God and Evil

I had to write a short answer in my philosophy class as to how I would answer someone who questioned the co-existence of God and evil in the world. A short blog on God and Evil will not exhaust the subject. But there are some basic truths that the Bible does teach that we can hold onto in the face of evil in this world. Here are four.

1. Evil does exist. (it's not just a perspective)

There is no question about this one. Evil is all around us. When children die and friends and family are stolen by disease or the relatively innocent suffer, it is evil. The Bible does not hide this fact or try to smooth it over. It is not the elephant in the room that no one talks about. The Bible addresses evil head-on. It is out there and we have all experienced it to some degree.

2. God is all-powerful and all-good. (omnipotent and omnibenevolent)

The Bible also affirms that God can do all things, and that He has no evil in His being at all. He is all light. There is no darkness. Job wholeheartedly exclaims that He can do all things. This is where most people would raise an objection. If God is perfectly good and all powerful, why would he let evil exist in the world? He is more than capable. He should be more than willing. Why doesn't he get ride of evil altogether? Or why did he let it exist in the first place? Oddly enough, this is not a question that people asked in ancient times. Many ancient religions saw evil as a basic part of reality and accepted it as so. The Bible goes a little further and shows that it is intimately connected with human sin, but still doesn't exactly answer the question. The Bible just affirms that God hates evil, is all good, and all-powerful -- end of story. This may not be as satisfactory as we want, but this is what the Bible affirms.

3. Evil is subverted to the purposes of God.

More encouraging to most than the first to truths, we can have great hope in the face of evil because of this truth. Evil is completely subverted for the purposes of God. This means that no matter how hard evil tries, God's will triumphs. Evil fails to accomplish its goals. This is not to say that Evil happens and then God "fixes" it. Sometimes, we see clear evidence that God even plans to do good through evil events. Consider the story of Joseph. His brothers sell him into slavery. They "intend" evil against Joseph. We are told later in Genesis that God intended this for good. The evil of the brothers was so subverted by God that it was even planned to be used for good before it happened.

This is most clear in the cross. God was not surprised when Jesus died on the cross. It was the plan from the beginning. Revelation speaks of the Lamb as being slain before the foundation of the world. God knew he was going to send Jesus to die on our behalf before we had even sinned. The most evil event to ever happen in history was the murder of our Lord. He was the only truly innocent being to ever die, and that for the sins of others. Yet, God subverted that evil for the supreme good of mankind, allowing us to have fellowship with God for all of eternity. How much hope should this give us in the face of evil knowing that somehow, some way, God is working out thing for good, even when we can't see it.

4. Evil will cease; it has a time limit.

This is the greatest part. One day, evil will be vanquished. There will be no more tears, no more sorrow. We will know perfection. I cannot even imagine what the world will be like "When we all get to heaven." We just know that "we will understand it better by and by." And that some glorious day "I'll fly away" to that "sweet Bullah land." No matter how bad things get I know that "I am bound for the promised land." Have you noticed that we like to sing about this. There is a reason that the Bible uses the word "hope" when referring to the rapture. We can have hope because we know that the place we are going is not to be compared with our present suffering (Romans 8:18).