UNDERSTANDING EVIL

How can there possibly be a God with so much evil in the world?

Here’s another way this question is often asked:

If God is all-powerful and all loving, how can He allow so much evil and suffering in the world?

This is a pretty important question to ask, if for no other reason than the amount of suffering that we all (that means everyone!) seem to encounter in this life.

There’s no doubt about it, no matter how much it appears a person has their act together on the outside, it’s a pretty sure bet that in some form or fashion they have been hurt by someone or something. Pain comes in many ways. Some worse than others.

Maybe you have been hurt by:

• Your parents’ ugly and bitter divorce
• Your husband or wife cheating on you and the unimaginable lying and deception that went on behind your back
• The deep betrayal of someone you thought was a close friend
• The untimely death of a loved one

Maybe you’ve been the victim of or affected by a heinous crime like:

• Rape
• Robbery
• Murder
• Sexual molestation

Unfortunately, pain is real and the ultimate questions are “Why God did this happen? God if you really cared why did this happen to me?”

Well, we have some answers to this question that we would like you to think about.

First, on the journey to find God, keep in mind that every world religion and every worldview must answer the question of why pain and evil exist.

Some of their answers are pretty interesting to say the least. Most of the Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism along with the modern day Christian Science religion embrace a worldview called Pantheism.

Pantheism is the belief that everything and everyone is part of a great "oneness." It comes from two Greek words: pan meaning everything, and Theos meaning God.

Their answer to the pain and evil question, although a bit confusing is simply this:

“If God is all, and God is all good, and we are all God, than evil cannot exist.”

In other words suffering and evil don’t exist. Just simply ignore whatever evil thing has happened to you and it won’t bother you.

That theory doesn’t help much with the reality of the things we have experienced and the pain we feel.

Let’s look at how the word evil is defined. The definition might surprise you.

We usually define the word evil as something bad or some kind of wicked behavior, but it actually means:

“To be morally wrong.”

The word moral means virtuous or to have right conduct.
We can thus deduce evil means to be on the wrong side of good or to exhibit wrong conduct instead of right.

Here’s another compelling thought to consider:

For evil to exist and to have definition then good must exist as well!

If you recognize the existence of evil then these are the implications of what you also are admitting:

• The existence of good
• If good exists there must also exist a code of behavior or moral law to differentiate between good and evil.
• If moral (right or good) laws exist then there must be a lawgiver or pure moral being a.k.a. God.

The questions about suffering and evil are only valid if God, in fact, does exist.

As soon as God, a pure moral being, is removed from the picture of life, terms such as Good and Evil can only be defined by conflicting human emotion. What might be considered good to one person is an unthinkable crime to another.

For instance, Hitler thought it was good to murder millions of an entire ethnic group. Radical terrorists believe it’s good to kill and destroy entire groups of innocent people.

If what’s right and wrong is left up to mankind to randomly decide among themselves, chaos ensues and the result can only be pain and suffering.

Another example of the chaos a godless world creates can be found in the different cultures around the world. Some groups of people feel it is good to love thy neighbor while others prefer to eat them!

The reality is that for good and evil or right and wrong to be the same for all humanity, there must be a perfect being that establishes their meaning.

You might then ask if evil proves the existence of God and God is supposedly all loving, why is evil part of the world He created?

Well, why don’t we consider the worlds God could have made?

• God could have made no world at all. 

Not a real good option for us.

• God could have created a world where only goodness existed.

In a world like this, evil would not exist and the suffering it causes. But along with that no freedom of choice would exist either.

One of the greatest gifts given to us by God is the ability to choose. Without the freedom to choose we would be mindless robots.

Why has He given us this ability to choose?

Because God wants us to freely choose to love Him!

God could have made us to love Him without the choice to do so. But if He did this, true love would be impossible for Him to have.

We feel the same way about love. We want someone to love us because they want to and choose to.

Consider this illustration:

Imagine if God was a computer scientist who created us like a computer and programmed us to say, “I love you” every few minutes. How can that be true love?

God has no desire to force us to love Him. This is why He has given you the ability to choose to do so.

But here’s the catch:

The freedom of choice leaves the possibility of wrong choice.

If everyone chose to love and obey God there would be no resulting evil, but sadly, this is not the case.

When it comes to the often-devastating effects of evil in our lives and the pain it causes, it’s not God who is at fault.

This is the real answer to what’s behind the effects of evil in the world:

 People making the wrong choices.

• God could create a world where good and evil co-exist along with the possibility of choosing one or the other.

If God’s desire was to create an environment where people could exercise their love for Him and one another then this design would be the one.

What kind of world would this look like?

Exactly like the one we have!

And ours is the only world where true love is possible.

If God desires to preserve freedom and yet defeat evil and the suffering it causes, then this is the best way with the best world.

Freedom is preserved in that people have the right to choose their own destinies.

Evil will be defeated when God will one day have a final reckoning where evil and all that have chosen its destructive path will be separated out from His creation forever.

Even if you have a better understanding of evil, you might still be wondering about the hurt and pain in your life. Perhaps you have been deeply hurt or abused by someone. You didn’t choose for this to happen. They chose to hurt you.

Did you know:

God has a plan for the pain that evil causes in our life. It’s called the Good News.

Please take a minute to read through the following links to learn more about how you can make the right choices concerning God and His amazing plan for your life.

Do visit us at our church in Irvine and be a part of our thought provoking "Discovery" meetings.

Links: Jesus, Gospel, Sin, Bible, Choose, Discover

© Copyright 2009 Storyteller Church