[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]
Why Does God Allow Suffering and Evil?
Our world is filled with evil and suffering. How do we reconcile that evil and suffering with the fact that God, Creator of the world, is good and loving?
Philosophers have wrestled with this “problem of evil” for centuries. But God reveals the answer to the problem—the reason for evil and suffering in the world—in the pages of His word. And that answer is perhaps the greatest source of hope the human mind is capable of understanding.
You need that hope.
Join us right now on Tomorrow’s World where we will give you God’s answer to the problem of evil.
Freedom of Choice Means Pain Has to Exist
Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible. And today’s subject is one that many struggle to make sense of: Why is the world so filled with evil and suffering if God is good and loving?
In philosophical circles, the topic we are tackling today is called the problem of evil. It’s been stated many ways, but you could summarize it like this:
“God is supposed to be all-powerful and good. Yet, evil clearly exists in the world, resulting in much pain, misery, and agony. Either God is too weak to do anything about it, or else He doesn’t care. In either case—a weak God or an uncaring God implies that, in reality, there is no God at all.”
Hence the existence of evil and suffering (supposedly) proves that there is no God.
In short, it argues that an all-powerful, all-good God simply can’t exist, because there is so much evil in the world that He does nothing about. And if you search around on YouTube and pointless discussion forums on the Internet, you’ll see the problem of evil thrown about as if it had somehow done God in.
Yet, as supposed “proof” that God does not exist, it’s long been recognized by many that the problem of evil falls short.
Many answers have been provided, including the fact that—to truly rule out God’s existence—one would need to prove it is impossible for God to have good cause for allowing evil to exist. And that’s a tall order.
Free Will Means Being Free to Choose Poorly
For instance, as our children grow, we sometimes need to let them experience the result of their wrong choices instead of intervening to prevent problems. Calling every parent who does so a “bad parent” would be naïve.
In the 1970s, philosopher Alvin Plantinga’s argument—that the value of human free will provides God with sufficient moral cause to allow evil—was widely perceived to have won the day, so to speak, demonstrating that, yes, it is feasible that God can have good cause to allow people to choose evil. If humans are free to choose, it’s unreasonable to expect that they will always choose the good.
Still, the problem of evil is not merely a philosophical problem, is it?
Where Does Evil Come From?
When we or those we love are personally stung by the pain and suffering of the world, the arguments of philosophers provide cold comfort. And this world truly is filled with pain and suffering.
On a personal level, how many have been victims of robbery, theft, assault, rape, or murder? And how many suffer at the hands of those who benefit from their suffering? Many of you watching know the burdens of sickness and infirmity. It seems no age—young or old—is immune to disease. And maladies of every sort plague mankind and bring pain and heartache to even the youngest and most innocent among us.
On a larger scale, how many lives have been ravaged by the scourges of mass murder, slavery, genocide, and warfare? Human beings are shockingly creative in their capacity to generate suffering among their fellow human beings.
And beyond the world of man’s cruelty to man, there are earthquakes; floods; droughts and famines; hurricanes and typhoons; plague, pestilence, and parasite. Nature seems intent on reminding us, over and over again, that we are not in control, and our lives are lived at the mercy of merciless forces far greater than we are.
Whether we are sitting amidst our burnt belongings in the smoldering ruins we once called home, or holding the hand of a son or daughter in a hospital room, suffering from a disease we cannot heal, the question of the problem of evil and suffering in the world is very real and very personal.
Why does evil exist? And how does suffering fit into the plans of a supposedly merciful and loving God?
We need more than the abstract assurance of philosophers. We need answers.
And God provides them. When we understand why mankind exists and what the purpose of life truly is, then our lives, even our sufferings, become infused with meaning, hope and, believe it or not, even a profound and unshakable joy.
And the best way to understand the purpose of human life is to go back to its beginning—all the way back to the VERY beginning, in the book of Genesis.
God Created the World as a Paradise—Not of Suffering
And when we do, we see that God did not create the world to be a place of suffering. Genesis 1 and 2 describe the world God created as a paradise. And it tells us of the creation of first human beings, Adam and Eve. There, we’re told in Genesis 1:26,
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26–27).
