Tuesday, February 23, 2010

God and the Existence of Evil

We have all often heard this question. And many of us have even asked this question.
It always shows up looking like this, to a greater or lesser degree:

"If God is a good God, then why does He allow evil and suffering to exist in His world?"

The main point of this question (or statements and arguments like it), is that if God exists, then He would not allow evil to be present in the world because God is perfect/good/etc. The implication of this type of question/statement/argument is that, since evil is present in the world around us, God does not exist. God, if He did exist, because of His good nature would stop it, and it would no longer exist. When we look at the world around us, we see a world full of hatred, rape, murder, and ... chaos. Therefore, the obvious conclusion is that God does not exist, and if He did exist, then God is not a good God because He would have created a world that was without evil in the first place; therefore, again, God does not exist.

Now, for the longest time I have split hairs over this question and have been unable to provide an adequate answer to it. Until a few nights ago...


So the question is, "Why does God allow evil to be present in this world?"
Before we try to answer this question, we must first define what "evil" is. Evil then (At least in its tangible and observable form), is anything that hurts or damages or defiles or deprives or impairs or injures God's creation, which is mankind and the universe or world that we inhabit and anything that is against the God that created what does exist. Now, when we examine ourselves, and we take a look at relationships between human beings, we see that much damage and destruction is done and has been done. Marriages fail, and even marriages that haven't failed come with much strife. Friendships deteriorate or contain backbiting at times. We see people get along, and then the same people get along no more. There are occasional or frequent "brush ups" with all human beings. It is the state of being human. There is much damage done among us. All around the world the innocent suffer, and the guilty get away with doing things that they should not have done. We see a world full of hatred. If we watch the news for no more than 5 minutes, we see a world full of rebellion. A world full of destruction. A world full of chaos. And what is the root cause of this chaos? God? No. Man. Man is the source of this evil, because we wrong one another and we even sometimes wrong ourselves without trying to do so. If we examine our thoughts, and truly look at them, we see that they are often times full of wickedness. If you disagree with me on all of this, then let me take all of your thoughts, from when you were a little child all the way up until now, and let me put every thought that you've ever had on a giant movie screen so that others may observe your thought life. If you have lived a life without one wicked thought, or one thought that did not seek your own good above someone else, then you are right and I am totally wrong. But I think that you would agree with me, that your thought life does contain evil at times, and you would probably not want others to see some of the things that you have thought about because they are in fact very evil. Man is guilty then, of what the Bible calls "sin," which is doing what is contrary to God's will or falling short of God's Holy law (or God's will). If evil then, does exist, and it exists in mankind and manifests itself as sin (or rebellion against God), then all of mankind is evil. All of mankind (whether man, woman, child, or infant), are evil, and are then "sinners."

If we accept this to be true (Which to be honest, is a very hard truth to swallow and one that does offend the self-righteous), then we must agree that God, being the good God that He is, has every right to blot out mankind from existing on this earth. We see that, God, could eliminate all of mankind, and remain just in doing so.

Genesis 6:5-7 sheds light on this notion:
"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Let's go back to the original question: ""Why does God allow evil to be present in this world?"
The answer is: because of His grace. If God had decided to eliminate evil from this world, He would have to eliminate us [all of mankind], because man is the root problem of this present darkness. Man is responsible, personally responsible, for thinking and doing evil. Thanks be to God then, through Jesus Christ, that He has NOT eliminated us all from this earth, and that He has given us the opportunity to turn from our sin (or repent for our sin against Him and others) and turn to Him for forgiveness of our sin, by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, and in the end, receive a gift that we do not nor ever could deserve: life now, and life eternal after.


-burton 261e

1 comment:

Eric James McDermott said...

Interesting stuff my friend.
I enjoy your philosophical attack of the question.
This issue on the other hand, is not any question I have for the possibility of there not being a God. For without light, there would be no dark (the absence of light). Without sadness, there would be no realization of what happiness is. Some things exist on each other, and are apparent only the in absence of one another.
Keep on writing bro, pursue that passion! Take a look at this and let me know what your thoughts are. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4146574&id=672441353

Peace.