We watch the news and are appalled at the unspeakable evils committed. We do not understand why such things happen. We do not have the answers, so we are often left asking questions.
Where is God?
Why didn’t He stop this?
Why doesn’t He do something about evil?
These are questions we should be prepared to answer. We should rightfully expect them when tragedy strikes. We should stand ready to tell others exactly how God deals with evil.
Why doesn’t God do something about evil? The answer is He has, He is and He will.
He Has
If you want to know what God thinks about evil, look to the cross. There is no greater display of how serious God takes evil than the cross. It was there, on the cross that God poured out His wrath upon His Son – the substitutionary sacrifice for sinners. Sin and evil are so serious, that it took the death of the very Son of God to satisfy God’s anger toward it. It is hard to accuse God of being indifferent toward sin when His own Son was crucified because of it.
He Is
As evil as the world is, it could be even worse. If it were not for the grace of God, this world would be unfathomably sinister. Yet we know that God restrains evil. Consider the following Scriptures:
God kept Abimelech from sinning with Abram’s wife (Genesis 20:6).
God restrained bloodshed (1 Samuel 25:26).
God at times gives sinners over to the lusts of their flesh in order to reap the consequences from their persistent sin. If He gives them over, it is evident that He had previously kept them from a worse sin (Romans 1:24).
God instituted governments in part to restrain evil in the land (Romans 13:1-5; 1 Peter 2:13-17)
It is evident that God restrains evil, though He does not restrain all of it. When you are tempted to question God’s inactive response toward sin, consider how much worse the world would be if not for His grace and mercy.
He Will
There is coming a day when all will be made right. Our flawed judicial systems provide only a glimpse of the coming final judgment of God. There is no way we can make it right when acts of terror and evil are committed. We cannot justify the death of the innocent. But we can trust that there will come a day when every evil will be judged. Every secret will be made known. All darkness will be openly displayed in the light. Before the Great White Throne, books will be opened and the dead will be judged according to their works. This will be a great day of reckoning.
We cannot fully comprehend evil. But there will be a day when we see evil for what it is. God is the Just Judge. Evil will not go unpunished.
Why won’t God do anything about evil?
He has.
He is.
He will.
Read more about Eric Douglas on Truth Matters Blog.
The answer to this question is actually very simple–deceptively so. There is no god. So, obviously [he] can’t do anything about anything. Seriously, people–it’s high time to get off this god nonsense. Endless discussions about some imaginary being who is no more real than snow white, the seven dwarfs or Rumpelstiltskin.
The world is the way it is not because of any imaginary, supernatural being but because of the physical laws or principles that describe it. Throw out your worthless bibles and get some good physics books so you can learn something about reality and stop believing in nonsense and appealing to a god who isn’t there.
So ultimately, your answer to the problem of evil is that without God it would be worse? I gotta say, that seems pretty unsatisfying to me. If God is all powerful and all loving these tragedies shouldn’t happen at all. The fact that any given tragedy wasn’t worse, or doesn’t happen more often is hardly an answer to that.
Further, where does this argument end? No matter how bad it gets, you can always say “It would be worse without God”.
Thank you for commenting. I appreciate your perspective. No, the answer is not that it could be worse. The answer is the cross. If you want to know how God responds to evil, look at what He did to Jesus on the cross. It was on the cross that evil was overcome. It will be at Jesus’ 2nd coming that evil is abolished.
Thank you for commenting. I appreciate your perspective. No, the ultimate answer is not that it could be worse, though that is evidence that God is not just sitting idly by. The answer is the cross. If you want to know how God responds to evil, look at what He did to Jesus on the cross. It was on the cross that sin was overcome and it is the cross that gives us the best evidence that God does do something about evil.
I’m not sure I understand how Jesus dying on the cross helps us explain tragedies. Take the sandy hook shooting for example. How does Jesus’ death on the cross help us explain how an all loving, all powerful God would allow a bunch of innocent children to be gunned down at school? I don’t follow your logic.
Eric….I believe free will answers your question. It reminds me of that saying: “Sometimes I’d like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it…but I’m afraid God might ask me the same question.”-Anonymous
Free will as an explanation here seems to have 2 problems as I see it. First, it doesn’t explain natural disasters which cause widespread destruction and harm for many innocent people. Second, God isn’t shy about denying people free will when it suits his needs. The normal go to for an example is God hardening the pharoah’s heart in the exodus story, but it happens in the new testament as well.
Hausdorff, great follow up statement. Jesus dying on the cross has everything to do with tragedies. Jesus died for the sin of those tragedies. There are many roads this conversation could go down, but the bottom line is that God hates sin so much that He killed His own Son to defeat it.
I guess what it boils down to for me, is what do you mean when you say he defeated it? I think we are talking about 2 slightly different things, let me try to explain and tell me if it makes any sense.
On one hand we have the tragedy happening, and on the other hand we have the sin of the tragedies. You seem to be saying that God hates sin, and so he killed Jesus to defeat sin.
But the tragedy still happened. I don’t think I can see any way to claim the tragedy itself was defeated. And this is the whole point from my perspective. The whole idea of the problem of evil is that God still allows these horrible events to happen. In this example innocent children are still gunned down at school.
It’s honestly slightly confusing to me to respond with God’s killing of Jesus. It feels like a change of subject.