Before jumping into this question, I want to clarify that I will be philosophically answering this. If something horrible has just happened in your life, this may not bring you comfort. In tough times, do not look towards philosophy, a friend or family member would likely help more.
Before I came to Jesus, this question was one of my go-to questions for why I thought God didn’t exist. I couldn’t conceive that this was God’s perfect plan. The only answer I could receive is “Well it could be a lot worse” which I thought made no sense. Spoiler, I don’t believe this is a perfect world and what God wanted. I can’t answer completely for God, but I’d like to lay out a few points for this question. I pray this brings clarity to anyone questioning.
Free Will
The first point I’d like to mention is that I believe the Bible shows us that we can make choices. It is clear God has purposely limited his power in this sense. God can force us to make every decision he wants us to make but he chooses otherwise. I’m sure we can think of some things in our life that we did that were just mean. God didn’t force us to do that, that was our freedom of choice.
The reason I believe God gave us free will is because life doesn’t have the same meaning if it is forced. The significance of love or generosity are depleted when those are forced instead of chosen. With this freedom to choose, people are undoubtedly going to make an evil choice at some point. I do not believe this is a point against free will. People abusing freedom does not make freedom negative. But before we go over every point, let’s define what evil means.
What is Evil?
Defining evil is not only an important part of the discussion, it’s also the reason why the person asking and answering the question are having two different conversations. We tend to jump to the extremes such as children dying from cancer, rape, or mass murder. Those are things (I hope) we can all agree are not inherently good. However, God would not think these are the only evils. Let’s take a look at the acts of the flesh for more insight.
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21
In light of what God believes is evil and God’s emphasis on justice, I think this gives God two realistic options. Either you don’t allow any of these actions and there is no free will or you allow us to choose these actions but have a judgment for your actions later. In that case, I think the latter is the better option and what we are living in now. If you say “God shouldn’t allow the really bad actions but should allow the less serious actions”, you are thinking about this wrong. You are putting your morality on God instead of the other way around. The first important step of Christianity is to realize we are not as wise as God and our plans are nowhere near as good. This is why we can’t create God in our image.
Limited Knowledge
Another good point to note is that we don’t know it all. Obvious right? Even though that’s an obvious statement, I think we act like we know everything with some of the assertions we make. Saying that something is 100% evil is something we can’t know for sure.
I think great analogies for us and God to show the impact of a gap of knowledge involve babies and their parents. I want you to think from a baby’s perspective what they would think about getting a vaccine. Your parents (who claim to love you) just brought you somewhere you didn’t want to be, to stab you in the arm while they sit and watch you cry in pain. To a baby, that could seem so obviously evil. From the parent’s perspective, while they do not want to hurt the baby, if the vaccine is going to be beneficial for the child in the long run then it is worth it. So a couple more pieces of information could turn it from obviously evil to an inarguable good.
To be clear, I don’t know if there is a good in every bad situation, or what that good would be. But to say that a good God would never allow pain or suffering I think is arrogant with the assumption that no more information could change your mind.
Eternal Perspective
For my final point, I want to mention the most overlooked part of this conversation, the eternal perspective. I want to acknowledge that if there isn’t an afterlife, acting like this life on earth is perfect is a joke. But for the Christian worldview, this life is temporary. We don’t expect this life on earth to be perfect, we do expect the afterlife to be perfect though. It will be a place with no more crying, pain, or sorrow (Revelation 21:4).
If God does not exist, death marks the end of your interactions with someone and their interactions with you. For Christianity, you will see them again. Death is still not fun, but it certainly changes the feeling. This is why we think the most important thing for anyone to do is believe in Jesus. This seems insensitive to the atheist. How could you tell a starving person to believe in Jesus as the best advice? Would believing in Jesus solve all of the world’s problems? I would say no. But is an ugly lifetime in exchange for a beautiful eternity a good trade? I would say yes.
Conclusion
What I hope more than anything is that the focus isn’t on the cause of the problem more than the solution. If my home was on fire, I promise you should not be worrying about why the fire was started, who it was started by, and if it could’ve been prevented. It’s definitely not the time if someone is offering to help you and get you out of that burning house.
Horrible things are going on in the world right now. War, greed, and a lack of love for others is so prevalent. Not to mention that we have unlimited access to information so we see all of it constantly. If you are thinking to yourself, “There’s no way this is the best life has to offer”, you’re right! There is a perfect and beautiful place that has no evil. If you want to be there, read the book of John and learn how Jesus paid the price.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.“
John 3:16
