Why does God allow evil in the world?

LITTLE ROCK — Why does God allow evil to go on in the world? This is a question which is often asked, and critics even challenge the very existence of God with the argument that a good God could not permit the evils of our world.

So, why does God permit the evils and suffering which continue in our world?

First of all, we must remember that God is not the cause of the evils of this world. Genesis 1:31 tells us, concerning God’s creation, that “God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good.” The evil and pain and suffering do not enter in until Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve doubted the goodness of God and disobeyed His word. Then they hid from God’s presence and were subject to pain and sorrow, labor and work, suffering and death. It wasafter man’s sin that Cain killed his brother Abel and wickedness and violence increased upon the earth (Genesis 4-6).

So, if God is not the cause of evil and suffering, why does He tolerate the wickedness and injustice of this world? Perhaps the best answer to this question is to consider the result if God were to put a stop to the evil here. Since God created man with a free will, the only way to put an end to the evil and pain and suffering which has come about through the sinfulness and rebelliousness of man is to judge man and destroy the evil.

But, if God did so, who would be left? As Psalm 130:3 says, “If You will keep iniquities, O Jehovah, O Lord, who shall stand?” Which one of us is withoutsin in our lives? Again, the Bible tells us that “all [have] sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and that “there is not a just man on the earth who does good, and does not sin.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

Would God be just if He judged and condemned the murderer but allowed the backbiter and gossip to live on? Would He be just to condemn the rapist but allow the adulterer or fornicator to live on? Should He judge the bank robber but tolerate the petty thief? No, to stop the pain and suffering and evil, God would have to do away with all sinners; and that includes you and me!

People forget that there was a time when the wickedness of this world was so great that God did put a stop to it. He sent a worldwide flood and destroyed all but Noah and his family and the animals with him in the ark. As the Bible says, “And Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah.” (Genesis 6:8). Yet, the wickedness was not put to a complete stop, because Noah and his sons were still sinful human beings (cf. Genesis 9:20ff.).

Instead of judging and condemning all the evil and sin in this world and thus putting an end to all disease and pain and suffering, God entered into this sinful world as a true man and endured pain, injustice, great suffering and even a horrible death on a Roman cross. He did this that He might redeem us from sin and its judgment and one day set us free from the sufferings of this world to be with Him forever in the new heavens and the new earth which He will create - a place where there will be no more sin, no pain, no suffering and no death (cf. 1 Peter 3:18; Revelation 21:1ff.).

Why does God yet wait for that day when He will judge the living and the dead, root out all evil and give eternal life in heaven to all who have turned from their sins to Jesus for forgiveness and life?

2 Peter 3:9 answers this for us: “The Lord of the promise is not slow, as some deem slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not having purposed any of us to perish, but all of us to come to repentance.”

What this tells us is that God suffers long (He tolerates and endures) the evil which He hates, even the evil and rebelliousness in each of us, because He does not want us to be condemned to the eternal torments of hell when He judges the evil in this world. Rather, He desires that we repent and turn to Him for forgiveness and life through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, and the blood He shed for us upon the cross for the sins of the world.

So, why does God allow evil and suffering to go on in this world? It’s not because He likes it. He too hates to see us sin and suffer the consequences of sin in the world. He lets this world go on because He desires to bring us to repent of our evil ways and turn to Him for forgiveness and life for the sake of the sufferings, death and resurrection of His Son! In Jesus Christ, God Himself endured the evils and sufferings of this world that he might bring us back to Himself; and He now works, even through the evil and sufferings of this world, to bring us to repent and return unto Him!

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Scripture taken from Green's Literal Translation (LITV), Copyright 1993 by Jay P. Green Sr., All rights reserved.