The problem of evil is the one argument that most atheists cling to in defense of their world view. They say that the existence an omnipotent and omnibenevolent creator is logically inconsistent with a world containing evil. Evil is a great problem that causes many of us to question our belief in who God is. Many wonder how an all-powerful, completely good God can allow such suffering and evil to occur in this world; i.e. Sandy Hook shooting, the slaughter of men, women, and children by ISIS, starving people in third world countries, abused and neglected children, etc. Many times we don’t understand why these terrible things happen so we need someone to blame; someone to put on trial. How easy it is to blame God with his limitless knowledge and power? If anyone could do anything about evil, it’s Him! Right? And intellectual responses may seem irrelevant in the midst of suffering or attack, but thinking through our responses to the problem of evil will help us deal with these issues when they confront us.
The existence of evil is not logically incompatible with an all-powerful, all-good, loving God; nor is evil logically necessary. Many will respond inappropriately to the problem of evil this way. They say things like, you have to know evil to know good. This is easily shown to be inconsistent simply through experience. I don’t have to have eaten a rotten slice of pizza to know that a fresh baked slice is good. I don’t have to know what pain is to know that pleasure feels good. I don’t have to be ill to know what being healthy is. Experiencing the unpleasant in life does give us greater appreciation for all things pleasant, but good does not demand there be evil. Good is an absolute property because it doesn’t depend on anything else for its existence; it is not contingent upon evil. Perfect good exists in God where there is no evil.
Most of know what evil is and have experienced evils done to us. We don’t have to be taught what bad is. What we must understand is God does not create evil, encourage evil, nor want evil; though he may allow it. God will not do anything outside of His own character of holiness and justice. These are not limitations of weakness, but rather demonstrations of His righteousness and love for us.
So, why doesn’t God stop evil completely? He is all-powerful and all-good! Does he even care? There is no simple answer that will comfort in the midst of terrible evil. However, free will is an answer. God created us to be in a loving relationship with him. Genuine love only comes from freedom of choice. So, if God is all-good; He must therefore create free will creatures (objective moral good demands free will agents). If God created us as programed robots or puppets on a string, is he loving? If we are just actors in a cosmic play, is he good? Thus for a genuine, loving relationship to exist, freedom of choice is imperative. Given we have free will; the potential for evil must also exist.
If God gives genuine free will then it is impossible for him to guarantee what people will choose. Another reason that God allows bad things to happen is consequence. Suffering and evil are sometimes natural consequences from the choices people make. Because God is also just, he doesn’t interfere with those consequences. If he removed consequences, we wouldn’t learn from our mistakes. God gave all of us free will, and we are naïve to think that our choices don’t have consequences. We are even more ignorant if we believe that those consequences do not affect others. God gave the same free will to me as he did Hitler, Stalin, Ted Bundy, Mother Teresa, and you. It is PEOPLE who should be on trial for evil and suffering, not God.
I do not want to put all blame on people without mentioning the spiritual side to the POE. There is a very real enemy seeking to destroy us. There is an enemy who tries to shift our focus away from God, and onto our issues. He wants us to believe there is no hope. He tries to convince and deceive us into believing God is indifferent. Our enemy convinced Adam and Eve that God was a villain who withheld greatness from them. He is name is Liar. His mission is to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan is the one who took the potential for evil to exist exploited it making evil a reality. Because of original sin, all of mankind was affected by it.
The good news is that God does use evil that exists to change us for the better. Maintaining this perspective is crucial to understanding how to deal with evil. The temporary evil we experience now, God uses for our eternal good, if we respond to it correctly. While Paul was in prison, being tortured for his faith he said, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Corinthians 4:17).” This man is experiencing injustice, torture, imprisonment, straight up evil for his faith and he calls it all “light and momentary.” He faced some of the worst things any human can experience and he has the correct perspective. Most of us do not know what it is like to be tortured for our faith. Paul is looking evil in the eye and recognized God’s glory that will be produced in spite of it.
A couple weeks ago I mentioned James 1, Hebrews 12, Romans 8 and Philippians 4 to show how God uses hardships for our benefit. How through His grace, love, and mercy evil is transformed into good. God uses struggles to mature and grow us. The sweetest fruit and the strongest trees are produced in brutal weather. Bitterness is removed and roots grow deeper through this process. There can be no growth is there is no challenge. This isn’t to say that we would ever wish evil to occur in our lives. That would be insane. I am also not advocating “everything happens for a reason” philosophy either. If I knew I could never commit a truly evil act because every act would bring about an equal or greater good, then what motivation would I have to do moral good? I believe gratuitous evil does exist.
I cannot see how God had a justifiable, good reason behind the Sandy Hook shooting and other terrible atrocities. I can understand how he allows them. Bad things happen because this world is broken and someone chose to do evil. But God demonstrates his power and glory through evil circumstances. This is not to say evil circumstances exist so God can use them. God, rather, seeks to rescue us from evil. What should have killed us, He uses to make us new. What should have crippled us, He uses to make us stronger; all because of His love and grace.
In the beginning I begged the question as to why God hasn’t stopped evil completely, or why hasn’t he done anything about it? We often notice injustices and evil and shake our fist at God asking what he plans to do about it. The truth is God has dealt with evil. He sent His son Jesus Christ. He overcame sin and evil 2000 years ago giving us the power over it. And now he is sending us into the world to deal with evil. We have been given His Spirit, His strength, and His mission. I’m reminded of Edmund Burke’s famous quote: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
So if you’re reading this while going through terrible circumstances, and didn’t find the “you’ll be ok” motivational, feel-good encouragement you were looking for, I encourage you to read John 16:33. There is no fix-all saying that will suffice or alleviate emotional pain. Most of the time those words, however eloquent, fall short in helping anyone. It does no one any good to offer superficial platitudes to those in the midst of unjust situations. We will only find peace in Christ. “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness (Cornerstone, Hillsong).”
Knowing that God isn’t the cause of our sufferings helps us turn to Him rather than away from Him. In our trials it is comforting to know that God promised all things will be made right in the end. There will be no righteousness that will go unrewarded. Injustice will not go unpunished. God may not vindicate us in our present sufferings, but he will make it eternally right. Christ is our hope. He is the only cure to the cancer of evil that exists in this world. So let us not be intimidated by evil, let evil not slow us down in bringing hope into the lives that need it most.
– post by Nathan Haws
This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is. (Jn 3:19–21 MSG)
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