Frequently
Asked Questions
8. If God is so good why
does he allow evil to exist?
One of the most haunting questions we face
concerns the problem of evil. Why is there evil in
the world
if there is a God? Why isn't He doing something about
it? Many assume that the existence of evil disproves
the existence of God.
Sometimes the problem of evil
is put to the Christian in the form of a complex question, "If
God is good, then He must not be powerful enough to
deal with all the evil
and injustice in the world since it is still going on. If
He is powerful enough to stop wrongdoing, then He Himself
must be an evil God since He's not doing anything about it
even though He has the capability. So which is it? Is He
a bad God or a God that's not all powerful?"
Even the
biblical writers complained about pain and evil. "Evils
have encompassed me without number" (Psalm
40:12, RSV). "Why
is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be
healed?" (Jeremiah 15:18,
RSV). "The whole creation
has been groaning in travail together until now" (Romans
8:22, RSV). Thus we readily admit that evil is a problem
and we also admit that if God created the world the way it
is today, He would not be a God of love, but rather an evil
God.
However the Scriptures make it plain that God did not
create the world in the state in which it is now, but evil
came
as a result of the selfishness of man. The Bible says that
God is a God of love and He desired to create a person and
eventually a race that would love Him. But genuine love cannot
exist unless freely given through free choice and will, and
thus man was given the choice to accept God's love or to
reject it. This choice made the possibility of evil become
very real. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they did not
choose something God created, but by their choice, they brought
evil into the world. God is neither evil nor did He create
evil. Man brought evil upon himself by selfishly choosing
his own way apart from God's way.
Because of the Fall, the
world now is abnormal. Things are not in the state that they
should be in. Man, as a result
of the Fall, has been separated from God. Nature is not always
kind to man and the animal world can also be his enemy. There
is conflict between man and his fellowman. None of these
conditions were true before the Fall. Any solution that might
be given to the problems mankind faces must take into consideration
that the world as it stands now is not normal.
Although evil
is here and it is real, it is also temporary. Evil will eventually
be destroyed. This is the hope that
the believer has. There is a new world coming in which there
will be no more tears or pain because all things will be
made new (Revelation 21:5). Paradise lost will be paradise
regained. God will right every wrong and put away evil once
for all, in His time.
Christians have a justification for
fighting evil, immorality and corruption. The world was not
designed with evil in mind
and the believer has a real basis for fighting social ills.
He is not following the belief that whatever is, is right.
The Christian does not condone wrongdoing by claiming it
is God's world, neither does he assume that everything that
happens is agreed to by God. God does not desire evil nor
does he ever condone it. He hates evil, and the Christian
also is not only to despise evil, they are obligated to do
something about it. Even though sin is real, it is not something
that the believer accepts as the way things ought to be.
By identifying with Jesus, the believer has a duty to call
things wrong that are wrong and to speak out when evil is
overtaking good. The Christian is not fighting against God
by fighting social problems. Natural disasters, crime, and
mental retardation should not be the accepted order of things,
because they were never meant to be and they will not be
in God's future kingdom.
However, some people are still bothered
that God even allows evil in the first place. They question
His wisdom in giving
man a choice in the matter. Dorothy Sayets put the problem
of evil in the proper perspective: "For whatever reason
God chose to make man as he is - limited and suffering and
subject to sorrows and death - He had the honesty and the
courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing
with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair.
He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from
Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience,
from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping
restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst
horrors of pain and humiliation. defeat despair and death.
When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty
and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile" (Dorothy
Sayers, Creed or Chaos? New York Harcourt Brace,1949, p.
4).
Although the Bible informs us how and why evil came about,
it does not tell us why God allowed it to happen. However,
we do know that God is all-wise and all-knowing and that
He has reasons for allowing things to happen that are beyond
our comprehension.
1 Is Jesus God?
2 Can Christianity be proved?
3 Is The Bible really word of God?
4 What so special about Christianity?
5 What about all the war and suffering caused by Christians?
6 If my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds can I still reach Heaven?
7 What happens to those who’ve
never heard of Jesus?
8 If God is so good why does he allow evil to exist?
9 Truth and tolerance, what does
Christ require?