One of the most challenging questions to address is why God permits evil and suffering in the world. People everywhere are seeking answers about the presence of evil. How can a good God allow such injustices? How can a loving God permit murderers to kill, terrorists to cause harm, and the wicked to prosper over those who strive to live righteously?
It is important to understand that no simple superficial answer will suffice. A Christian must be truthful and face the questions honestly and fairly. Before we examine the nuances of this issue, it is important to note two important truths.
First, the Bible teaches that God is both omnipotent and omniscient. The idea of God’s sovereignty is foundational to biblical theism. As the Creator, God has authority over all creation—every detail matters to Him. Not even a sparrow falls without His awareness, and He knows the number of hairs on our heads. God reigns over every nation and every aspect of existence. Nothing in the universe, not even the smallest particle, escapes His control.
Second, it is a grave mistake to attribute evil to God. The Bible makes it clear that God embodies absolute righteousness, love, goodness, and justice. Many misunderstandings arise from our human inclination to impose our own standards of goodness onto God. However, it is not that God conforms to our idea of good; rather, it is God who defines what is truly good.
How can we reconcile God’s rule with the presence of evil? The Bible directs us to affirm God’s sovereignty as the foundation of both our salvation and our assurance of good, despite these challenges. We may not be able to explain why God permits sin, but we recognize that His glory is most fully revealed through Christ’s triumph over sin. Similarly, while we may not understand why God allows sickness and suffering, we must acknowledge that these are consequences of sin and its far-reaching effects.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM OF EVIL?
The so-called “problem of evil” is an argument against the existence of God that reasons along these lines:
- A perfectly powerful being can prevent any evil.
- A perfectly good being will prevent evil as far as he can.
- God is perfectly powerful and good.
- So, if a perfectly powerful and good God exists, there will be no evil.
- There is evil.
- Therefore, God doesn’t exist.
As Greg Welty states about these lines of questioning:
“It will not do to deny that evil exists (#5 above), for evil is the very presumption of the gospel. Nor can we deny that God could prevent evil (#1 above) or that he is perfect in power and goodness (#3). However, we can (and should) question the second premise above – that a perfectly good God must prevent all evil – for it doesn’t necessarily follow from God’s perfect goodness that he will prevent every evil he can prevent. Perhaps God has a good reason for permitting evil rather than preventing it; if so, then his permission of evil is justified and doesn’t militate against his goodness” (Welty, The Problem of Evil).
WHAT IS EVIL?
Moral Evil: Moral evil arises from the actions of individuals who commit harmful acts against one another. People lie, cheat, steal, and inflict pain, demonstrating that there is something deeply flawed in human nature as it currently exists. This reality does not undermine Christianity; rather, it underscores the seriousness of human moral corruption.
Examples of moral evil include murder (such as the random shooting of children in a school), rape, sex trafficking, theft, governmental deceit and injustice, unjust wars, poverty caused by deliberate oppression, physical and psychological abuse, terrorist attacks like 9/11, racism, genocide, and more.
Natural Evil: Natural disasters are often viewed as evil due to the immense suffering they cause. Events like earthquakes, tidal waves, and floods are examples of what might be called natural evil.
Examples of natural evil include the inevitability of human death, the suffering and death of animals, rivers flooding and destroying communities, avalanches burying skiers and hikers, tornadoes wrecking homes, boats sinking, diseases such as AIDS, malaria, heart disease, and cancer claiming millions of lives, droughts and famines causing starvation, and various horrific accidents.
Why doesn’t God prevent these calamities? This question connects to the broader Christian perspective on human suffering. Paradise was lost because of human moral failings, leading to our existence in a fallen world. As a result, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22, NIV).
John Piper stated: “If we could see one ten-thousandth of the suffering of the world at any given moment, we would collapse under the horror of it all. Only God can endure that sight and carry on” (The Triumph of the Gospel in the New Heavens and the New Earth).
One useful approach to addressing the problem of evil involves understanding its nature. The Christian philosopher Augustine proposed that evil is not a substance or entity but rather a deficiency or absence of good. Just as a hole in a jacket represents a lack rather than a tangible object, evil is an absence of good—a missing element rather than a distinct thing. In this view, evil relies on the existence of good to manifest because it functions as a parasite on it.
This perspective helps address certain criticisms. If evil is merely a lack or absence, then it cannot be created or authored by God. God is the source of all that is good, but it is through our own moral choices that evil comes into being.
HOW DO WE RESPOND TO THE PROBLEM OF EVIL?
1. God did not create the world in the state in which it is now.
The Bible teaches that God is a God of love, and in His love, He desired to create humans who could genuinely love Him in return. However, true love must be freely given, requiring free will. Therefore, God gave humans the ability to choose—to accept His love or reject it. This freedom made the possibility of evil a reality.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they did not choose something He created, but through their disobedience, they brought evil into the world. God did not create evil, nor is He evil; rather, humanity brought evil upon itself by selfishly choosing its own way apart from God’s way.
As a result of the Fall, the world is now in an abnormal state. Humanity is separated from God, and nature itself is no longer always harmonious with mankind. The animal kingdom can even be hostile. Conflicts also exist between individuals. None of these things were part of the original design before the Fall. Any solution to the problems humanity faces must recognize that the world is now broken and not as it was intended to be.
2. God suffered because of sin as well.
Some people are still bothered that God even allowed evil in the first place. They question His wisdom in giving man a choice in the matter. Dorothy Sayers 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” (Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos? New York, Harcourt Brace, 1949, p. 4).
It’s easy to forget that the Holy God of the universe chose, out of love, to humble Himself, become one of us, and ultimately to suffer in ways none of us ever will (or ever could imagine) to purchase our redemption (Phil. 2). As a result, he can not only forgive our sins and freely give us salvation, but also sympathize with all we’re going through (Heb. 4:14-16).
3. Evil will eventually be destroyed.
Some people criticize God by saying, “A good God would eliminate evil.” To those critics, I pose this question: “Are you prepared to be eliminated yourself, since you, like everyone else, are not without fault?” I’m grateful that God, while He will ultimately judge and eradicate evil, has chosen to exercise patience and delay this judgment. His patience extends to us and to those around us. (2 Pet. 3:9).
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 and for all, in His time.
4. God is all-wise and all-knowing, and He has reasons for allowing things to happen that are beyond our comprehension.
The Bible tells us that God’s purposes are sometimes beyond our understanding. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8, 9, NASB). Paul, in a similar fashion, wrote to the church at Rome, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways” (Romans 11:33, NASB).
Although this truth is sometimes discussed insensitively, it remains true that while God’s people do face hardships, He promises to bring good out of every experience, whether sooner or later. (Rom. 8:28).
WHERE IS GOD WHEN I SUFFER? DOES HE REALLY CARE ABOUT ME?
Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the darkest valley (shadow of death), I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you!”
Given the presence of so much evil in the world, one might wonder if God truly cares about us. The answer is not only that He cares about everything you are facing, but that His care is demonstrated by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for us. Through this profound act of love and sacrifice, we can be reconciled with God through Christ. While this does not mean we will be free from suffering in this world, it does promise us the hope of spending eternity with God. There will come a day when God “will wipe every tear from” our eyes and, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things” will pass away (Revelation 21:4).
