God and Evil
1. On Friday of this week, many people will celebrate Halloween. Some object to any celebration of this holiday because it suggests an association with Satan and evil. Others see no problem with trick-or-treating and other innocent activities so long as no connection is made with witchcraft, sorcery, or any other form of Satanism. We would all agree that in no way should Christians ever participate in anything which celebrate or glorifies the forces of evil.
2. Surely we ought to recognize that Satan is a real being. Satan is our "adversary." He is our enemy seeking to destroy us. We must be on constant guard against his devices [1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.]
3. Since Satan is a real being, his fruit is evident in the world around us. He is a murderer and the father of lies [John 8:44]. Because of Satan, the world is plagued with evil, pain, and suffering. Every bad thing that exists in the world is a product either directly or indirectly of Satan's work.
4. Atheists use the existence of evil and suffering to make an argument against the existence of God.
a. The Bible teaches that God is powerful [Revelation 4:8 (NKJV) The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!"]
b. God is loving [1 John 4:8 (NKJV) He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.]
c. God is all-knowing [Psalms 147:5 (NKJV) Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.]
d. Atheists say that an almighty, loving, and all-knowing God could not allow evil and suffering to exist. Therefore, they reason, there is no such God. C. S. Lewis (the English author who was once an atheist and became a profound defender of faith in God) expressed the argument this way: "If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty, He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore, God lacks either goodness, or power, or both" [The Problem of Pain, 26].
5. However, it's not that simple. There is a Christian response to this argument which we need to spend time considering. How shall we deal with the problem of evil?
I. WE MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT THE SOURCE OF EVIL IS.
A. God created a sin-free world. God looked on all His creation and "indeed it was very good" [Genesis 1:31 (NKJV)]. God did not create sin. The source of evil in the world is NOT God.
B. God did create man, however, with the ability to commit sin. When man was created with the freedom to choice whether or not he would obey God, the possibility for sin came into being.
1. It was possible for Adam to disobey God's command against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil [Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."]
2. Adam had free choice to sin or not to sin. That same choice is available to every person today.
3. As far as we know, God could have created humankind in a world where there was no possibility of sinning. In such a world, all people would love and obey God because it was ordained that they would do so.
4. This is not what God wanted. He wants our love and submission to His will, but He wants it only if we freely choose to give it to Him [1 John 4:19 (NKJV) We love Him because He first loved us.] It is our free choice to return the love that God showed to us in Christ. This verse does not say, "We love Him, because that is the way He created us." The downside of that freedom is that many will make poor choices.
C. We must recognize that an all-knowing God knows the future. Thus, He knew what choice Adam would make before He ever created man.
1. God's plan for our salvation existed before the world was created [1 Peter 1:18-20 (NKJV) knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you] The sacrifice of Christ was "foreordained" before the foundation of the world.
2. This leaves us with the question -- why did God go ahead with giving man choice when God knew man would choose to do wrong? Because He knew that some would choose to benefit from the blood of Christ and enjoy the eternal blessings He was preparing for His children in heaven. They would be with Him eternally because they had made the right choice -- to follow His way.
D. Let us be clear in understanding that evil exists in the world today because of man's sinfulness.
1. Adam sinned [Romans 5:12 (NKJV) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned;]
2. We continue to sin. Note the last phrase in Romans 5:12 -- "because all sinned" We aren't lost in sin because Adam sinned, but because we sinned [1 John 1:8 (NKJV) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.]
3. We cannot blame God for our sins and for the consequences brought about by our sins.
a. AIDS became a terrible plague in the last part of the 20th century. Millions have died of the disease and in some parts of the world, the calamity is getting worse and worse. A person who engages in promiscuous sexual behavior and gets AIDS cannot blame God. His own fornication is responsible.
b. Innocent people are sometimes harmed by others' sinful behavior. Babies are born with HIV which is transmitted from the mother who got it from her husband who was promiscuous in his behavior. The innocent do suffer! Just as a law-abiding safe driver may be hurt when his car is hit by someone who has gotten behind the steering wheel after consuming too much alcohol. Innocent people suffer from the sinful conduct of others. Even when it is not the individual's own sin, suffering comes from sin.
4. Review:
God creates the universe; all is good.
God creates sinless man.
God gives man a free will which means the possibility of sinning.
Man has two choices:
OBEY GOD DISOBEY GOD
No Fall Fall into Sin
Satan powerless Satan powerful
Humanity innocent "All have sinned"
Fellowship with God Separated from God
Continue to live in Paradise Expelled from Paradise
No Physical Death Physical Death
No evil or suffering Evil and suffering
Harmony with nature Battle with nature
II. GOD'S RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
A. Atheists argue that a loving God would not allow evil to exist in the world.
B. Even some believers in God struggle with this question and reach strange conclusions. Several years ago, a Jewish rabbi named Harold Kushner wrote a popular book titled Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. He grapples with the problem of how a loving God could allow innocent people to suffer. He concludes that God does love us, but that He is unable to do anything about the predicaments in which we find ourselves. This denies the power of God.
C. God has the power to deliver the innocent from suffering. He could have spared the hundreds of thousands who died because of the bubonic plague in Europe during the middle ages. He could have preserved the millions of Holocaust victims in Nazi Germany. He could save the life of everyone dying of cancer today. However, such action on God's part would be contrary to His sovereign will.
1. God has appointed that we shall die [Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV) And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,] This consequence comes because of death brought into the world when Adam and Eve sinned.
2. God chose to act miraculously to heal the sick in the time of Jesus and the apostles. He acts providentially to restore health to some sick today. There is power in righteous fervent prayer to affect the will of God. When the sick get better, however, this is only a temporary postponement of the inevitable. Death will come.
3. If God acted to remove all suffering from the world, He would be removing the negative consequences of sinful choices. If there were no suffering in the world, there would be no evident reason for men to stop sinning. Man would turn away from God and be eternally lost. Since God allows suffering, He reminds us that there are moral consequences of sin. We know that sin is evil and we see a need to be reconciled with God. Through Jesus Christ, we can have redemption from our sins and enjoy a future life in heaven where there will be no suffering [Revelation 21:4 (NKJV) "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."]
D. While God has not chosen to remove suffering from the world, He has acted to combat the problem of evil.
1. He controls the effects of evil. Our evil world deserves to be destroyed like the world of Noah's day or Sodom and Gomorrah.
a. God has delayed our destruction to give opportunity for repentance [2 Peter 3:9-10 (NKJV) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.]
b. God has given the world institutions designed to prevent evil from totally controlling us.
(1) Governments control lawlessness and promote social order [Romans 13:1, 4 (NKJV) Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 4 For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.]
(2) Marriage [1 Corinthians 7:2 (NKJV) Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.]
(3) The Church. By preaching the gospel and demonstrating Christ in our lives, we shine as a line to the world [Matthew 5:16 (NKJV) "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.]
2. God offered the solution to the sin problem when He sent Jesus into the world.
a. By His death on the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for sin [Romans 5:12-16].
b. When we obey the gospel of Christ and receive the benefits of His blood, we become the beneficiaries of two wonderful promises:
(1) Eternal life [1 John 2:25 (NKJV) And this is the promise that He has promised us; eternal life.]
(2) Christ's presence with us to ease the burden [Matthew 28:20]
CONCLUSION
1. We should not blame God for the suffering that sin has brought into the world. Satan and man share the responsibility for that [James 1:13-15 (NKJV) Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.]
2. Instead, let us rejoice in the salvation and hope of eternal glory offered to us in Christ. Will you obey the gospel and take advantage of those blessings?