Living in the gaps

A frequently mentioned stumbling block to the Christian faith is the problem of evil --- why during Old Testament times God commanded the destruction of whole cities, including women and children; why, if God is so great, He can't seem to stop atrocities; why our prayers may sometimes seem to go unanswered; etc.

I was edified by the following observation in Esther Meek's book Longing to Know: "But if evil challenges my belief in the existence of God, my sense of outrage at things not the way they are supposed to be challenges a belief in his nonexistence. A universe without a standard of good would be one in which you and I would feel no such outrage at evil. If belief in God has a problem with evil, nonbelief in God has a greater problem with evil."

People who disbelieve in Christianity on account of the reasons cited in paragraph one have their own theories integrating the disparate "data" we confront in this baffling world --- whether their theory is Hinduism, Scientism, or Agnosticism (the wager that it's most sensible to be noncommittal). And every explanation of the world --- atheism or Christianity --- has "gaps," bits of data not easily integrated into the pattern. It's all a matter of which gaps you can live with.