If God is good, why is there evil in the world?

This is thought by many to be the most difficult question, both philosophically and emotionally. If you were left to be the architect of this world, would you permit all this misery? This is a question raised by Dostoevski in his work The Brothers Karamosov. King David, in the Bible struggled with it. The first word of Jesus from the cross was: Why? It is a part of our humanity.

We would all certainly agree that there is evil in this world. We are indignant at the way some people treat others. The abuse of children, rape, murder, tragic accidents are all events that strike at the very fabric of our lives.

 The problem seems to be that Christians believe that:

• God is all good
• God is all powerful, and yet
• Evil exists

There seems to be an inconsistency there that goes like this:

• If God is all good, He wouldn't want that evil
• If God was all powerful, He could eliminate that evil
• Therefore, if God exists He is either not all powerful or not all good.

So we need to ask ourselves if that is a good argument. Before we answer that we need to ask ourselves:

For whom is evil logically a problem: the Christian or the non-Christian?

The unbeliever cannot assert this unless he says there is evil. If nothing counts as evil, there is no question. In order to ask the question, he must evaluate something as evil. So what does the unbeliever mean by good and evil? By what standard does he determine that or make that moral judgment?

Good and evil could mean what evokes public approval or disapproval. But if that is true, the following statement would always be senseless: the vast majority of the community heartily approved of and joined in that evil event. The majority could never participate in an evil event. But we know that ethics does not reduce to statistics. Most people think of the goodness of something evoking their approval rather that their approval constituting its goodness.

What about evoking the approval of the individual? That is even worse. If good means I approve, then we could never agree with each other in ethical judgments. Why? Because one is a judgment about me, one about you.

How about instrumental theories of good. Good is defined by consequences brought about - greatest good for greatest number. If this is true, one would have to be able to rate and compare happiness in order to make that judgment. How do you rate and compare the unhappiness of some with the same action provoking happiness in others. Some would interject that good is what produces a particular end. That is true only if the end is good. But that begs the question. Someone might say what is good maximizes the freedom of people. But how do you know the freedom of people is good?

None of these are workable theories for the nature of good and evil. The unbeliever cannot prove that what he is talking about is evil.

 The point is the Christian can say something is evil because his world view accounts for that judgment, because there is a living Creator who has revealed Himself. Child molestation is evil; but on what basis does the unbeliever call that evil? If you reject God, you are left with: Everybody can do what is right in their own eyes. Does the molester then have the right to do what he wants - because it brought him happiness? The problem of evil is not even intelligent unless you begin with a Christian world view.

As an unbeliever you might retort with: I might not be able to account for evil, but you as a Christian still have a paradox in your way of thinking that needs to be resolved.

How can we believe as Christians that there is no inconsistency? What are my presuppositions? God reveals himself in the Bible. The Bible teaches that God is all good and all powerful. Now I am going to draw my conclusions in light of that.

From that, I draw the conclusion that there is a morally sufficient reason for that evil. That is a logical conclusion. God must have had good reason for what He has done.

As an unbeliever you may want to believe that we have to solve the problem in a neutral fashion. But my commitment is to the existence of this God and I can thus draw the logical conclusion that there is a morally sufficient reason for evil.

We have solved the logical problem, but we know that is only a part of the problem. There is the psychological problem as well. We would like to have answers.

We have a problem when the reason is not given to why bad things happen to us and others. But God rarely provides an explanation for the evil we experience or observe (Deuteronomy 29:29) Even if God told us, we might not understand it and still be baffled (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Even though He does not give us the reasons, they are a part of His plan for history (Romans 8:28)

We are called on by the Bible to trust that God has a morally sufficient reason for the evil in this world. But the Bible does not give us the reason(s), then leave it up to us to finally judge whether God has been good or not.

As an unbeliever you refuse to trust God and will not believe unless you are given the reason why. You will not trust God unless God submits Himself to the moral evaluation of the unbeliever. Let God be on trial and unless God consents to trade places with the unbeliever, the unbeliever won't trust Him. What do you think? Will God enter into that.

Here is the key: It is a question of ultimate authority in a person's life.

What if we said: All right unbelievers. You all now have the right to judge God. What would happen? Do all unbelievers agree on what is good and evil? No. Once you take it out of the hands of God, you have made it impossible for any moral judgment to be made.

The only logical (and consistent) approach is to say that only God has the right to declare what is good and evil.

The question that Adam and Eve faced in the garden is the exact same question that unbelievers are facing today. Do I have faith in God's Word simply because He says so? Or should we evaluate it based on our own moral authority?

Since Adam and Eve would not presuppose the goodness of God, they have visited upon the human race all the torments we have. When an unbeliever will not accept the goodness of God simply based upon His word, they are simply perpetuating the source of all human woes. Rather than solving the problem of evil, they are adding to it.