At its simplest, the problem of evil can be put like this: is it possible to reconcile the existence of evil in the world with the existence of a God who is morally admirable, omnipotent, and omniscient?...If God is omniscient, he knows what this world is like; if he is omnipotent, he could either have created it differently in the first place, or intervened to correct it; and if he does neither of these things, he would seem to be morally at fault, and hence not good.”
- G Hughes, The Nature of God, 1995
G.K. Chesterton has been accused of being a superficial, naïve optimist. However, the quotes below show a deep regard for the problem of evil and the source of human suffering…
On the superficial among us - “Men who wish to get down to fundamentals perceive that there is a fundamental problem of evil. Men content to be more superficial are also content with a superficial fuss and bustle of improvement.”
On the importance of joy - “Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial”
In answer to the question, ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ - “Dear Sir, I am, Yours Faithfully”
On free will - “Will made the world; Will wounded the world; the same Divine Will gave to the world for the second time its chance, the same human Will can for the last time make its choice.”
On God’s intention - “God had written, not so much a poem, but rather a play; a play he had planned as perfect, but which had necessarily been left to human actors and stage-managers, who had since made a great mess of it.”
On the importance of story - “But the point is that a story is exciting because it has in it so strong an element of will, of what theology calls free-will. You cannot finish a sum how you like. But you can finish a story how you like.”
On the purpose of God - “The Book of Job stands definitely alone because the Book of Job definitely asks, ‘But what is the purpose of God?’ Is it worth the sacrifice, even of our miserable humanity?…It is because of this question that we have to attack as a philosophical riddle the riddle of the Book of Job.”
On rationalising the world - “The mechanical optimist endeavours to justify the universe avowedly upon the ground that it is a rational and constructive pattern. He points out that the fine thing about the world is that it can all be explained. That is one point, if I may put so, on which God, in return, is explicit to the point of violence. God says, in effect, that if there is one fine thing about the world, as far as men are concerned, it is that it cannot be explained.”
On whether the world is reasonable - “The real trouble with this world of ours is not that it is an unreasonable world, nor even that it is a reasonable one. The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not quite.”
On the potential source of evil - “Oh, I know that people have written all kinds of cant and false comfort about the cause of evil; and of why there is pain in the world. God forbid that we should add ourselves to such a chattering monkey-house of moralists.”