The Problem Of Evil

Revelation 4:11 ESV

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

The Question

One thing we can all agree on is this world is not as it should be

We disagree on how the world should be

We disagree on how to make the world as it should be

The image of God in us all declares there is something better

“If God is all loving and all powerful, then why is there so much evil in the world?”

Theodicy - The attempt to defend God’s omnipotence and goodness in the face of the problem of evil in the world.

The Answers

The argument against the existence of God

Some use this reasoning to say God does not exist

We go back to the Moral Argument

If we are nothing more than animals then we would have no concept of ‘good’ and ‘evil’

Suffering is not the same as evil, though there is overlap

Suffering can be good

Working out is suffering but it also builds our strength

It is through those pinch points of suffering that help us grow

God uses suffering to teach and strengthen us

Acts 9:16 “For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

Romans 5:3–5 “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

God uses suffering to discipline us

Deuteronomy 8:5 “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.”

Revelation 3:19 “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”

If I disciplined my children without reason that would be evil

If I enact the same discipline on my children for just cause then that is loving

Discipline is necessary to correct the waywardness of our heart

But why is there suffering?

Suffering is a result of the evil in our hearts to rebel against God

Genesis 3:16 “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

Pain and strife came about by this choice to not follow God

Strife between the person she was made one with

Genesis 3:17–19 “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.””

Nature itself is cursed and work became work because of the choice to not follow God

Suffering came into the world when we chose to rebel against God

Each one of us has this sin nature, we want what is contrary to the ways of God

Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Isn’t it interesting how quickly sin and evil took hold of us?

The first sin was eating a piece of fruit, it seems like a small thing but it was a rejection of God which is no small thing

The second recorded sin was murder, and this was in the second generation of humanity

We see then that suffering is a result of evil, there are consequences to our actions. So then we have to answer the question of “What is evil?”

What is evil?

God did not create evil

God created everything that exists and will exist so the question makes some sort of sense, “Did God create evil?”

God is good

James 1:13–15 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

Evil is less of God

Scientifically cold does not exist, only heat

In the same way we call something ‘cold’ that has less heat, we call ‘evil’ that which has less of God

So, then, why is there less of God?

Romans 1:18–20 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Everyone knows there is more to life than simply existence. This is why time, energy, and money has been poured into exploring the cosmos. Everyone is searching for the answer to the question, “Why are we here?” And with every image that comes back from the universe to show more stars, galaxies, and complexities to the universe that scream of a Creator, they still manage to deny God.

Romans 1:21–23 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

They chose what was contrary to God. They chose less of God. And what were the consequences?

Romans 1:24–27 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

It was the due penalty for their error

Romans 1:28–32 “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

This perfectly describes the world we live in

Why is there evil?

Because we chose it. We chose to deny God and worship everything else.

Why can’t God just wipe evil out?

Because then no one would exist. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

A common claim is; “I’m basically a good person. I try to do what is right?” Well, if you are basically good, then what about the rest of you?

God has wiped out evil before, the flood and in Canaan, and it’s the same people who say God was evil for wiping out evil

God wants a people who will choose Him

The necessity of choice

We see God give us a choice from the very beginning

Genesis 2:15–17 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.””

What is it to love your wife or husband if you didn’t have a choice?

It means something to say to your spouse, “If I had to do it all over again, I would still choose you.”

Joshua 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The Good News

We serve a God who can, has, and will work for our good through the suffering and evil of this world.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”

We serve a God who suffered for us, no other god has had such a claim.

We serve a God who took everything evil had to offer, nailed it to a cross, and rose victorious.

Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Whom will you serve? As for me and my house, and my church, we will serve the LORD.