How can a loving God allow evil and suffering?

By Todd Tillinghast

This is a very important and difficult question.  The active evangelist will be posed with this question on a regular basis.  In the light of recent events in Haiti we are once again reminded of this seemingly unanswerable enigma.  There is no doubt that it is neither easy nor comfortable contemplating the issues surrounding this question.  But contemplate we must.   As Christians our answer to this question is crucial.  I fear however, that all too often we provide the incorrect answer.  It is essential that we are able to stand on sure and stable ground in our understanding of whether or not the existence of evil proves that God is not good. 

            What we seem to do (myself included) is try to defend God instead of presenting the clear biblical facts of the matter.  I once read an article in which the author suggested that an all powerful God is not powerful enough to change something that goes against logic.  That is the most illogical statement I have ever heard!  Who created logic?  Just the fact that He is all powerful logically necessitates that He has the ability to do anything He wants and change anything He wants at any time that He wants.  Logic is not stronger than God.  We may think that it is not logical that a Loving God would allow evil. When we assume this we are defining logic for the Creator of Logic and asking Him, not to be logical, but to be logical in the way that we want Him to be.   

            If we start from the premise that God is completely sovereign then we have to come to the conclusion that if He wanted evil to be obliterated it would be.  The sovereignty of God doesn’t just mean that He has the ability to accomplish His will at all times but it means that Hs will is being accomplished at all times.  So if His will is being accomplished at all times and there is evil in existence then the only logical conclusion we can come to is that He has a purpose for evil.  He uses it.  He didn’t even protect Himself from evil when He came as a man to the earth in the form of His son Jesus.  In fact, He used evil to accomplish the great plan of salvation for His children.  It was an evil and brutal thing for the innocent King of Glory to be murdered as a common criminal.  He was essentially butchered in the most grotesque fashion and form of capitol punishment man has ever known.  And He did this because of His great love for us.  Evil was the means to the end of His securing the salvation of His children.    

            Now this does not mean that just because God created evil and uses it for his purposes that we are not also the cause of evil and are not guilty of sin.  Acts 2:23 drives this point home as it explains the case of Christ’s crucifixion.  It says that “according to the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God Christ was crucified.”  But then in the very same verse without mincing words or any qualification whatsoever Peter says “you have taken Christ with lawless hands and have crucified Him.”

            Let’s not forget that what we often call Evil according to our definitions (tragedies, natural disasters) have been responsible for some of the most wonderful things the world has ever known.  Think about how the tragedies of 9/11, Katrina and the Tsunami have rallied nations bringing out the best in humanity as people have given sacrificially of themselves for their fellow man. Tragedies on a personal level and on a grander scale usually serve as the mechanisms to create growth and change in our lives.

            Likewise, we (myself included) are usually so quick to label all war as Evil.  I shutter to think of how many people in this country and countries all over the world would still be caught in slavery or some other form of brutal oppression if it weren’t for the precious blood that was shed by men and women who took up the fight to liberate them.  So the obvious question becomes what is more evil.  How do we feel about a God who turns a deaf ear to the pleas of those who suffer on a daily basis?   Does this make Him more or less evil?  

        Probably like you I feel that discussing these issues raises more questions than it answers.  I feel this way until I surrender.  It is when I surrender my opinions and my definitions and my sense of justice and evil and good to the one who truly understands it all.  When I do this a sense of peace descends and I feel like curling up in fetal position and allowing it’s warmth to wash over me.  Then I remember that I am not the ruler of the universe He is.  Thank God!  What a relief it is that I don’t need to have it all figured out!  

            We do not need to allow ourselves to be snared by the arguments of people who want to prove that God is not good so that they don’t have to be accountable to Him.  It is very dangerous when we try so hard to exonerate God that we take away his sovereignty, make Him look weak and paint a picture of Him that is not biblically accurate. 

            We should start with the person’s definition of good not their definition of God.  God is not on trial.  The burden of proof lies on the person who does not believe.