Since last September, Kyle, Clara, Davis, and I (Emilee) have been a part of an apologetics group affiliated with the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA). We have enjoyed it and are looking forward to beginning again next month! It is so important to truly know what you believe and the implications it has on your life. Our list of 100 apologetics topics can be found here if you are interested.
I would like to share with you one of the speeches I gave earlier this year. The statement I was to respond to was, “If God is holy, why did He allow evil in the world?” I would really enjoy hearing any comments you may have about it. Thanks!!
“One of my favorite things to listen to on road trips is “The Great Debate” (you can read the whole debate here!). It is a formal debate between atheist Gordon Stein and theologian Greg Bahnson over the existence of God. Some arguments that Dr. Stein used against the existence of God are common ones used by atheist. These arguments include what they call, “the problem of evil.” For example,
“If God exists, and desires things to be all good, and is all powerful so He can get what he desires, then evil should not exist.”
“If God exists and desires only good yet evil does exist, then God can’t be all powerful because He doesn’t get what He desires.”
“If we define “GOD” as all powerful and all-good and yet evil exists, then the “GOD” we have defined does not exist.”
How would you answer? Today I will be addressing the question, “Why does God allow evil in the world.”It is very clear in Scripture that God is all-good. Psalm 100:5a says “For the Lord is good.” So how are we to deal with evil? If God is holy, why would he allow evil in the world? I will answer this question by addressing 3 issues: Evil, Freewill, and Love.
1. Before we discuss evil, we must ask a simple question, what is evil? Is it an entity of its own or not? According to theologian Norman Geisler, there is only true goodness and the absence of goodness. So therefore, evil is not a thing or substance but the lack of the goodness of God. Think of it this way…In science we learned that what we call “cold” really isn’t cold. Why? Because cold is just an absence of heat. There is always some heat present even though we may not be able to feel it! So, in the same way, evil is the absence of good. Now this doesn’t mean that evil isn’t real, it is very real! It is not an actual thing but a corruption of an actual thing; the goodness of God.
You know what? The fact of evil actually points to the existence of a good God. You may be thinking…how is that possible? Allow me to explain. It is impossible for total evil to exist, why? Well, since evil is the absence of good, then if something was totally evil, there would be no goodness left, and therefore it would be nothing. Think of a moth eaten garment. A garment can’t be completely moth eaten because then it would be all gone, there would be no garment left. So it is with evil. You see, evil points to the existence and goodness of God because there is always some good by God’s common grace.
Now that we know what evil is, let’s move on to freewill.
When God created all things, He decided to give man free-will. This allows him or her to choose God’s goodness or reject it. You see, evil didn’t have to exist, but because we humans chose to reject God’s goodness, evil exists. God is responsible for making evil possible but we are the ones guilty for making it real.
So why did God choose to give us freewill if He knew that we would ultimately reject Him?
This question leads me to my final point which answers this question. I John 4:16 says “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.
According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary , “the sense of love is to be free and willing.” True love is chosen, not dictated. So, there is no real love without freewill.
We must not forget God’s sovereignty in all this. Yes, He gave us freewill but even here, He knew what we would choose before the foundation of the world. He created and controls our brain by which we honor or reject God. God has placed love above all else. He has planned a way to outdo our corruption through the cross. He desires and commands us in turn to love Him with all our beings. If we choose not to, then we will live eternity apart from Him just as we have chosen to in our life on earth.
So you may be wondering, what about natural disasters? These are certainly acts of God which cause evil to happen. This answer is the same as before – freewill. When Adam and Eve sinned, it affected not only them but the whole universe. This caused a corrupted world where earthquakes, tornados, tsunamis, etc. occur.
So, we can conclude that, God did not create evil but He allows it to exist because of His great love for us in giving us freewill. This same love is why God sent His Son to die in our place so that if we by God’s grace believe on Him, our relationship of love will be restored. Christ will ultimately conquer all evil when He returns again.
