Why Is There Evil?

Introduction

It doesn’t take too long of a search through the news to realize how widespread and rampant wickedness exists in our world. We have an epidemic of evil in our world. 9/11, ISIS, Rioters destroying our cities, an unseen pandemic, cancer, human trafficking, child abuse, abortion.

When I was in law enforcement, I saw evil and the results of evil every day. I could tell you of stories involving human trafficking, I could share heartbreaking stories of children who were victims of evil, and sights that haunt me even today. Some of you have encountered evil face to face, some of you have observed it from a distance. All of us have encountered evil in some way.

The Objective Reality of Evil

Genesis 2:15–17 ESV

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.”

So why? Why evil? Why suffering? If God is all-good and all-powerful, why is there still evil? These are timeless questions. Philosophers and agnostics will use evil as an argument against the existence of God We may not find a satisfactory answer this side of heaven, but to the Christian we have a point of reference. We can recognize evil because we have a reference point to be able to differentiate between good and evil.

To the naturalist, good and evil are either emotionally driven or pragmatically driven. The problem is what is the ultimate determination of evil? Some years ago there was a documentary on BBC entitled, “Our Planet Earth.” The series dealt with the marvel of life on earth and the struggle for survival. In one particular program, there was a scene of a polar bear surviving in the subartic temperatures that no human could endure.

The polar bear has a task at hand. He has to find food. He is limited by a body that hasn’t eaten in weeks and is at its weakest, and by a thinning ice surface that will soon crumble under his weight as the spring thaw progresses. So the male moves at a determined clip as quickly and carefully as he can. The ice is melting and cannot support his weight so he has to measure his steps while time is at a premium. He soon comes upon a pod of walruses and stops to rest and plan his attack. He knows that his best bet are the newborn babies, the weakest in the pack, but his challenge is to break through the ring of adult walruses and the protective instinct of the parents, who will be guarding their babies against an attacker. He makes his move. He climbs atop one parent and tries desperately to incapacitate it so that he has access to the baby. But the rest of the herd use their weight and their tusks to fight him off.

The bear makes one last attempt at getting his meal with a swipe of his paw, but fails. The battle between mother and baby against the bear ensues, to the end that the bear collapses and succumbs to his wounds and hunger. The commentator added in somber tones that the death of this polar bear is a picture of the diminishing population of the species and of the real possibility of their extinction, and is caused by global warming (Zacharias, Ravi. Why Suffering? (pp. 20-21). FaithWords)

The BBC commentator could not resist making a moral application, appealing to the emotions and consciences of the viewers. Why did the bears not get into a huddle before sending the father on the mission to find food and discuss whether the walrus population also had rights? Why did the mother bear not say to the papa bear, “We protect our own cubs even to the point of death. Do you think you’re being fair to go after another animal’s baby?” Was there any stir of conscience in the bears before going on the kill?

Bears and walruses are not moral creatures. They survive and have no conscience to decide if attacking a pod of walrus’s is morally acceptable or not. People are not morally valuable only for the survival of the species. No. Each and every individual has an intrinsic and inalienable moral worth. And this worth is no less when old age or disability or disease or any number of other things threatens to make us less useful for the evolutionary goal of survival.

How many of us cringed and grieved over the reports of COVID-19 infections in nursing homes. When I wrote this, 40% of all COVID deaths were in nursing homes, which would be near 62,000 death. Naturalistic evolution cannot explain the intrinsic dignity and worth of every single person. What can explain this is that each person is created in the image of a good God, and is fully known and unconditionally loved by Him.

If you were grilling steaks in your back yard and starving young child comes to your home, how many would instantly move to feed and protect that vulnerable child. If a pack of lions kills a zebra, instantly the hyenas show up and the fight ensues as the lions protect their kill. Why don’t the lions say, "Come on in, I can see your hungry and there’s plenty for you too.”?

The naturalist places the differentiation between good and evil to evolutionary reference. The Christianity places coherent and specific basis of right and wrong apart from our human nature and it is found in our imagio dei - that we are made in the image of God and bear his characteristics and value.

If you are devolving the meaning of the struggles of the world to human failure and pointing fingers. and if you are seeking answers from those same people, you have missed the point of the gospel

Wrong response: Turn up the music.. churches in Germany during WWII

Romans 12:21 ESV

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Psalm 97:10 ESV

O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.