The Problem of Evil

One of the most difficult questions when contemplating faith, religion and life is the problem of evil. Unless living in a bubble, we’re each very aware of the brokenness of our world and the evil that penetrates every facet of it. Events unfold that defy reason and logic—infants die, courts acquit murderers, and natural disasters claim countless lives.

Evil poses a problem for our faith because of the conclusions we draw from it about God (if, in fact, He exists). If there is a God and He is all-powerful, then why wouldn’t He rid the world of evil and wipe out all residue of pain and suffering? He must not be good or He must not be loving. Omnipotence that permits evil must translate into a God who doesn’t care—the little-kid-over-an-ant-hill-with-a-magnifying-glass theological view. We’d better appease Him or He’ll direct His wrath at us.

“But He’s a God of LOVE!” Christians refute. Then He must not be all-powerful. If He loves us, He must be incapable of ridding the world of evil and/or protecting us from it. Love without power is understandable because then God’s not at fault. He would save us if He could, but evil’s just too strong an opponent.

Hence the problem of evil. If God exists, He’s either uncaring or not powerful enough to deal with it. Or so the natural line of thinking states.

Applying natural precepts to the ways of God betrays a faulty premise that leads to unsatisfying conclusions. The premise is two-fold: 1) that we’re on par with God and able to fully comprehend His ways, and 2) that our fallible ways of thinking automatically correspond with His infallible ones. It’s utter arrogance to position ourselves as God’s equals, much less to derive conclusions from such a deceived posture. In order to understand God’s ways we have to put ourselves in His shoes and under His authority. He’s not a philosophical concept to dissect and analyze, but rather the holy, sovereign deity who demands our utmost respect and admiration. To understand truth we must do so on His terms.

So let’s begin.

We’ll start at the beginning and determine a Scripture-based approach to address the problem of evil.

Fallible = Fall-IBLE
Most of us admit familiarity with the narrative of Genesis 3 (a.k.a. the fall of man). God creates the universe and everything in it—mankind being the cherry on top. Adam and Eve lack nothing. God spoils them with perfection—perfect food, perfect water, perfect fellowship with Him, perfect romance, perfect sex (yes, sex was God’s idea!), perfect jobs, perfect bodies. Everything went according to plan and each day left them completely satisfied.

God buckled down on only one command—not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve, as we know, decided against that bit of advice and aspired to be as wise as God in both good and evil. They ate the fruit and got the aftertaste of total depravity. Hope it tasted good!

Familiar narrative. Pretty straightforward and uncomplicated until we dig deeper into the origin of sin. Evil existed before Adam and Eve bit into the flesh of the forbidden fruit. Say what? Yep. The tempting servant presumably possessed a bit of evil, wouldn’t you say? Evil didn’t penetrate humanity and the earth until they willingly partook of it, but it was certainly present.

Imagine it like a crystal clear aquarium. Pure, undefiled and translucent with fish swimming carelessly around coral and plants. In the middle of the aquarium sits a vial of food coloring (why? I don’t know; just go with it). If disturbed, the food coloring will eject and defile the entire aquarium—with no hope of restoration without outside interference.

Adam and Eve broke the vial and invited its contents to defile the world. The question is: did God create the vial? The analogy admittedly breaks down at this point. But God became the outside interference with a plan to restore the mess we made of ourselves and the world.

Regarding the vial, fallibility is an intrinsic attribute of humanity and the world because both are created. Creatures and creation inherently depend on a Creator for life and sustenance. Unlike our Creator who needs nothing for life, we depend greatly on components like food, water, shelter and community. Created beings are fallible—prone to falling. Fallible means we’re fall-ible (i.e. able to fall). Only the sovereign and holy God cannot fall. His creatures, on the other hand, fall because we’re not capable of sustaining ourselves.

Evil entered the universe via a decision made through fallible logic and reasoning. At some point in history past, Satan (a created being just like the rest of us) decided God could be emulated and that he was the angel for the job. This fallible thought (thinking he could be like God) originated from a fallible mind (i.e. a created being prone to error) and produced fallible consequences (the birth of sin).

The tempter quickly discovered a new kind of power and may or may not realize its gloomy destination. Ultimately, God will deal with sin. He will destroy its power over His children and provide them with a new heaven and new earth—immune to sin because of the encompassing sacrifice of the cross.

Until then, Satan desires to drag as many people he can with him into the pit of eternal damnation. His plan began with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 and continues today.

Regardless of what some may believe, we aren’t innocent bystanders wrongly victimized by Adam and his sin. God forgo creating robots and fashioned people in His image—capable of love and making decisions.  Because of this, creating people (and angels for that matter) meant creating the potential of sin. The two cannot be separated because, again, only the infallible can remain so. Yes, Adam sinned. But even if he hadn’t, we certainly would and the world experiences the detriment of our sin daily.

His Plan, Love and Power
God permits sin to exist in the world now for the sake of redeeming it—for rescuing as many people possible to Him through the Gospel. He is both all-loving and all-powerful, but His love and power cannot be squeezed into pre-determined boxes of logic we derive from faulty reasoning.

His love displays itself grandly through His patience and vantage point. He desires all to know Him and coming to saving faith through Christ, so He waits—even if it means allowing temporary suffering. His sovereign vantage point realizes the momentary pain in this world can’t compare with the eternal agony awaiting so many in hell. So He allows evil to continue.

Many fail to realize, however, that God and Satan aren’t contending opponents. They don’t reside on two ends the universe playing an epic game of tug of war. God owns Satan, and Satan does nothing without permission from God. The prevalence of evil in this world operates within the confines of God’s sovereignty, which reflects His omnipotence. No one stands in comparison to God’s authority and power.

Look at Job. As a righteous man he endured greater pain and loss than anyone who’s ever lived. But Satan didn’t strike him with vengeance unbeknownst to God. Rather, he’s forced to ask God’s permission to inflict harm on Job. Job’s story deals a seeming blow to the attribute of God’s love (why He let the trials happen) until we remember another characteristic of His sovereignty—redemption.
Though He allows evil to continue, He redeems it to accomplish His purposes. 

This must frustrate Satan to no end. Satan strikes us hard with arrows of disease, death, loss of jobs, accidents and natural disasters for the purpose of keeping us as far away from God as possible. When he inflicts all the damage he’s measly little brain can conceive, God steps in with a slight smile and uses every aspect of the disasters to further His Gospel and proclaim His glory. Through trials we gain endurance, which results in wholeness and maturity so we lack in nothing of eternal weight (James 1:2-4). God uses evil to accomplish His purposes and transform us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Is it easy to endure hardship? Not hardly. Pain isn’t code or Christian-speak for joy; nor should it be. It hurts. Sometimes, it kills like a slow-burning fire. Going through a trial and/or experiencing evil first hand depletes every measure of resolve we possess. Survival mode kicks in and we operate on autopilot until the shock wears off and the real pain graces us with its presence.

Real life happens outside the bubble. Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking life’s peachy keen, only to get hit with a trial so hard we can’t remember a time we ever enjoyed peace.

But if we know Jesus and surrender to His truth, He ALWAYS brings us through and ALWAYS provides us peace through the storm. And with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, we realize how much we grew in our understanding and experience of His gospel through our pain.
​
Evil is a problem, but God isn’t its facilitator or originator. His undeserved love spurns unobligated grace for us in Jesus. His unmatched sovereignty and unfathomable creativity redeems the present evil we encounter and uses it as fuel for His gospel and glory. His patience paves the way for our redemption, and His faithfulness sees it through to the end. God’s not the problem of evil; He’s the solution.