Comments from Pastor Billy about chapter seven of his summer book recommendation - a great read for high school graduates and their parents!
There Is So Much Suffering in the World--How Could a Good God Allow Such Evil?
The question of Evil in the world is one that has been the sticking point for many people either questioning their faith, leaving the faith, or never embracing the Christian faith. If we serve a God who is ultimately good and the standard for good, how could that deity allow suffering, evil, and pain? Most people outside the faith would claim that such a being could not exist or would not be worth believing in at all. As Kruger wrote, “the ‘problem of evil,’ as it is called, has been used as one of the foremost arguments for atheism.”
Here is the crux of the argument for atheists in general, or any person who is rejecting the God of the Bible. Kruger outlines the issues, and this has been sketched out by many philosophers and theologians throughout history,
If God were all-good, then he would want to prevent all evil.
If God were all-powerful, then he would be able to prevent all evil.
Evil exists.
Therefore, an all-good and all-powerful God cannot exist.
So either God is not all powerful or not all good since evil exists. However, this does not tell the whole story. What if perhaps God is all good and all powerful, yet in his creative will has allowed for humans to have a “will.” In that will he has given them the ability to choose, and based on the decisions they make, freely, they can choose to do evil. We know that since the Garden of Eden, where man and woman sinned, we have all inherited a sin nature. Therefore, all human beings since then have the innate desire to choose to do evil or through the redeeming work of God and the Holy Spirit to choose good. So both free good and free evil can occur in the world through the allowance of God.
Now, let’s take those thoughts a bit further down the logical path. What if, for instance, God not only allowed evil to occur, but had a plan for the evil that would occur? A perfect, good, and awesome plan. Therefore, he would not want to stop all evil from happening as it would have a final and beautiful plan. Making it so that people are not just robots and they could freely choose to love or reject God.
Kruger expands on this idea in a succinct and poignant way half-way through the chapter, “Here’s the point: Just because we don’t know all the reasons God has for allowing evil, that doesn’t mean he does not (or could not) have them. And unless the skeptic can prove that God could not possibly have a good reason for allowing evil--which is impossible--then his argument falls apart.””
I will only point to one example, which I think is the most persuasive of the bunch, is why God would allow evil to occur. Let’s look at the life of His son Jesus Christ. Did God allow Jesus to suffer? Did Jesus’ human nature mature and grow through trials? Hebrews 2:10 tells us that Jesus was made “perfect through suffering.” We also know that Jesus faced the daily pressures and temptations of living in this fallen world, while still not succumbing to sin. Kruger ends with this thought which should resonate with anyone who is trying to explain why God would allow suffering for an ultimate purpose or good, even through a terrible event. Kruger wrote, “If God can take the greatest evil in the world (the death of his Son) and use it for good, could he not also do that for all the other evils in the world?”
For me, I trust that no matter what I am going through there is a purpose to it. God is in control and has a perfect plan that he is working out. We are not promised a smooth path, but we are promised that he will never leave us or forsake us, he loves us that much!
In Christ,
Billy