:11:10 they just happen to exist the way they
0:11:12 did then when we think we are making a
0:11:15 choice is in reality simply following
0:11:17 the inevitable chemical reactions
0:11:20 yeah and other physical reactions
0:11:22 occurring within our brains so we're not
0:11:25 really making moral choices we're not
0:11:27 free and making free choices
0:11:29 therefore from a materialistic view we
0:11:32 don't really have we don't have this
0:11:34 concept of free will we don't have the
0:11:35 ability to make free choices so if we
0:11:37 don't have the ability to make free
0:11:39 choices how can we determine whether
0:11:41 something or even someone's action are
0:11:44 good and evil or good or evil we can't
0:11:46 because we can't say the person's made
0:11:47 the choice or not
0:11:49 he didn't have the moral choice he was
0:11:50 compelled to make those choices due to
0:11:52 his brain chemistry following universal
0:11:54 laws that are predicted predicated that
0:11:57 are pred predicated his actions just
0:11:59 like the black widow spider we can't say
0:12:01 the black widow spider is evil because
0:12:03 the the female spider eats its mate
0:12:06 after mating with the spider the male
0:12:08 spider can't say well that's a bit of an
0:12:10 evil action to do it was
0:12:12 determined to do the action it didn't
0:12:15 have a choice the difference between us
0:12:17 and in that situation is all is only the
0:12:19 the fact that we have the illusion that
0:12:22 we have a choice but in reality
0:12:24 according to this particular view
0:12:26 atheist materialistic view of the
0:12:28 production of the human mind and
0:12:30 everything else within the universe then
0:12:32 there are no choices and if there are no
0:12:34 choices there are no moral judgments we
0:12:36 don't i don't make the decision to be
0:12:37 morally good or morally bad that
0:12:39 decision has already been predetermined
0:12:41 since the time of the beginning
0:12:43 beginning of the big bang
0:12:45 intuitively we accept that we can make
0:12:48 moral choices and the only way to
0:12:50 explain this that we have free will
0:12:54 and that we can make moral choices is
0:12:56 actually believing that there is a
0:12:58 creator a necessary being beyond the
0:13:00 universe
0:13:01 who created us with the ability to make
0:13:04 free choices
0:13:05 further point
0:13:06 simply saying i don't so this is the
0:13:09 third point now
0:13:10 simply saying i don't like the effects
0:13:13 of a certain event
0:13:15 doesn't determine determine the event as
0:13:17 evil just because i don't like it so i
0:13:19 don't like something or i like something
0:13:22 doesn't make things good or evil based
0:13:24 upon my likes and dislikes because if
0:13:26 you make your likes and dislikes the
0:13:28 basis of your moral decisions then they
0:13:30 will render all morality subjective to
0:13:34 you there is no objective moral value
0:13:36 now and if there's no objective moral
0:13:38 value beyond you yourself
0:13:40 then how can you apply this upon the
0:13:42 creator it's just your own subjective
0:13:45 tastes
0:13:47 this points to the fact that morality
0:13:50 also is built upon a person's viewpoint
0:13:52 on life and is not an objective fact and
0:13:55 can be sensed and that we cannot to
0:13:57 determine morality objectively simply
0:14:00 sensing it from the acts themselves
0:14:03 but rather we understand what our
0:14:06 morality is and then or as a
0:14:08 metaphysical principle or as an
0:14:10 assumption or upon how we view our
0:14:12 purpose of life and then we superimpose
0:14:14 this
0:14:15 upon
0:14:16 events and actions that take place
0:14:20 therefore
0:14:22 when you have a muslim
0:14:24 a morally good act will be determined by
0:14:28 his viewpoint that he is here to worship
0:14:30 allah and seek the pleasure of allah so
0:14:34 that action which
0:14:35 allah is pleased with is termed good
0:14:39 the action that allah is displeased with
0:14:42 is termed evil so good and evil is
0:14:45 turned according to this framework so
0:14:47 from an islamic point of view we don't
0:14:50 say natural disasters are good or evil
0:14:52 they're neither good nor
0:14:54 evil
0:14:55 rather they're just events
0:14:57 and the good and the evil the moral
0:14:58 judgments
0:15:00 are based or the morality or the
0:15:02 accountability in terms of what is how
0:15:04 we respond to such an event
0:15:08 this will determine whether what we're
0:15:10 doing is morally good or is morally evil
0:15:13 i do we respond to a natural disaster or
0:15:16 an event that's outside of our control
0:15:18 according to the commands of allah are
0:15:21 we going to respond to it according to
0:15:23 what displeases the allah and therefore
0:15:25 outside the commands of allah in this
0:15:29 way the muslim is given a unique view
0:15:32 towards events he may not like it which
0:15:35 may be beyond his control but he
0:15:37 understands how to respond to those
0:15:40 events in a moral way by following the
0:15:43 commands and prohibitions laid down in
0:15:45 islam
0:15:46 and laid down by allah
0:15:48 this is different to a capitalist who
0:15:50 sees good and evil only in the paradigms
0:15:52 of likes and dislikes or more
0:15:54 specifically what gives them pleasure
