When I was in graduate school many moons ago, a professor began to lead us through what appeared was going to be a discussion of the well-known “Problem of Evil”. If God is both all good and all powerful, the conundrum posits, how then are we to explain the seemingly endless suffering, cruelty and malice in the world?
Our professor began by saying that while he was happy to take up the topic, he first wanted us to remember that there’s also a less discussed, but equally perplexing “Problem of Good”: If we live in a fallen universe, and we’re all born with a propensity to sin, how do we account for the fact that so many people nevertheless display heroism, courage and self-sacrifice, especially when the incentives of the world cut so clearly in the opposite direction?