Humans Were Made in the Image of God
Unlike any of the animals God made, we see that He made mankind as a sort of analog of Himself—sharing with them His own image and likeness, with the capacity of reasoning, judgment, and morality. And man was given a level of dominion over the creation—again, picturing what God possesses, but on a much smaller scale.
The importance of being made in God’s image is hard to overstate. In fact, skip ahead for a moment to chapter 5 and verse 3. There we read of Adam and Eve’s reproducing themselves in their son, Seth.
And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth (Genesis 5:3).
The use of this phrase is not a coincidence.
God Created Man With Potential to Join God’s Family
The larger picture of Scripture, supported from Genesis to Revelation, is that God created man as a part of a process of reproducing Himself and growing His divine Family, intending to produce countless children. Today’s free resource will demonstrate this astonishing truth to you beyond the shadow of a doubt. God intends man to one day share in His divine and glorious existence, ruling and creating throughout the cosmos forever.
This is why, unlike the animals, man was made in God’s own image and given analogous capacities and responsibilities—yet something vital was missing. While God is spirit, as Jesus tells us in John 4:24, man is physical—limited. And unlike God, who has eternal life inherent within Him, mankind was made with the potential for eternal life, but also for eternal death. Because being an eternal child of God requires holy and righteous character, and developing godly character requires choice.
Intrinsic Motivation: God Wants Us to Choose Wisely
So, Adam and Eve were given the opportunity to CHOOSE. God planted a tree in the garden that could provide them eternal life, and a tree that represented the knowledge of good and evil. And He lovingly told them which one to choose. If they continued choosing the right tree, the tree of life, then God could continue working with them, developing them, caring for them. But if they rejected Him and His instructions, then they would eventually die, refusing eternal life and obedience to their Creator.
God Gives Freedom of Choice—and Allows Us to Make Wrong Choices
You can read of their choice in Genesis 3. In short, they chose disobedience. They chose to accept the temptations of the devil and to take on themselves the “right” to choose what is good and evil, and what is right or wrong for themselves. They rejected God’s instruction, rejected God as their Creator, rejected His purpose for them, and rejected His care for their lives.
Pain Comes From Wrong Choices
And all of the suffering of the world has flowed from that choice. Yet it’s easy to sit here and blame Adam and Eve. The Apostle Paul makes it very plain that every single one of us, in our own way, has repeated their mistake for ourselves in our own lives. As he writes in Romans 3,
“There is none righteous, no, not one”… for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10, 23).
Think about it—and be honest with yourself. At any point in your life, was there a right thing to do, and you chose the wrong one? Was there a loving thing to do, and you chose a selfish one? Was there ever anything God tells us to do, and you chose not to? Or anything God tells us NOT to do, and you did it anyway?
In our own, individual ways, each of us has fallen short of the character of God—and, thus, fallen short of our purpose to become His children.
God Allows Suffering to Teach Us That We Need Him
And the world around us reflects this condition. We sin, and we suffer. Those around us suffer. Our children suffer. We kick God out of the world that He made for us and tell Him we can run it without Him, and that same world becomes a place of suffering.
Yet even in the midst of all of this evil, all of this suffering, God’s purpose remains. He is still working to create a family full of billions upon billions of glorified children of God who will live with Him forever in glory, majesty, and power. And the means by which He is accomplishing this not only resolves the problem of evil, but provides profound meaning in our suffering and life-changing hope beyond that suffering that you need to grasp.
Sin Is the Root Cause of Suffering
In fact, the Bible says something important in Proverbs 26:2.
Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.
The reason we suffer is because of sin—disobedience to a God who loves us too much to prevent us from learning, as a civilization, what it means to appoint ourselves the masters of “right and wrong” instead of accepting the guidance of a loving God who plans so much better for us.
If we examine the suffering we experience, all of it—every bit of it—comes from humanity’s choice to disobey God.
Pain: Feeling the Effects of Our Own Sins and Others’ Sins
Sometimes we suffer because of our own sins. We see this in many of the problems that plague us: Addictions, sexually transmitted diseases, some instances of poverty and wasted lives. But we suffer, too, as we are impacted by the sins of others—just as a pebble thrown in a lake disturbs the water in every direction.
