The Problem of Evil (why does God allow evil?)
Perhaps no question puzzles Christians more than why or how God could allow evil in the universe He created. Unbelievers will pose this question to believers and use it as a reason why they don't come to faith in Christ. The pages of history reveal a story of brutal warfare, selfishness and greed, and societal disintegration. Nations often commence war in the name of God, sparing no innocent victims. Why does this occur and how can God allow it?
Note the following syllogism:
1. If God is all powerful, He is able to prevent evil.
2. If God is good, He does not approve of evil.
3. Evil does exist.
Conclusion: God is either not all powerful or He is not all good.
Some traditional responses
Throughout the ages Christian apologists have offered several lines of defense. One is called the "greater good defense." This view cites some positive uses of evil, such as a father disciplining a child so that he'll have better character or firefighters risking their lives so that others might live. But some reply that God could have easily prevented the root causes for a child needing the spanking in the first place or God could have prevented the fires that later threatened those who fought them.
Another popular defense is the "freewill" argument. God does not force others to follow His will and is therefore not responsible for their actions. He created us free and we could not freely love Him if we didn't have the capacity to choose otherwise. In other words, God does not want us to do evil, but because we are free He will not step in to prevent it. Though this argument seems to alleviate much of the problem of evil, it really does nothing of the sort. In fact, if followed to it's extreme, God could never restrain any free actions of people, including Satan who sought to destroy Jesus many times prior to the cross. In fact, the "freewill defense" does nothing to solve the syllogism above. Why? Well once again He could have prevented the causes that allow for evil, such as creating "free" people He knew would later cause so much evil. He could have prevented Hitler's birth for example.
Toward a Solution
We would not claim to have solved the mystery but do believe we can offer at least a plausible explanation consistent with biblical teaching. Consider the following:
1. God is God, and does not offer explanations to His creatures for all of His actions. Why? Because He is God, not man.
2. God is absolutely righteous, and none of His actions run contrary to His nature. God is never "out of character."
3. God is all powerful. He routinely does prevent evil when He deems it wise to do so.
4. God is all knowing and all wise. He knows when to prevent evil and when to allow it.
5. Knowing the above stated truths, God must have a perfectly good and righteous reason for allowing evil, a reason He, in His wisdom, did not choose to reveal to His creatures who are not God and cannot demand that God give an accounting for His actions.
Of course, the explanation we offer yields no insights into the mind of God, but does speak to our own considerable limitations. Perhaps if we knew why God allowed certain things to occur we would still not understand them. Maybe we would question God further until we got an answer. But some things we won't know until we see God face to face. But don't count the seconds, because in keeping with our formula we must remember we are not now and never will be God. God may never choose to reveal why He allowed things to occur to us and others. Do you still love Him? Is He less wise? Has He lost His power? No, God is forever God and we His creatures and with that we must rest content.
One final observation to apologists eager to defend God: make sure your formulations are accurate and do not lead to further question-begging dilemmas. Confess your ignorance and submit your thinking to the biblical God who "does whatever pleases Him" (Psalm 115:3), hates evil (Hab. 1:13), and whose nature is love (1 John 4:8, 16). We should never offer any explanation that compromises any one of these truths about God. Stick with what we know about God, and trust Him for what we don't know about Him.