17 Dec Truth #4: God is Good, in Spite of Rampant Evil!
I’m back from my week away filming the six-part video companion series to my book 30 Days to Understanding the Bible. Everything went well, and I invite you to visit my Facebook page to see pictures and the report on the week.
But now, back to our blog series that I introduced several weeks ago by asking the question, “How confident are you that what you believe is actually true?” I mentioned in that post that shortly after I became a Christian, I got “buyer’s remorse,” and I began to doubt that the faith I had embraced was actually true.
There were problems with Christianity that I couldn’t resolve, so I went looking for another worldview that didn’t have those problems. I seriously investigated other religions, as well as atheism. I eventually came back to my faith much stronger than when I left it.
So, I’m sharing here on the blog a series of truths that I learned, not only then but in the years that have followed, that have convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt that what I believe is true.
(I have links for you to the first three truths a little later in this post.)
Truth #4: God is good, in spite of rampant evil in the world.
If there is a silver bullet against God, it is the problem of pain, suffering and evil in the world.
Innocent children die from disasters and disease. Hundreds of millions of citizens have been killed by their own governments, wars have ravaged the span of history. What is more, God’s own children are murdered, raped, tortured, beheaded and come to countless other shocking ends. Pain, evil and suffering are hallmarks of history.
This problem is irresolvable for many people: “How could a good God tolerate so much evil in the world? Why doesn’t He fix it? Even worse, why did He allow it in the first place?!?”
The conclusion is that either God doesn’t exist, or that if He exists, He must either not be all good or all powerful. The thinking goes, “If He were all good, He would not want pain, evil and suffering to exist, and if He were all powerful, He would fix it!”
Atheists contend that a God who is benevolent and loving, as they are told the Christian God is, would never create the world we live in. Believing in Him requires either ignoring or excusing the ominous dark side of life.
The Bible insists that God is good
Yet, against all this atheistic/agnostic reasoning, the Bible insists that God is good:
- “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34
- “Good and upright is the Lord.” Psalm 25:8
- “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” Psalm 34:8
- “You are good and do good.” Psalm 119:68
- “No one is good except God alone.” Mark 10:18
The Bible promises that God will ultimately resolve the pain, evil and suffering in the world
So how can we reconcile the goodness of God with the presence of rampant evil in the world?
First, we must admit that we do not know what was in the mind of God when He allowed evil in the first place. For reasons that (frankly) we either have not been told or cannot comprehend, He allowed evil to begin, and allows it to continue.
Second, in the previous three blogs, we have seen that God must be the answer to why there is something rather than nothing, that the fine-tuned universe points inescapably to the existence of God, and, that the four questions that science cannot answer about the universe make the existence of God a virtual certainty.
So, we must find the answer to the problem of pain, evil and suffering by pressing ahead toward God, not retreating from Him.
Third, God has promised to resolve the problem of pain, evil and suffering. Revelation 21:1 and 4 say, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth… and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
We can resolve the tension of God’s goodness in the meantime
But, one might ask, what about all the suffering that will be experienced before God sets everything right? How do we resolve God’s goodness with that?
Well, we must admit that that presents a challenge. But pressing ahead toward God rather than retreating from Him, we can consider these things: even though God allows evil for the present time, He nevertheless stepped into it and allowed the consequences of evil to touch Him. He did not, and does not, leave us here to suffer alone (Hebrews 4:15-16).
First, Jesus, God’s Son, died to deliver us from evil (Romans 5:8).
And He didn’t have to die! He could have chosen not to do so. So why in the world did He? Because He loved us and was willing to pay whatever price was necessary to deliver us from evil.
That is the act of a Man of towering moral courage and character. That supreme act of love demonstrates that, while we may not be able to explain why God allowed evil in the first place, if Jesus did not exempt Himself from it, there must be a reason that we do not currently know or understand.
Second, the Father also stepped into the evil for our sake.
The Father made the decision to send Jesus to die for us (“I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” John 6:38). Jesus willingly came down from heaven, but it must have been a terribly painful decision for the Father to ask Him to do so.
Then, He witnessed the suffering and death of His son… something any loving parent would recognize as an agonizing thing to do. Even more, the Father loves all of us… all the people who have ever lived. And, He has had to witness all the pain and suffering of all people in all places for all time.
It is an agonizing experience for anyone to witness the suffering of someone they love, let alone all people of all places for all time. Why does God endure that? Love seems the only conceivable answer (John 3:16).
God is not a maniac
So, God allows evil, but does not exempt Himself from it. Therefore, either God is a maniac (creating a system of senseless suffering that even He has to endure), or there is a rationale that is beyond our knowledge or comprehension.
I do not believe God is a maniac. I look at the evidence that points to just the opposite:
- Love can explain His actions rather than insanity (John 3:16)
- His teachings are of the highest order
- Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)
- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. (Luke 6:31)
- Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is a fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
- Everywhere God is followed authentically, goodness, peace, love, and joy break out, overflow, bubble up, and wash over.
These are not the marks of a maniac!
And on a personal level, millions testify to the profound positive change God has made in their lives when they gave themselves to Jesus… even those in terribly trying circumstances.
Corrie ten Boom testified to God’s goodness in the darkness of a concentration camp. Joni Erickson Tada testifies to God’s goodness in the pain and restriction of physical paralysis and chronic pain. Countless believers in areas of persecution in the world today testify to the sufficient, sustaining grace of God, even in the face of tragedy.
Conclusion
So, why did God create a world, in the first place, in which evil would be present and innocent people would suffer terribly?
The fact is, we don’t know. The answer is either something we have not been told, or having been told, we do not yet comprehend.
However, for the above reasons, we can believe that God is good, in spite of the pain, suffering and evil in the world.
So, we see that there is no silver bullet against God. While challenging issues will always create a need for clear and deep thinking… when we do think clearly and deeply, God is revealed to be just who He says He is… one who is good and who does good (Psalm 119:68).
Update: go here for Truth #5, the final post in this series, “God Loves Me In Spite of the Fact That He Doesn’t Make My Life Go Better”.
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