Harvey writes that as far back as the time of Plato (c.
427-347 B.C.), people have tried to explain the problem of evil. Any theism
(Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.) that attributes goodness and power to the
deity is faced with this problem. A theodicy is one’s way of explaining God’s
goodness in light of the evil that exists in the universe. Christians express
the problem of evil in this way: How can an all powerful and all-loving God
allow evil to exist? If he is both powerful and loving, he should be able to prevent
evil, and he would seem to want to prevent evil. Many Christian attempts to
resolve this dilemma fall into one of the following two categories:
1. Evil is unavoidable in any finite and stable physical order
where there are free beings. a. Satan exercised his freedom by rebelling
against God, and introduced evil into the world through Adam and Eve. Adam and
Eve exercised their freedom and sinned.2. There is no answer available to man.
This calls for child-like faith in the Scriptures, which tell both of the
sovereignty and love of God.22 Although
we can’t fully resolve the problem of evil, we can understand several truths
related to this problem.
1. God creates both good things and disasters: “ I form the light and
create darkness,I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7 NIV).
2. We can try to understand possible reasons for the existence of
evil, but we cannot question the truth of God’s word or his faithfulness:9 “Woe
to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the
potsherds on the ground.Does the clay say to the potter,‘What are you making?’Does
your work say,‘He has no hands’?10 Woe to him who says to his father,‘What have
you begotten?’or to his mother,‘What have you brought to birth?’11 “This is
what the LORD says—the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to
come,do you question me about my children,or give me orders about the work of
my hands? (Isaiah 45;9-11 NIV).
3. God brings good out of evil.“And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, [a] who [b] have been called
according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV).
a. Romans 8:28 Some manuscripts And we know that all things work
together for good to those who love God
b. Romans 8:28 Or works together with those who love him to bring
about what is good—with those who Evil, by definition, is not good. But God can
use evil to bring about good. And God can work in the midst of evil to bring
about good. Though evil exists, good will result for those who are called to
fulfill the purpose of God.
4. Although we can’t explain the mystery of iniquity, we know that
God loves us. God, in the person of Christ, suffered agony on the cross. Such
suffering was unavoidable (see Luke 22:42). God is powerful enough to defeat
Satan and evil, yet evil must exist for a time. God loves us so much that he
suffered with us and died for us. (For details and for free course visit <www.missionstraining.org>)
