How Can an All powerful "good" God allow Evil and suffering?

Have you ever had someone ask you a question like this?

Have you every asked this question yourself?

If you have your not alone.

This argument is a favorite of many nonbelievers

Epicurus was ancient greek philosopher that lived between 341-270 BC

He made a connection between the evil He saw and tied it to his disbelief in God

So how would you respond ?

1 Peter 3:15 NASB95

but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

Out of curiosity how many people here today, would feel comfortable answering a question like this to someone who is truly seeking

Allow for response

Well today my goal is to help you to be able to answer such a question

So let’s being

How Can an All powerful "good" God allow Evil and suffering?

Answer:

Free Will

Thanks for coming out today, I hope you enjoyed the message

Hope to see you all next week

God Bless

Pretend to leave

Would you like a more detailed answer?

you see Epicurus, and those many who follow his thinking, error in a major way in their line of logic.

The thinking goes Like this

God is all-powerful so could destroy evil and prevent suffering

God is good so would want to destroy evil and suffering

Evil and suffering exist so the good and all-powerful God does not exist.

Upon first reflection this may seem to be reasonable

but in reality the reasoning is so simple it misses out on some very key pieces of evidense

Ill Marker won’t fit through the tube, .......unless you turn it

To answer this adequately we are required to God back to the beginning

We must understand the complete nature of God

Not just focus on 1 attribute

1. God Is Infinite – He is Self-Existing, Without Origin

Colossians 1:17 NASB95

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

2. God Is Immutable – He Never Changes

Malachi 3:6 NASB95

“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

3. God Is Self-Sufficient – He Has No Needs

John 5:26 NASB95

“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;

4. God is Omnipotent – He Is All Powerful

Job 11:7–11 NASB95

“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? “They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? “Its measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. “If He passes by or shuts up, Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him? “For He knows false men, And He sees iniquity without investigating.

5. God Is Omniscient – He Is All-Knowing

Isaiah 46:9–10 NASB95

“Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

6. God Is Omnipresent – He Is Always Everywhere

Jeremiah 23:23–24 NASB95

“Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “And not a God far off? “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

7. God Is Wise – He Is Full of Perfect, Unchanging Wisdom

8. God Is Faithful – He Is Infinitely, Unchangingly True

9. God Is Good – He Is Infinitely, Unchangingly Kind and Full of Good Will

10. God Is Just – He Is Infinitely, Unchangeably Right and Perfect in All He Does

Deuteronomy 32:4 NASB95

“The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

11. God Is Merciful – He is Infinitely, Unchangeably Compassionate and Kind

12. God Is Gracious – God Is Infinitely Inclined to Spare the Guilty

13. God Is Loving – God Infinitely, Unchangingly Loves Us

14. God Is Holy – He is Infinitely, Unchangingly Perfect

15. God Is Glorious – He is Infinitely Beautiful and Great

To simply say God is Good and since evil exists God doesn’t over simplifies things to the point of being erroneous

Allow me to pull this together.

God is Good, and God is Just.

Since He is all good and completely just the 2 attributes work in perfect harmony

Let’s go back to the garden of Eden

After God created the earth and subsequently people

we are told in Genesis

Genesis 1:31 NASB95

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Everything was Good!

When God placed Adam and Eve in the perfect environment, we see the only time God’s “will” was carried out perfectly on earth.

But we know what happened...

the devil came into the garden and convinced Eve to do the 1 thing God had told them not to do

Genesis 2:17 NASB95

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.”

Eve knew this she even repeated it

Genesis 3:2 NASB95

The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

So a good question is Why did God even place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

To give them a choice.

Everything else in the Garden was good for them to do, They could do anything and not sin, except eat from that tree

God place the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil in the garden so that Adam and eve could exercise their “Free Will”

Free will is meaningless if you don’t have the choice.

If every choice you have to make is Good, and you can only make good choice do you really have free will.

Look at it this way.

If the person you are married too, or will be married to Had to love you

I mean they had no choice but to love you. They could never make the choice to Love you or not because that was the only option

How would you feel about be loved like that.

Pretty empty right.

In reality its not even Love, because its forced.

For Love to operate, it has to be carried out on the basis of Choice!

God’s love for His creation, obligated Him to give us free Will, in order for free will to exist. Opportunity for people to reject God also had to exist.

That opportunity to reject God’s “will” took place in the form of a tree of the knowledge of Good and evil.

Did God want them to eat from that tree?

No He expressly told them not too.

But being who He is, God had to give us the opportunity to reject Him

And Adam and eve did!

They chose to do the one thing he commanded them not too.

That perfect state of the Garden of Eden, When God said everything was good, changed drastically into what we have today

1. Loss of Righteousness

They became aware of their nakedness and knew that their former perfection was just a memory. Because of this disobedience, mankind now stands as guilty sinners in Adam

2. Separation from God

Previously when they heard God’s voice, they had been unafraid, but now they feared the presence of God with whom they once had fellowship in the garden

As descendants of Adam, we all now enter the world separated from God, and are by nature children of wrath

Ephesians 2:1–3 NASB95

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

3. Cursed Environment

Genesis 3:17–18 reveals that man’s sin caused the curse against the ground, resulting in the troublesome thorns and thistles and a change in the way the natural world works

4. Physical Death

The fulfilment of God’s promise that Adam would die reveals the punishment Adam received for disobeying God’s command (Genesis 3:19; cf. 2:17). Adam was told that he would return to the dust from which he was taken

5. Clothing

Genesis 3:21, when God makes garments of skin after Adam and Eve sinned. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their “eyes were opened” and they became aware of their nakedness, trying to cover it up by sowing fig leaves together. Nevertheless, this was ineffective, and ultimately God Himself clothed Adam and Eve

Evil and suffering entered as a result of sin entering the world.

before sin....no evil or suffering

after sin....Evil and suffering

Sickness, disease, natural disasters, all the evil things you can list in the world, came about a result of Adam and eve sinning.

So the obvious question is this.

Why doesn’t God just wipe it all out all the evil, and be done with it?

He will, but not yet

Why not?

Again the answer is “Free Will”

To remove all the evil from the world would in essence remove all the choices and therefore our free will to accept or reject God.

I’ve yet to meet a sane person who’s willing to give up their free will to make pain and suffering go away.

Well maybe if God just did it in this one situation? Just for me

Remember God is Just. If God wiped out evil from one, He would have to do it for all, because He is a Just, God

Now, before we get all down and discouraged and start believing there is no hope

Let’s remember Jesus came to earth and gave His life to restore the original Plan of God.

He provided a way for us,

He restored the righteousness that was lost at the fall

2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB95

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

He removed the Separation from God

Romans 8:35–39 NASB95

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus then broke the curses

Galatians 3:13–14 NASB95

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

What about the ground and natural disasters

Matthew 8:26–27 NASB95

He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

What about Physical death and wearing Clothing

Well I think its preferred we wear our clothing even after receiving forgiveness

Although there are may verses that show Jesus has power over death

Hebrews 9:27 NASB95

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

We are now appointed to die, discard this earthly body and inherit a imperishable

1 Corinthians 15:42–44 NASB95

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

His message of Forgiveness is picked up 1 by one

And He has chosen to carry out His message of reconciliation through you and me, being empowered