“How can a good, all-powerful and loving God allow evil to exist in our world?”
We have all heard the question asked a thousand times. I recently wrestled with this topic walking through Auschwitz, a concentration/death camp, where hundreds of thousands of Jewish families were stripped naked, brutually murdered, and dumped into unmarked graves. Their belongings, including hair were then sold to fuel the Natzi war machine. Children and expecting mothers received no special treatment and while under the impression they were headed to take showers, they instead experienced agonizing suffocation in gas chambers. God is good? Can we believe that a good God is compatible with the horrors of not only Auschwitz, but the rest of history? Should we accept that God?
Part 1: The Beginning “Why would God allow even the possibility of evil to begin with?”
God created Adam and Eve perfect, blessed them with an abundant world and then did something incredibly stupid. God gave mankind a choice. “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garen you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Gen 2:16-17) The first idea we must wrestle with in understanding the existence of evil is our choice.
Why the choice?
'Chatty Cathy' was a doll created in the 1960's. It revolutionized the toy industry in many ways and experienced great financial success. The unique thing about 'Chatty Cathy' was a string located on her upper back that when pulled repeated several different phrases such as 'I love you.' Let's say you own a 'Chatty Cathy' doll. You pull Chatty Cathy's string, and without fail the doll cries out, 'I love you!' Why doesn't that mean anything to you? You want love, and this doll gives it out unconditionally right?
With humanity God wanted a relationship, God wanted sons, God wanted daughters. At the very core of this relationship is choice. God never called an angel His son. 'Chatty Cathy' does not choose to love anyone, it is simply programmed to do so. God did not want a whole bunch of Chatty Cathy dolls who said 'i love you' simply because we had to. To be human is to be able to choose. Adam chose wrongly, he chose rebellion against God. Adam chose to eat of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, violate God's commandment, and thus evil entered into our world. With the possibility of us intimately knowing God unlike any other creature, there was also the possibility for us to reject God.
With choices there are also consequences, and right now the world of evil which we experience is a consequence inherited from Adam's choice. The choice allowed sin to enter our world and in every way it corrupted the very nature of man as well as the world we live in.
While this may help us wrestle with the existence of evil, the continuance of evil is still a question. Ok so mankind screwed up, but why doesn't God just take care of it? A question I will attempt to address in my next blog post.
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4 comments:
Just for clarification, do you think there's any need to distinguish between believers as victims of evil and unbelievers as victims of evil?
While I might shy away from the term 'victim' which implies innocence, and unfortunately we are not, I would not instinctually see the need to clarify why believers and unbelievers experience evil. Quite honestly believer or unbeliever all of humanity experiences a great deal of pain and suffering due to the existence of evil. I wouldn't necessarily say that believer's experience less evil, Jesus Christ would be an example.
Honestly I am not an expert on the topic, hope that makes sense, and I could definitely be wrong.
I just published a second blog post here: http://zowadablog.com/2011/08/24/the-existence-of-evil-continuance/
hopefully this also deals with that question.
I see. Maybe I need to rephrase my question:
When discussing why God lets evil things happen to people rather than intervening, does it matter whether the victims are crying to God for help (i.e., believers) or not (i.e., unbelievers)?
Difficult question to answer, but I would say that yes it does matter. Several verses pop to mind such as Psalm 50:51, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me." In the case of believers, God does respond to our cries (James 5:16-18), however more than he wants us to be rid of evil and suffering he wants us to be dependent upon Him and often uses/ allows evil to teach us. In regards to unbelievers God does not make promises scripturally to rescue or protect. Hope that somewhat answers your question, all-in-all I am not too sure as to the answer either.
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