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Amber
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Hi, guys —
I have a few questions regarding the contemporary view of Catholic's on evil and suffering and the extent to which Catholics believe in the teachings of the Church.
- What are your general views on evil and suffering based on the teachings of the Catholic Church?
- To what extent do you believe Catholics today still believe in the teachings of the Catholic Church?
Evil and suffering in the form of:
- natural disasters
- life threatening diseases, and
- war
occur in society today.
- Are they the result of the sins of mankind or are they the result of original sin? and if the answer is, No, for both, what is the reason for all those forms of suffering?
Please elaborate on your chosen answers.
- Does Catholicism teach that we should trustingly surrender ourselves to the gracious will of God and that God uses suffering as a means of discipline, growth, enrichment and personal faith development?
- Regarding God's gift of free will, do Catholics believe that this gift is what leads to evil and suffering and thus we are responsible for our own actions?
- Can innocent people suffer? and in the view of the Church, what is the reason for:
- babies dying
- women being raped
- innocent people dying for the wrongdoings of others?
e.g. being killed by a bomb attack, or a passing bullet.
Thank you for answering.
Amber
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{
What is the Catholic view on evil, suffering and free will; and to what extent do Catholics believe? }
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Paul replied:
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Hello Amber,
Good questions. Let's get to them:
- I will answer this in two parts:
- What is evil?, and
- Why is there evil?
- a. What is evil?
- Evil is not a thing, not something, but a lack or deprivation of something. Evil is to being, what darkness is to light.
- Why is this an important point?
Because it shows that God did not create evil. Everything that the all-good,
all-powerful God created is good. A good God could not create evil. Therefore, the syllogism would go like this: All being is good, evil is a lack or diminishment of being, therefore evil is a lack of good.
There are two kinds of evil to consider — physical evil and moral evil.
Physical evil is like blindness to the eye, or any other physiological defect of our nature. It is a privation of what is meant to be and/or how something is meant to operate.
Moral evil is accomplished only by free-willed creatures, which means humans or angels. Their choice to do wrong is moral evil; there is guilt and sin involved in moral evil.
- b. Why is there evil?
- The question of why there is evil and suffering in the world begins with original sin, and continues with our own personal sin. Sin creates injustice, which creates imbalance and suffering. This began with Adam's fall. This moral evil can also be seen as introducing physical evil into the world. Our very nature was changed with original sin, and hence all of us come out of the womb with imperfections. Sometimes those imperfections are manifested later in life.
We now live in a world that matches the forbidden tree that our first parents indulged in — we live in a world of good and evil. We are imperfect and sinners living in a good world tainted by injustice, stemming from the accumulation of our sinfulness. Christ came into this imperfect and sinful world to save us from it.
With His merciful grace, we can now overcome all of these obstacles we are responsible for, to regain the perfect union with God that He originally intended for us before we messed things up with our own selfishness.
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You said:
- To what extent do you believe Catholics today still believe in the teachings of the Catholic Church?
- There are a whole lot of every-day, run-of-the-mill Catholics who do not believe in Catholic teaching. This seems to be as true as it is scandalous.
You said:
Evil and suffering in the form of:
- natural disasters
- life threatening diseases, and
- war
occur in society today.
- Are they the result of the sins of mankind or are they the result of original sin? and if the answer is, No, for both, what is the reason for all those forms of suffering?
- I think I answered this in # 1. It is speculation, but before our nature was tainted and stunted due to original sin, we probably wouldn't have been hurt by natural phenomena.
We now call them natural disasters because people are hurt by them, and that is because, in our present state, we our powerless to protect ourselves.
You said:
- Does Catholicism teach that we should trustingly surrender ourselves to the gracious will of God and that God uses suffering as a means of discipline, growth, enrichment and personal faith development?
- Yes.
You said:
- Regarding God's gift of free will, do Catholics believe that this gift is what leads to evil and suffering and thus we are responsible for our own actions?
- I wouldn't say that free will leads to evil and suffering, but a wrong or selfish use of it does. We are responsible for our own actions, unless we are sincerely ignorant of its value or are forced or coerced in some way. Knowledge and free consent are needed for responsibility.
You said:
- Can innocent people suffer? and in the view of the Church, what is the reason for:
- babies dying
- women being raped
- innocent people dying for the wrongdoings of others?
e.g. being killed by a bomb attack, or a passing bullet.
- Yes, as we said earlier, we live in a world of good and evil, and we all share in its effects.
If one company pollutes the air, the entire town has to breathe in the pollution. If a pitcher has a bad game, the entire team loses. The human race, in a sense, is a team sharing the same field, breathing the same air. No one is innocent per se, but it is common that some people suffer from what others have done. We are all one body, as St. Paul told us.
This means sharing in the good, as well as the bad that occurs within the body.
Is this fair? I don't know, but it is just. God is a God of justice and truth. In the end, it will all make perfect sense:
- why this child died of leukemia at age 9
- this woman was divorced by a cheating husband, and
- this person is a paraplegic from being hit by a drunk driver.
God would not allow evil to befall us unless it could be used for our greater good in the bigger picture.
Hope this helps.
Feel free to respond if you have further comments or questions.
Paul
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Mike replied:
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Hi, Amber —
I would tweak Paul's syllogism in his answer to What is evil? a bit.
Paul said:
Therefore, the syllogism would go like this: All being is good, evil is a lack or diminishment of being, therefore evil is a lack of good.
I would say:
All being is good, [moral] evil is a lack or diminishment of being due to human choice, persuaded by demonic angels. Therefore, evil is a lack of good, due to bad human or angelic choices.
Hope this helps,
Mike
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Paul replied:
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Amber,
The problem I see with Mike's last comment is that he doesn't clearly distinguish physical evil from moral evil, the latter being properly sin.
Someone may interpret this as meaning that all evil of misfortune that occurs in one's life is due to their own sins. Jesus rejects this idea in John 9:1-3 when he states that neither the person born blind nor his parents were responsible for (or the cause of) his blindness due to their sins.
It is true that Adam and Eve got the ball rolling by succumbing to the temptation of the devil, and handed down to us a world and a human nature that is tainted and imperfect and a world permeated with demonic influence, but What is evil?, is a distinct question from Who does evil?
Temptation to commit or cooperate with evil comes to us from three sources:
- The world
- the flesh, and
- the devil.
We are tempted by our wayward culture (the world), our own concupiscence (the flesh), (and/or) by demonic influence (the devil). As St. Paul tells us, we must always put on the armor of God to be protected (Ephesians 6:11), which is primarily grace through the sacraments of Eucharist and Penance, as well as prayer.
Paul
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Amber replied:
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Dear Paul,
Thank you for all the help.
The information was very useful.
Amber
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Paul replied:
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Hi, Amber —
You are welcome. I'm glad it was.
Paul
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