Why Does God Allow Evil?

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4

In a world where daily news reports and our common surroundings seem to have become a birthplace for evil and suffering, Paul’s mindset might seem unrealistic to those considering that he wrote these very words from a prison cell. Despite Paul’s circumstances at the time, his epistle to the Philippians is considered by many theologians to be his “Epistle of Joy,” referencing quotes such as, “I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer” [Philip 1:3-4] and “In the same way you should also be glad and rejoice with me” [Philip 2:18] where he encourages his readers to rejoice in God’s provision and goodness. Paul saw God, even when his surroundings seemed to show no sign of Him. And because of this, he found contentment in the One who called him for this purpose.

What do Philosophers Say?

Unlike Paul, atheist and even Christian philosophers have pondered the relationship between God and evil and their likelihood to co-exist. The central challenge they raise is the supposed contradiction between a morally perfect, loving, and omnipotent God and the existence of evil in the world. Referencing Epicurus, David Hume draws the following conclusions:

“Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”¹

Even contemporaries, whether atheist or Christian, struggle to justify the fact that although God is all good, all-powerful, and all-knowing, we still live in a world where evil is an ongoing reality. A well-known observation from the theist’s perspective is that all people have “free will.” God puts them in a position where they can choose to love, enabling genuine love rather than a programmed task. While this explains people committing evil towards one another, nowhere in the Bible do we seem to get an explicit explanation for why children die at a young age or why, sometimes, natural disasters take out a large portion of a population.

In response, Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga points out that “The fact that the theist doesn’t know why God permits evil…shows little or nothing relevant to the rationality of belief in God.”² After all, our ability to explain something’s function has never been the standard by which we decide whether it is good or bad. The fact that you may not understand why your phone had to update for 30 minutes, only to work exactly the same way it did before the update, does not mean the update was not functional; it might have been, it might not have been. The truth is that you trust the developer of the phone to ensure it functions well, because, although they are still capable of making mistakes, they are more qualified to make this judgment than you are. You do not ask for an explanation of the necessity of the update, so why would you suddenly impose this requirement on God, who cannot make mistakes?

Plantinga reveals the additional “hidden premises” responsible for this, presented by atheist philosopher J. L. Mackie. This premise is that…

“...a good thing always eliminates evil as far as it can, and that there are no limits to what an omnipotent thing can do. From these it follows that a good omnipotent thing eliminates evil completely, and then the propositions that a good omnipotent thing exists, and that evil exists, are incompatible.”³

Appealing to God’s goodness and omnipotence, atheists like Mackie and Hume conclude that evil should always be eliminated by a God that is—and desires—good. Interestingly enough, this statement does not align with biblical teaching, and the Christian therefore has no reason to defend it. The fallacy made by the atheist here is that, in their claim, they already presume that the omniscient God they argue against does not exist. Many may have experienced scenarios in which someone superior to them highly recommended that they do or not do a certain thing. Take a coach that tells you not to run a certain play, a teacher that tells you to study for a test, or a parent telling you not to jump off that wall. Although we might not have understood it at the time, a lost game, a failed test, or a visit to the hospital proved that they may have been on to something. Now, is it possible for a player to outsmart their coach, a student their teacher, and a child their parents? Yes, but generally, the reasonable option is to listen to those who have been around the block longer than you. If someone has been put into a position to lead, based on their experience and education, following their call is, more often than not, the right decision. So if we want to be consistent, why not apply the same logic to God? Why would we assume that whatever happens in our lives is evil for the sake of evil, just because we do not see the purpose of it? Birth pains lead to the joy of parenthood, years of hard work can lead one to the financial stability to support their family, and painful hours in the gym can lead an athlete to a successful career. Life is full of painful sacrifices that make future thriving possible. Responding to Job, God calls Him out by asking him:

Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? Job 38:4–5

The assertion that the evil we experience in this world carries no purpose, thereby ruling out the existence of a morally perfect God, is more arrogance than it is sound philosophical reasoning. The asserter claims that they are intellectually more advanced than the God who created the universe they live in and even came down to earth to experience the pain His creation goes through. Of course, the atheist rejects this doctrine, but must still assume its truth in order to argue against its coherence. If they don’t, they simply do not argue against the God of the Bible.

