Pain, the Problem of Evil and John Hick

            “Evil – whether it be an evil will, an instance of pain, or some disorder or decay in nature – has not been set there by God, but represents the distortion of something that is inherently valuable. . .  This understanding of evil as something negative means that it is not willed and created by God, but it does not mean (as some have supposed) that evil is unreal and can be disregarded. On the contrary, the first effect of this doctrine is to accentuate even more the question of the origin of evil.” –John Hick

            Brilliance and madness are often not far removed. This being said, philosopher John Hick (not to be confused with Sir John Richard Hicks, 1904-1989, British Economist. Or with John Charles Hicks, former American offensive lineman.) is an exception, though much of what he purports in his teachings of philosophy and theology I hesitate to fully embrace. The man is beyond intelligent, daring to wrestle with one of the most fearsome issue that man has ever dared to undertake – the problem of evil. Allow me to summarize this problem briefly with a quote from Hick: “If God is perfectly loving, he must wish to abolish evil, and if He is all-powerful, He must be able to abolish evil. But evil exists; therefrom God cannot be both omnipotent and perfectly loving.”

            Hick moves swiftly from there to the description of evil with which I began this paper. He is far more rational than to stoop to the argument that some have proposed – this being that “evil is all an illusion.” Instead, he chooses to break down the simplistic term “evil” into two further categories, these being “moral evil” and “non-moral evil.” To say moral evil is the same as to say wickedness. It denotes human depravity, while non-moral evil denotes the suffering and pain that go on around us. Moral evil requires some level of freedom to act on one’s own will – in order to commit an act of moral evil, one must also have the ability not to commit the act in question.  I pose a question of my own – is it possible for an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-present God to create beings with a free will? After all, for the God we are thinking of to exist, He must know all – past, future and present. Where, then, does this leave free will? There is the possibility that He sees all the ends of all the possible choices. But the forum for that discussion is within the classroom, or within the confines of another paper.

            Why does non-moral evil exist? What purpose does it serve? There was wonderful enthusiasm in the way Hick rose to his point as he expounded upon his beliefs in this arena. Here he hit home with me, and here I will leave, for a moment, his “beaten path” to share with you the benefits of this peculiar labor.

Pain is a gift. Admittedly, the gift that nobody wants. But a gift, none the less.

There is a rare disease called CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhydrosis). Those born with this disease have no ability to feel pain, whether it be car accident or paper cut. The first time I heard of this disease, I admit a longing for it. My desire was less for the escape of physical pain, and more for the escape from deep, searing psychological pain. I longed to be numb. Several years later, I stumbled across the disease again, this time within the pages of an exceptional book -- “The Rook,” by author Steven James. The character plagued by it spoke hauntingly of the death of his sister at the hand of the same disease, unable to feel the agonizing pain that the unnatural twisting of her spinal column in her sleep should have caused, she became paralytic and died soon afterwards. Too late, I realized the danger of numbness – physical and psychological. Now there is often the struggle to “feel” as normal people do, watching strong emotions and reactions in others and mimicking them as needed. Numbness can turn you into a master manipulator, the silent observer or the jovial fraud. It is difficult to have any sort of real relationship, difficult to even allow yourself to come back to gift of pain, knowing the distress it causes. So you fluctuate back and forth between the two, seeking to make a choice, knowing it will determine much about the rest of your life. Rather than “To be, or not to be,” it is “To be fragile, or not to feel.”

A friend had this to say on the subject: “In a weird way, pain is a gift. It allows us to feel what is wrong in a human way. A broken heart is supremely human. A dead heart is not.” From the numbness, I have begun to learn the beauty of pain. From the ashes of non-moral evil, Hick rose with the maturation of the human soul and a greater good out of decay.

Hick was quick to point out that this world, if created merely as a place for us to be “happy,” is a miserable failure. The same applies if this world were created to be “perfect” in the normal sense of the word – a world without harm, pain or loss. Hick moves from there with the grace of a dancing master into to true purpose of creation – perfection of a different, purer and deeper type. He embraces the Irenean philosophy, or the “soul-making defense,” which states that the purpose of creation was indeed perfection – specifically to allow souls to grow and mature from the image of God into the likeness of God through the things placed in this world. According to Hick, to be merely in the image of God is to have within you the ability to possess knowledge of God and a relationship with Him, which must be fulfilled through the progressing into the stage of “likeness of God.”

Herein is both Hick’s solution to the problem of evil, and his explanation for the gift of pain. Hick does hold God ultimately responsible for the non-moral evils of pain and suffering, but holds them up to us as something than may not be, in and of themselves, truly evil. He posits that they may be merely the gateway to a maturation of the soul and of a closer walk and harmony with God, that we may grow to become more like Him through the sufferings we endure.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

Romans 5.1-5