Why Is There Evil In The World?
The problem of evil in the world can be a stumbling block for some people, a hindrance to faith in Christ. The question goes like this: “if God is a God of love, then why is there evil and suffering in the world?” This is not an insignificant question and it hinders many people from a biblical understanding of God and an acceptance of His plan for their lives. Unlike other questions people ask believers, this is not just a theoretical one. It is an intensely personal one and it has everything to do with the way we view ourselves in relation to God.
We live in a wonderful world and ‘…all of creation proclaims the wonder of the Creator!’ Psalm 19:1-4. And yet all is not well with our world. Life here can be stunningly horrifying in its darkness and cruelty. So, why is God letting this happen? From a biblical perspective, evil is the disruption of God’s ideal for human life resulting in pain and suffering. Genesis reveals that man was created to live in the perfect environment – immortal and untroubled by things he did not have the capacity to understand or control. For whatever reason only He can answer, we were not made with the infinite mind of God to discern the far-reaching effects of our actions. It’s like having access to data without the pattern to format it in a workable, translatable form. You might possibly understand cause and effect for a small group or a short time, but no way to grasp how it will alter the entire human race and the environment throughout all time. Given the choice, because God did create us with free-will, first man chose rebellion - to possess the knowledge of what was beneficial and what was detrimental. At that decision, the mortal part of this spiritual journey began during which you get to make your OWN choice about the conditions of your existence when you return to the immortal state. Will you choose God’s plan of eternal fellowship with His creation? Or will you choose to rebel with the rest of the human and celestial beings who reject relationship with Him? There are good reasons why these choices have names like heaven and hell. We are warned, repeatedly, that God’s control of our existence is infinitely preferable to one without His influence.
Measuring evil is like determining how cold it is – it is only with the level of heat can you tell whether you should wear a sweater. The existence of evil is really only the absence of God’s influence. It is a peculiar indulgence of man that we want to assign liability for every kind of evil. Depending on your therapist, moral evil, i.e. rape or murder, is either your mother’s fault, your libido’s fault, or a fault in the understanding of your sub conscious mind (but NEVER are your own motivations to blame). Most of humanity believes that natural evil, i.e. earthquakes or pandemics, is the responsibility of our predecessors because they abused the environment and experimented with physiology irresponsibly. Many believe that hurricanes or wildfires is just God punishing some collective transgression. Finally, in modern times, spiritual evil, i.e. demonic oppression or harassment, is just a figment of your imagination. The majority embraces the theories of physical science, facts provable using the scientific method, and there is no way to evaluate the supernatural using natural means. Try solving a wiring conundrum using plumbing expertise and expect the language of water to develop into a translation of electricity. So, if it can’t be proven, it ain’t real. That subject is for another blog.
The sad truth is that YOU share equally in the blame for evil existing in the world. Collectively, we have inherited and perpetuated the consequence of rebellion against the ideal that God had intended for humanity. We are now existing in a reality of death and destruction – the natural results of the combined free will decision making and actions of every human being that ever lived, is living and will live here until we return to the immortal existence of our original creation. It is during this time in mortal form that we get to decide what the thermostat setting will be for our immortal, eternal life!
Back to the question of evil, it is another peculiar trait of man that when suffering occurs as a kind of natural justice no one ever asks why. You stood out in the storm with your hand on a lightning rod and got struck, so we just shake our heads and say, ‘shoulda known better!’ But when an innocent suffers or there is no version of the story in which we can point a finger, we ask, ‘why, God?’
Here’s the typical reasoning: 1) if God is all-good, then He would prevent suffering; 2) If God is all-powerful, the He could prevent suffering; 3) yet there is suffering; 4) therefore, God is either not all-good or He is not all-powerful, or both. Logically, the God of the Bible and a world of suffering are incompatible. But if you can grasp an understanding of the nature of God (through the mind of Christ) you know that God is both all-good and all-powerful. God’s goodness has Him intervening in human affairs to interrupt the course of evil – by coming to us in the form of Jesus. The message of reconciliation and the truth about the life to come is His absolute intervention. God’s power is in a complete plan for mankind that calls for temporarily allowing evil to exist.
Evil is a result of free will choice by mankind. God cannot lie, sin, change or fail and will not contradict His own nature. God cannot eradicate all evil from this world without eradicating all mankind and our free will choice. Free will is necessary for us to have the quality of relationship with God that He wants us to have. Therefore, free will MUST be more valuable to God than the absence of evil.
Faithfully, we rest on the hope we have in His perfect love. There will be justice for the effects of evil. In the here and now, God limits evil. In the eternal, be assured that no one escapes judgment for what evil they contribute. And in the end, God will separate those that rebel and perpetrate evil from those who reconcile and stand against evil. Read Revelation 22:3.
Remember that until Christ’s return, evil will seek to overcome the righteous and that every time a person suffers, God suffers with him. We have the promise of Jesus in John 16:33 “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ Look around you and see the suffering of our fellow man. Where is our anguish for another’s pain? Where are those who would join with God in His concern to see justice done and mankind to live in peace? No wonder when Jesus separates the goats and the sheep in Matthew 25:31-46, it wasn’t about what was done, it was over what we did NOT do for those who need our help! Reach out today and share your life with another. It is the second greatest commandment to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Be blessed.
