The problem of evil

I often hear that one of the toughest questions faced by a Christian is “Why does a good and loving God allow evil in the world?” Here’s my suggested answer(s)...

1. God allows us to have freedom. We have the ability to make choices and decisions. As such, man chooses to commit evil. Now, certainly God could judge and punish evildoers right then and there.. but that leads us to the second reason God allows evil.
2. Where should God start? Should He start by judging the most heinous evils and move down from there? Or start small and move up? We’re all evil. We all do evil... so if He were to eradicate evil, he’d have to eradicate mankind. I’m sure the response to this would have something to do with the existence of ‘varying degrees of evil’. So maybe God should stomp out the big evils, but let the others slide. But what’s a big evil? Even our ‘small’ evils can have devastating consequences. A harsh word or lack of love from a parent can help to create a child that grows up to be a serial killer. That ‘small’ evil would have big consequences. (all this is not even considering the fact that God cares about the individual heart and not about the severity of the evil) Really the question of evil must be rephrased to something like “Since I commit evil, how can a good and loving God allow me to live?”. But instead, we like to turn it and make it man-centered. How can God, who is obviously here to cater to our needs, allow extreme evils, which impact us humans negatively, to exist? It comes back to our religiousity and our belief that man is inherently good and that, if not for a few bad apples, our society would be doing pretty well. Unfortunately, sociological studies disprove this. In almost every instance where people are given power over others, they abuse it. It’s our nature. God is perfectly good and perfectly just and if He is to eradicate evil, He must eradicate mankind.
3. Evil allows us to know more about God and about the very existence of true good. Light cannot be known without darkness. By God allowing evil, we are able to see His goodness, grace and mercy more fully.

I really think all three of these points work together, but not alone. For example, if I believe that God allows evil just so we can know His good qualities more fully, then what about Adam and Eve? They wouldn’t have known God fully and God’s creation, which was initially good, would be incapable of representing Him fully. But, because we were allowed freedom of choice, and chose to commit evil, the best available response from God is to allow evil and to demonstrate His love, mercy and grace in spite of that evil.

I can’t help but think that if this played out how many people think it should, it would go something like this:

• A man commits murder, and is vaporized by God. People fear God and try to be good.
• A woman abuses her children, and gets vaporized by God. People fear God more and try to be good.
• A man steals from a charity, and gets vaporized by God. People begin to live their lives in fear, trying to do good.

The problems with this are many. 1) This is not the gospel and it’s not what God wants. God doesn’t want people terrified of Him who try to do good to avoid being zapped. There’s no way people would desire a relationship with this God. They would NOT feel at peace. They would NOT feel safe or protected. They’d feel terrified about what they might do to kindle His wrath. This is similar to the Twilight Zone episode where a town lives in terror under the reign of an omnipotent child who can even read peoples minds.

But again, the biggest problem with this is that evil is done by everyone. In reality, the above example would look more like this:

• A man commits genocide, and is vaporized by God.
• A woman commits murder, and is vaporized by God.
• A man molests a child, and gets vaporized by God.
• A woman abuses her children, and gets vaporized by God.
• A man steals from a charity, and gets vaporized by God.
• A teenager bullies another student, and gets vaporized.
• A woman commits adultery, and gets vaporized.
• A man loses his temper, and hits his wife, and gets vaporized.
• A 14 year old child tells his 10 year old sister she’s stupid, and gets vaporized.

These are all evil, are they not? I mean, they definitely have varying degrees of impact upon other people and society, but they are all a form of evil. So... who should God judge? Where does He start and stop?

Evil is an ongoing, ever present problem that is perpetrated by humankind and which is dealt with by the cross of Christ. We all commit evil, and Jesus fixes it by taking our place when it comes time for God to dole out judgment....because don’t be mistaken, God WILL judge and punish EVERY instance of evil. EVERY instance... He is perfectly holy and just... but He’s also perfectly merciful and gracious and He has given us a way out. That way out is made available by simply acknowledging the evil in our hearts, desiring to turn from that evil, and placing our faith and hope in Jesus to take our place when punishment is due and to change our hearts in a way that helps us to turn and follow Him. That is, in a very simple explanation, the gospel.