Why Does God Allow Evil and Suffering?

Genesis 3 Why Does God allow Evil and Suffering? Introduction: One of the greatest questions we face as Christians whether in our own lives or our witness of Christ is “Why has God allowed Evil and suffering in the world”? Or stated another way, “If God is Good? Then why Evil? The famous Greek philosopher Epicurus posed this question. “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to… If he wants to, but cannot he is impotent. If he can, and does not want to, he is wicked. But, if God both can and wants to abolish evil, why is there still evil in the world?” Others in the same frame of mind have said things like: "If God were good, He would make His creatures perfectly happy, and if He were almighty He would be able to do what he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both." The English philosopher, John Stuart Mill, calls God's existence into question simply because of natural evil. Natural evil occurs when natural disasters or causes inflict suffering. Suffering caused by such things as earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, diseases, crashes, and other destructive events. such evils: “Not even on the most distorted and contracted theory of good which ever was framed by religious or philosophical fanaticism, can the government of Nature be made to resemble the work of a being at once good and omnipotent.” For centuries, many have tried to dismiss the existence of God on the basis of the existence of evil. This particular pursuit is appropriately known as “the problem of evil” because of the implications produced by its presence. Theists who have disputed such arguments are said to be engaged in a theodicy, which is a scheme designed to disclose the compatibility between God and evil. There is no doubt that this is one of the most perplexing questions that we face. The Bible does not tell us why God allows evil and suffering. Its purpose is not to give us an understanding of it’s origin, but to help us overcome it. Having said that, it does tell us a number of things about God’s relationship to evil and suffering. 1. God did not create evil and suffering. a. The Bible makes it very clear that God created the world good, without sin and evil. b. What happened? The Fall. c. The Fall is the greatest tragedy in human history. It is through the fall of Mankind that sin has come into the world bringing sickness, suffering, pain, and death. d. Suffering is the direct result of sin. i. It is impossible for God to have created man with free will and evil not be a consequence. ii. Suffering is often a result of the sin of others. iii. When children suffer from unloving or irresponsible parents, the poor and hungry from economic injustice, refugees from the cruelties of war, and road casualties caused by drunken drivers. iv. Suffering can also be the result of our sin , which is the result of our reckless freedom. e. According to the Bible suffering is an alien intrusion into God’s good creation, and will have no part in the new heavens and new earth. It is a satanic and destructive onslaught against the creator 2. God takes evil and suffering and uses it for good. a. As Augustine so wisely put it, “God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil at all”. b. Even human rebellion ultimately unintentionally ends up serving the perfectly wise purposes of God. i. Joseph and his brothers. 1. Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” ii. Jesus, and the Jews and Romans. 1. Acts 2:23-24 “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” 2. Acts 4:27-28 “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” c. Nothing, not even sin and great evil, can ever ultimately frustrate God’s sovereignty . d. Believers can be sure that God will one day defeat all sin, evil, and suffering. Until then, God can be trusted because he is wise, holy, sovereign and powerful and is always working out his plan to perfection. i. Romans 8:28 “ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ii. God uses suffering to bring about: 1. Sanctification (mature holiness) a. Scripture depicts this process in three ways: i. A father disciplining his children - the child’s good ii. The metal worker refining silver and gold - the metal’s purity iii. The gardener pruning his vine - the vine’s fruitfulness. 2. Glorification (our final destiny) a. Paul in Romans 8:8 said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” - the redemption of our bodies i. The glory of Jesus Christ! b. 1 Corinthians 4:16-18 “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” iii. It isn’t over until God says it is, so lets save our judgments and criticism until we see God’s end product! 3. God has suffered more than any other human being. a. All our philosophies of God either being indifferent, immune, not loving enough or not powerful enough in regards to our suffering are smashed to pieces by the Cross! i. It was at the incarnation that God entered into our world of suffering. The prophet described him, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth” “By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?” - Isaiah 53 ii. On the cross of Jesus, God himself is crucified. The Father suffers the death of the Son and takes upon himself the pain and suffering of history. b. John Stott testifies, ‘I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as "God on the cross". In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?’ c. Stott Goes on to say, “I have entered many Buddhist temples in different asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world.’ But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in my imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us.” “The cross of Christ is God’s only self justification in such a world as ours.” d. The Long Silence i. At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly, not cringing with cringing shame - but with belligerence. "Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?", snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror ... beatings ... torture ... death!" In another group a boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched, for no crime but being black !" In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes: "Why should I suffer?" she murmured. "It wasn't my fault." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in Heaven, where all was sweetness and light. Where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said. So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, an African, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the vast plain, they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever. Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man. Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured. At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die so there can be no doubt he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it. As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved. For suddenly, all knew that God had already served His sentence.” Conclusion: Theodicy - The justification of God e. If God knew that man would sin and bring all the misery and suffering into the world that there’s been, and that even though he would offer salvation to man not everyone would accept that salvation and thus some would perish eternally, why would God even have created man in the first place? i. I don’t know I’m not God! ii. He did it for Love and evidently considered the cost worth it. iii. He did it with the full knowledge that He would suffer the greatest consequence of sin by becoming the one on whom all the sin of the world would be laid and punished! f. Christianity is the only theistic worldview in which God has suffered with His Creation. Christianity is also the only religion in which one cannot say that God has done nothing about the problem of evil. Rather, God has dealt with it in a just fashion. He has extended the offer of salvation to humanity, made possible through Christ’s work on the cross. g. As Romans 3 tells us, “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” h. The skeptic can use evil and suffering as a stone against Christianity, but he has no consolation in his own worldview. Christianity is the only religion or worldview that has an answer to evil and suffering. Eastern religions ignore evil; Darwinism and Communism rely on it; atheism is clueless about it; and Islam has a superficial view of it. Only Christianity provides an answer—that we are living in an abnormal world which God will restore. i.