A great analogy from CS Lewis heard today on a Ravi Zacharias podcast: "When a ship is on the high seas, at least three questions must be answered. Question number one: How do we keep the ship from sinking? Number two: How do we keep it from bumping into other ships? Number three: why is the ship out there in the first place?" The first of the questions deals with personal ethics. The second addresses social ethics. The third one wrestles with normative ethics. More here: RZIM Podcasts: The problem of evil and suffering.