Friday, August 9, 2024

Dementia and the Problem of Evil Part 5/6 - Theodicies Fail to Provide Counter Reasons

Part 5: The Failure of Theodicies

A theodicy is a theory as to why God allows some kind of evil. If a theodicy succeeds then it will, in this case, show that God has good reasons to allow EJ’s dementia. Remember, the categorical reasons for preventing EJ’s dementia are the following:

1 - INTRINSIC EVILS

1a - The pain EJ experiences.

1b - The pain EJ’s immediate family members experience, especially that of her husband who is the closest to her.

1c - The pain of EJ’s friends, neighbors, churchgoers, extended family members, etc.

2 - INTRINSIC GOODS

2a - The happiness EJ would have experienced had the disease been prevented.

2b - The happiness EJ’s family would have experienced had the disease been prevented.

2c - The happiness EJ’s friends, neighbors, churchgoers, extended family members, etc., would have experienced had the disease been prevented.

Theodicies are competing against this.

Theodicy #1 - Evil is necessary for us to appreciate the good

I will make a point here that I will attribute, at least the general idea of it, to Peter van Inwagen, though I don’t have the citation. The point is that God could simulate evils by giving us nightmares as a reminder of what could be but isn’t. We would always wake up from these nightmares in great relief, and thereby enjoy the unique good of gratitude without having the evils be real.

But if we die and go to heaven, then isn’t that like waking up from a nightmare? The difference is that here on earth we have to face our evils in succession without experiencing the relief we would under the above scenario. Plus, if earth is made out to be a nightmare, then it’s confusing as to why a good God would create it.

Those points besides, it’s obvious that we don’t need much evil to appreciate goodness, if we need it at all (and it’s not obvious to me that we need it at all). Clearly, there are many cases of evil where the evil is too much. We can’t appreciate the goodness of life if there is no goodness. Some evils are so great that they destroy us or leave us devastated and cynical. 

So this theodicy fails, and it unlocks a further consideration for preventing EJ’s dementia.

Anti-theodicy #1: EJ’s dementia prevents EJ’s ability to appreciate the goodness of life and to experience the unique good of gratitude. It also prevents her loved ones from appreciating life as much as they would otherwise.

Theodicy #2 - Evil is punishment for your ancestor’s sins

We see this throughout the Old Testament. The doctrine of Original Sin says Adam’s sin is inherited by the rest of humanity (Romans 5:12). Exodus 20:5 and Deuteronomy 5:9 show God threatening punishment to descendants, though this contradicts Deuteronomy 24:16, Ezekiel 18:20, and John 9:3. I take punishing descendants to be a clear violation of justice; it’s evil to punish someone for someone else’s wrongdoing.

So this theodicy fails.

Theodicy #3 - Evil is punishment for your sins

There are three problems with this: One, it leads to superstitious, “everything happens for a reason” thinking. This makes you liable to mistake an unfortunate event for karmic retribution.

Two, Jesus rejects this theodicy (John 9:3 where Jesus heals the blind man, Luke 13:2 where Jesus speaks of the Tower of Siloam, and Matthew 5:45 where rain is said to fall on the righteous and unrighteous). And in the book of Job, God allows evils to befall Job despite Job’s blamelessness.

A Christian might think that my family was punished with EJ’s dementia due to our sin. But given the above, there is no good reason to think this. And ask anyone who knows my mom and they will agree she was the least deserving person to receive such a horrendous evil. Plus, Douglas Groothuis is a Christian philosopher and theologian who had a wife, Becky, who had dementia[*1]. God never healed her. So this happens to other Christians, not just to my family. 

Furthermore, all Christians suffer eventually, so this would imply that God punishes all Christians for their sin. God lets all Christians (thus far) die. It would be far more glorious and less painful for Christians if God assumed them into heaven like he did Elijah and Jesus. But God doesn’t. So God has allowed all Christians (thus far) to befall a worse fate than necessary.

Three, and I give credit to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong for this next point[*2], there are very clear cases where there is no way this theodicy applies. If a baby dies from SIDS, what were the sins of that baby?

So this theodicy fails and unlocks a further consideration for preventing EJ’s dementia.

Anti-theodicy #2: EJ’s situation is unjust. EJ does not deserve her fate, and neither do those close to her deserve to suffer due to her suffering.


*1 - Douglas Groothuis, Walking Through Twilight (2017).

*2 - YouTube. William Lane Craig vs. Walter Sinnot-Armstrong | "Do Suffering and Evil Disprove God?" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTacpjiv8vU, 16:30.

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