0:15:57 and what you know keeps the pain away or
0:15:59 what causes material benefit
0:16:02 and material harm
0:16:04 this viewpoint therefore is effectively
0:16:06 saying how do we maximize that our
0:16:08 purpose of life here is to maximize our
0:16:10 pleasures and maximize our own benefit
0:16:13 that's how he views life
0:16:15 it cannot factor in as a result
0:16:17 illnesses because illnesses as a result
0:16:19 damages his health stops him from having
0:16:21 a good time as a result from that
0:16:24 viewpoint he terms an illness and evil
0:16:28 so
0:16:28 when a person
0:16:30 faces a natural disaster that causing
0:16:32 pain or material loss are viewed from
0:16:35 this angle from a capitalist angle and
0:16:38 leave a person without the emotion
0:16:40 leaves a person without the emotional or
0:16:42 psychological concepts that provide them
0:16:46 with patience and perseverance to
0:16:48 overcome such difficulty or to help
0:16:50 others face such difficulty believing
0:16:52 that the ultimate good is with allah
0:16:56 so if you think you're here to achieve
0:16:58 ultimate pleasures in this life and you
0:17:01 don't achieve it then what's going to
0:17:03 happen you're going to feel depressed
0:17:06 you're going to feel sad you're going to
0:17:07 not have those psychological you know
0:17:10 support mechanisms concepts that are
0:17:12 going to allow you to face the
0:17:14 difficulties within life the prophet
0:17:16 sallallahu alaihi wasallam said stated
0:17:20 amazing is the affair of the believer
0:17:23 verily all of his affair is good and
0:17:25 this is not
0:17:27 for for one except the believer so
0:17:29 amazing is the affair of the believer if
0:17:31 something is good something of good or
0:17:34 happiness befalls him he is grateful
0:17:37 and if and that is good for him and if
0:17:40 something of harm befalls him he is
0:17:43 patient and that is good for him
0:17:45 so any situation for a believer is
0:17:48 always good if he faces good it faces
0:17:51 something that he likes then
0:17:52 alhamdulillah he's grateful to allah if
0:17:55 he faces something difficult and he's
0:17:57 patient and perseverant persevering with
0:17:59 it then alhamdulillah allah is pleased
0:18:01 with him and reward him greatly in the
0:18:03 hereafter
0:18:05 so therefore as for so
0:18:08 so this gives a very unique view towards
0:18:12 how we understand good and evil that
0:18:14 they are relational views and so even if
0:18:17 somebody turns around and says you know
0:18:18 what i can understand that you know
0:18:21 allah exists but why would i be put in
0:18:24 that situation
0:18:25 the denial of the belief in allah will
0:18:27 not secure that person from life's
0:18:29 difficulties he'll still face life's
0:18:31 difficult difficulties the only
0:18:33 difference is is that that person who
0:18:35 denies the belief in allah will have no
0:18:39 ability to look forward to a greater
0:18:41 reward on the day of judgement will not
0:18:44 have those psychological emotional
0:18:46 stabilizers that allows them to overcome
0:18:49 these types of difficulties so to
0:18:51 summarize the problem of evil argue the
0:18:54 problem of evil argument fails on a
0:18:56 number of grounds
0:18:57 firstly it reduces the attributes of the
0:19:00 creator simply all good and all-powerful
0:19:02 whereas we believe the creator is also
0:19:04 all wise and all-knowing amongst other
0:19:07 names therefore we cannot from our
0:19:09 limited view of life be able to
0:19:11 determine whether a particular event
0:19:14 at a particular moment in time is good
0:19:17 or bad that the creator has the full
0:19:19 picture and thus is full fully aware of
0:19:22 what that particular event will lead to
0:19:25 secondly good and bad are arbitrary
0:19:27 terms
0:19:28 we apply from our viewpoint on life for
0:19:31 a person following the capitalist
0:19:33 ideology of maximizing benefit
0:19:35 minimizing pain then he judges events
0:19:38 from that viewpoint for a muslim we view
0:19:40 life as a test a test whether we fulfill
0:19:44 the commandments of allah or do we
0:19:46 disobey the commandments of allah so
0:19:49 when we look at events that take and
0:19:51 affect us we will view it from this
0:19:53 perspective
0:19:55 and also thirdly that belief in the
0:19:57 creator gives us the psychological and
0:20:00 emotional stability
0:20:02 concepts such as
0:20:03 the wealth comes from allah concepts
0:20:06 such as patience and perseverance the
0:20:08 concepts that allah reward those people
0:20:10 who are facing difficulty in this life
0:20:12 that whenever any fear flicks them then
0:20:14 it removes their sins that these things
0:20:16 help us navigate the difficulties and
0:20:19 the inevitable problems that we will
0:20:21 face in life this is what the belief in
0:20:24 the creator gives us and therefore it
0:20:26 makes more sense even from an emotional
0:20:29 perspective that belief in a creator
0:20:32 creates that subkina that tranquility in
0:20:34 the heart whereas atheism and simply
0:20:36 rejecting god out of some emotional
0:20:38 angst will not create that particular
0:20:42 stability nor tranquility or nor
0:20:45 therefore ultimately happiness in the
0:20:47 long run with the individual thank you