The problem of good

The existence of evil is not all that requires some explanation | Andrée Seu

Much worthwhile ink has been spilt on the problem of evil—how can evil exist if God is holy and omnipotent. Less strenuous debate, it seems to me, is waged over the problem of good. This is unfortunate since the latter is a conundrum no less formidable for the person who sets out in earnest to understand the world in which he finds himself. The good begs an accounting.

I also had once dismissed God over the problem of evil. The syllogism is a commonplace: “God is good. God is omniscient. There is evil. Therefore God does not exist.” But the fly in the ointment was always—when it would break in upon me from time to time—the unbidden and fleeting experience of what I can only call the “good,” or “beauty” (for in that moment the two appear one).