“Why does God Allow Evil to Exist?”

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A common question posed towards Christians is “Why would an all loving, all knowing God allow evil/suffering to exist”? Or “If an all loving God does exist, why would he allow people to be poor, children to be born with birth defects, war, violence, hunger, etc?” As a Christian, I’ve personally been challenged by these types of questions in my Christian life.

It can sometimes be difficult to reconcile God’s love and promises for us but yet we see “good people” suffer or wars and acts of violence prompting us to ask where God is in all of this. Many of us can agree with this sentiment or maybe we’ve been challenged by a friend, co-worker, or family member that doesn’t agree with the God of the bible. 

The Fall

This question isn’t always the easiest to answer, but the Bible does show us that the current world we live in is fallen from what it should be. To begin, God created everything in a perfect state – he saw that everything he created was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). However, once mankind disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden we and the earth were cursed and are awaiting the day to be returned to our “original” state (Genesis 3:1-19, Romans 8:18-23). Until that time, the world we live in now is of our creation.

Humanity chose to reject God and due to that we now are reaping the consequences of that decision. Although many people believe that it is God’s responsibility to “fix” this mess, based on the previous passages we can see that this mess is the product of humanity’s initial disobedience against God.

We’re told that after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, he punished the serpent – Satan, Eve, and Adam (Genesis 3:14-19). This is where we see the consequences of their disobedience against God which still affects us to this day.

The Bible also tells us that there are evil unseen forces that want nothing more than to destroy humanity and add to or even cause this suffering and evil. We know of these beings as fallen angels, demons, and Satan the “god of this age” who use everything within their disposal to spread hate, strive, conflict, and death – everything God didn’t create (Ephesians 6:12). The Bible shows us that although evil is real and prevalent in this world, there is an all loving, all knowing God who promised to fix this and that’s where his Grace (giving us what we don’t deserve) and mercy (not giving us what we deserve) really shines. 

This is especially seen in Genesis 3:15 where God offers hope to the 2 and at the same time declares the demise of Satan in the form of a prophecy of the coming Messiah who will defeat him.

When we go to the book of Job, we see a good example of the fallen world and supernatural influence play out in the most dramatic way possible. At the beginning of the book, Job was wealthy and had much to be thankful for, however we soon learn that Satan requests to test Job’s faithfulness to God (Job 1:6-12, Job 2:1-6). Him and his family are soon stricken by poverty, sickness, and death (Job 1:13-22, Job 2:7-10).

Later Job cries out and questions God concerning the calamities that he faces. God’s answer? Starting from Job 38 he begins to challenge Job to learn if he’s essentially wiser than him, “‘Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me,’ (Job 38:1-3).

This continues till chapter 41 where Job eventually answers God correctly, “…Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes,” (Job 41:3, 6). At the end God eventually restores everything that was lost to Job and blesses him with even more than he had originally (Job 42:10-16). In essence what we can take away from the book of Job is we may suffer in this life, and the majority of the time we won’t know why we suffer or why God allows it.

But he tells us that his ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). I believe that God in his sovereignty understands the good that can come out of evil and suffering, NOT that suffering is itself good, BUT that God can ultimately use it for good which we do see this demonstrated in the bible.

Throughout human history we’ve seen how calamities and disasters as bad as they may be have brought the best out of people and society as a whole. It’s often through struggle and pain where we learn useful life lessons. Here are some ways suffering leads to a positive outcome in the bible:

• “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes,” (Psalm 119:71)
• “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope,” (Romans 5:3-4)
• “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing,” (James 1:2-4)

Just like Satan in heaven requested of God to test Job, in Luke 22:31-32 Jesus tells Peter Satan requests to test him and Jesus allows it, “And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat'” (Luke 22:31). Why is this? In verse 32 we see something important.

Jesus allows Peter to be “sifted” because he knows it will ultimately be for Peter’s and his brothers’ benefit, “‘But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren,'” (Luke 22:32). We see here that this affliction was used for the benefit of others!

In Romans 8:28 we’re told that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” including the trials we may go through. Also, if we indeed want God to get rid of all the evil and suffering in the world, it could be argued that he would either need to take away our free will, making us robots that obey him, or he would do that by getting rid of us starting with you and me as the bible makes it clear none of us are righteous before God hence our need for a savior who was promised from Genesis 3:15 (Romans 3:10).

Peace in the Midst of Trials

Jesus makes it clear that this world will have its troubles but he promises us that he has overcome the world (John 16:33)! And due to his victory, we also victor with him as we’re considered overcomers (Revelation 12:11).

Although evil and suffering is pervasive in this world, Jesus reassures us that we can have peace in him in the midst of life’s difficulties and ultimately we can have assurance in the eternal life we have in him! One thing we’re all guaranteed in this life is pain and suffering, but only those who have trusted in Jesus can have the peace that this is but a “momentary affliction” compared to what awaits us in eternity.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal, (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Just as I used Romans 8:28 to note earlier that even suffering can be used for good, Paul also reinforces this idea in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (and places such as Romans 8:18) by making the bold statement that the “light affliction” which lasts but a “moment” (in the perspective of eternity) is working in our favor to ultimately add to an eternal weight of glory!

Through the fall of mankind and the influence of spiritual entities (i.e. Satan, fallen angels, demons) in this physical world, the fallout is an imperfect world with evil and suffering that is outside of God’s original design as God created everything originally as “very good” (Genesis 1-3, Job 1-42, Romans 5:12-20, Ephesians 6:12). However, the good news for those who have put their trust in Christ is that we are promised that one day evil and suffering will be done away with and we will live within God’s intended design forever (Romans 8:18-25, Revelation 21-22).

Just as we may all face various forms of suffering in this life, we all will eventually face death as well. If you are not sure about what will happen to you after death or if you have never accepted God’s free gift of salvation, I encourage you to take the opportunity to do so today. The bible makes it clear that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow (James 4:14). Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). By accepting this free gift you too can have the peace and expectation of God’s promises in the midst of life’s tribulations!

I encourage you to also take a look at my article, Does Evil Disprove God, to have an in-depth understanding of how the problem of evil (and suffering) actually points us to God’s existence!