How Seeing Made Us Blind

So what makes us unable to see God at times when evil surrounds us? When we observe the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2, we briefly find Adam and Eve in unity with God: “Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame” [Gen 2:25]. This soon changes one chapter later when the serpent entices them to eat from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil. According to the serpent, the reason for this restriction was that “…God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” [Gen 3:5]. Soon after they ate its fruit, “…the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves” and when God called for Adam, he answered, saying, “I heard You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid” [Gen 3:7-10].

The question is: Why would this forbidden tree be in the garden, and how did obtaining knowledge of good and evil lead to shame? This, again, fits perfectly into the framework of how a superior makes certain calls that we may not understand at the moment they make them, but which generally prove effective later on. The presence of the tree gave Adam and Eve their free will to choose to obey God, enabling genuine love. The reason they were not allowed to eat from it can be compared to a parent withholding certain truths from their children that they are not ready to face. Although Adam and Eve lived in the garden with no sin, their human nature, by definition, made them inferior to God. Angels bow to God’s name, cover their faces, and sing songs of worship to Him [Isa 6], but Adam and Eve were living a simple life while being in His presence. Their disobedience made them not only sinful, but aware of their inferiority, and because of the fall, their sin in light of God’s holiness. They had sin without grace.

Before the fall, Adam and Eve were in a state of complete dependence on God. There were no second thoughts, no questions, and no reason for fear. They obeyed God because they knew He was God. Their circumstances simply did not move them, because they did not see any reason to be moved. They were, in some sense, blind to the things going on around them, because their eyes were on God. The reason for the tree’s restriction posed by the serpent was therefore not a complete lie. Their eyes were opened, and they were able to see what, at the time, only God could see. This built the foundation for our suffering. Just as it is for the atheist philosophers, something in us keeps doubting whether God is actually superior to us. Although the Christian may intellectually know that He is, uncertainties arise when our surroundings turn grim. Numerous times, we see faithful servants of God struggling with this.

Abraham (still called "Abram"), being known by his faith, was promised many descendants by God [Gen 15:5–6]. Yet, Sarah's (still called "Sarai") inability to bear him any children and eventually her old age left them with the conviction that God was not able to do as He had promised. For this reason, they decided Abraham should sleep with Sarah's servant Hagar, so she could bear him a child. Instead of waiting on God, he chose to take his own measures, leading to an imbalance in his relationship with Sarah and a child that was not the one God had promised [Gen 16].

Another vivid example is when Jesus invited Peter to walk on the water with Him.

…Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:29–31

This is the Christian life; this is how we daily experience the temptation Adam and Eve faced in the garden. Jesus invites us to walk with Him; He calls us and gives us a promise. The moment this happens, everything around us will try to discourage us. When we choose to rely on our own strength, our circumstances will reveal that the odds are heavily against us. This is because God is not bound by what seems likely to us. His words will, 9 out of 10 times, contradict what the world is telling us. “…the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…” [2 Cor 4:4]. The knowledge of good and evil brought the arrogance that, since we now have moral discernment, we can now grasp the mind of God. Because we see the struggles happening around us, we start doubting God whenever we, like Peter, see the strength of the wind. Consequently, the enemy can wave a banner of confusion in front of us, for our eyes are not fixed on God anymore.

So how do we deal with this? Read "The Secret of Paul" to continue the study.

Footnotes

1. David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, pt. X (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1980), 88.

2. Alvin Plantinga, God, Freedom, and Evil (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1977), 10.

3. J. L. Mackie, “Evil and Omnipotence,” in The Philosophy of Religion, ed. Basil Mitchell (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), 93.