Why is there evil in the world?

Why is there evil in the world?

When God created the world, evil was not part of the plan. In fact after creating the world and everything in it, including human beings, “God saw all that He had made and it was very good” Genesis 1:31

We can never deny that evil is very prevalent in our world. We can watch the evening news, talk to our neighbors, co-workers, and visit the prisons of our state. We see young children abused and left alone, broken, battered, and scarred for life. Some time ago, my niece was admitted to a mental ward of a large hospital for an eating disorder. When I went to visit, the atmosphere made my skin crawl. The presence of evil was thick in the air. It was very real.

The Bible tells us that our troubles in this life including death are because of sin. And “sin entered the world through one man” Romans 5:12. That man was Adam. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God “death came to all”. One might ask the question, “Why didn’t God keep evil from entering the world and polluting the whole mess for the rest of us in the first place?”

This is a tough question. Certainly God could have created a world in which evil and sin were not possible. God being God understood that this would change many other things including our ability to love unconditionally. Through having free will God allows us to experience love, and pain, and hurt. Many people have abused their ability to choose freedom of choice by hurting others and that’s where most of the world’s suffering has come from.

In other words, God is not the cause of evil or its creator. In creating people that are capable of good and evil, He is not the reason they choose evil rather than good. If we have the ability to love we also have the ability to hate.

If evil is caused by people’s free choice, what is God’s attitude toward suffering people? Does He turn his back on us? Does He say “It’s your own fault now live with it”? Heaven forbid! God loves us. He hurts when we hurt. To give us hope He gave us His Son, Jesus to become a man and experience the full range of human suffering—including death. God not only identifies with our pain, He gives a great promise to His children who are going through difficult and painful circumstances. Romans 8:28 says, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”.

Why do you think some people blame God when they suffer? Are all problems a result of personal sin?

Read Romans 6:1-14