More on the Problem of Evil

Yesterday a wrote about a couple of principles that the Restoration teaches us which help to resolve the great problem of evil and to understand how a loving, perfect, all-powerful God can exist if there is suffering and evil in the world.  There are several other Restoration scriptures which I think help us to understand this seeming paradox. 

One of these is found in Nephi’s words towards the end of his life.  Speaking of the great sins of the world he wrote, “For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him” (2 Nephi 26:33).  Even though the Lord created our spiritual and physical bodies, He is still not in any way responsible for the great iniquities that men do.  This follows from the concept mentioned yesterday that we existed in some form before God and so we were not entirely created by Him.  D&C 93 gives further insight on this: “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also.”  I believe that this is saying that we who are at the core “intelligences” act independently from God, meaning that He cannot be held accountable for those actions.  The revelation continues:  “Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light” (D&C 93:30-31).  So we have agency to choose, have been given the knowledge necessary to make choices, and so there will be those who choose the evil instead of the good and justice does not allow God to always prevent that.  And according to Lehi, “men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil” and so we are then completely responsible for our choices and the good or evil that we may do (2 Nephi 2:5).  That said, even with a logical understanding of this, we still suffer often for reasons not related to our choices—why does God allow such suffering to even those who are righteous?  I think D&C 122:7-8 provide two crucial answers.  To Joseph’s cries the Lord said, “Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.”  In other words we must suffer and sacrifice in this life in order to obtain something greater in the next; there are apparently things that we can only learn through our suffering here on earth, and the Lord who sees all of eternity before Him sometimes lets us endure great struggles because of the greater good it will do in our eternal future.  The other key answer is what the whole gospel is based upon: “The Son of Man hath descended below them all.”  God who allowed us to suffer on earth was willing Himself to suffer even more in order to have a way to free us from all types of bondage that will come upon us.  Christ did not just say “you will suffer in your experiences and it will be good for you” and then sat back and watched; instead He allowed Himself to suffer “more than man can suffer” in order to make it all work through some union of mercy and justice.  The evil that God allows to be done by men can be understood I think through the principles of agency and creation that I discussed; but suffering of the righteous not caused by their own misuse of agency can ultimately only be understood through a knowledge of the atonement of Christ.