Christianity is the only worldview robust enough to validate the horror of evil while simultaneously affirming the sovereignty of God. We do not deny the darkness; we stare into it and light a candle.

We have spent the last few articles rejecting the errors of Stoicism—its impersonal God, its idol of self-sufficiency, and its small goal of tranquility. Now we come to the place where philosophy hits the hardest reality of human existence: Suffering.

Every man, if he lives long enough, will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He will lose a child. He will face cancer. He will see injustice sweep over his nation. When the shadows fall, a philosophy is tested. It is easy to be a Stoic in the classroom; it is much harder in the ICU.

The Stoic and the Christian offer two radically different ways to handle the problem of evil.

The Stoic offers the armor of Redefinition and Resignation.

The Christian offers the armor of Realism and Hope.

The difference is not just semantic; it is the difference between a man who anesthetizes himself to endure surgery and a man who trusts the Surgeon to bring life out of death.

While the Stoic attempts to solve the problem of evil by mentally redefining suffering as “indifferent” and resigning himself to an endless cycle of Fate, the Christian faces evil as a real, intruding enemy that must be endured with patience, fought with prayer, and ultimately defeated by the Resurrection.

The Stoic Solution: The Mental Trick

How does the Stoic solve the “Problem of Evil”? Simple: He denies that it exists.

This is not to say he denies pain exists. He admits that physical pain, death, and poverty are real. But he denies that they are evil.

• Recall the dichotomy: The only “Good” is Virtue. The only “Evil” is Vice.
• Everything else—cancer, war, the death of a spouse—is “indifferent.”

Therefore, for the Stoic, “evil” is not something that happens to you; it is only something that happens in you. If a tyrant kills your family, the tyrant has committed evil (vice), but no evil has befallen you or your family. You have merely returned to the elements.

The Stoic advice, then, is a form of mental gymnastics. As Marcus Aurelius wrote:

Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.[1]

If you refuse to label the tragedy as “bad,” it ceases to be bad. The solution to suffering is to change your mind.

The Problem: The Inhumanity of Indifference

There is a certain toughness to this view that appeals to men. It feels invulnerable. But it comes at a terrible price: it requires us to dehumanize ourselves.

To look at the death of a child or the ravages of a plague and say, “This is not bad; this is indifferent,” is a lie. It violates the God-given design of the human heart. It sears the conscience.

• If death is not bad, why did Jesus weep at the tomb of Lazarus?
• If injustice is not bad, why does God promise to judge it?

The Stoic solves the problem of pain by killing the nerve endings of the soul. He creates a desert and calls it peace.

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