Our societies suffer the ravages of diseases that would not exist if we would look to the laws of God as our guides in matters of health, and look to the God of heaven who has the power to heal and bless. And the Creation suffers disasters as mankind refuses to turn to the Creator—the One who can control the forces of nature that lie beyond our grasp.
And why God won’t simply snap His fingers and make everything all right makes sense when we consider the purpose for our lives in the first place. Human beings aren’t simply “pets” to God—fun playthings for Him to care for and make sure we’re fed, watered, and happy all of the time. He seeks to turn us into members of His family—full and glorious children of the divine family of God.
And unlike pets, we have a role to play in that purpose. We must learn to think like God, react like God, and choose like God.
Suffering Builds Character in Us—and Teaches Lessons
We are here to develop the mind and character of God Himself—to grow to reflect Him on the inside in the same way He has made us to reflect Him on the outside, in His image and likeness.
When we comprehend that, then our suffering takes on meaning, because we know that what we learn in that suffering, how we respond to evil in the world, and the godly character we develop becomes part of an eternal reward that will far outshine any pain and anguish we will ever know in this life. When we comprehend that, then how we grow in our trials contributes to that future of glory.
The Apostle Paul speaks of this coming time, and this coming existence, in Romans 8:18.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Paul is saying that comparing light from the smallest matchstick to the light of the sun, or a mote of dust with a mountain range, would make more sense than comparing the sufferings of this life with the glory that God is building within those He is working with to develop His own righteous, godly character. Let’s continue:
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:19–21).
God intends the entirety of Creation, the whole universe, to be given over to the glorified children of God—you and me, if we repent and commit ourselves to Jesus Christ to allow God the Father to reproduce Himself and His character in us.
God Promises That Pain Will Not Last Forever
Paul writes that all of creation—the whole of created reality—is waiting for the liberty and glory that will come with the revealing of the children of God at Christ’s return.
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now (Romans 8:22).
This, my friends, is the answer to the problem of evil and suffering—seeing that suffering not as an eternal condition, but a passing phase that, just like the pains of childbirth, are serving a purpose that will bring joy and happiness such that the suffering will never come to mind again.
Such a fact should remind us of the words of Jesus, spoken on the final Passover of His earthly ministry.
A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world (John 16:21).
And how much more joy will be known when that birth is not of a human being, but the expanded and glorified God family?
My friends, God is not silently watching us suffer in the cold, dark distance. For those willing to yield their lives to Him, to repent of their sins and turn to His Son, embracing His beautiful purpose for their lives, He is present in our suffering—working within us for His purposes, building within us a future, and creating within us a glorious existence that will last throughout time.
Our suffering is profoundly personal to Him. And He proved this to us in the most intimate way possible.
God Promises to Wipe Away Every Tear (Revelation 21:4)
He displayed this fact by sending His Son to suffer, just as we do.
Already one of the two members of the God Family, the One that John 1:1 calls the Word, the Logos, condescended to become like His Creation—like us—and become the man Jesus Christ. He came and, unlike us, followed His Father’s laws and way of life perfectly.
His obedience did not bring the praise of men, but their hatred, their contempt, and their violence.
The prophet Isaiah described the suffering that Christ would endure in this life:
Despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief… He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities… He was oppressed and He was afflicted… He was led as a lamb to the slaughter… (Isaiah 53:3–7).
Jesus Christ, Our Example: Learn Obedience Through Suffering
One whose life of love and generosity deserved nothing but praise and adoration was given instead mockery, threats, beatings, abandonment, torture, and execution. And through it all, He remained faithful to God, His Father.
As Philippians 2 explains, though He had existed in the form of God, He was willing to set that aside and become like us so He could suffer as we do, and:
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).
Having done so, He was resurrected and given once again the glory He had set aside and the existence that He had before. But now from Heaven He makes Himself available to live His life again through His Spirit within those who are willing to repent, obey, and fulfill God’s purpose for their lives by following Him.
Pain and Suffering: Our Resistance Training to Enter the Kingdom
For those who do, then these times of evil and suffering can be seen for what they truly are—mere birth pangs before they, too, are born into the Family of God and into the glory Jesus Christ now has with His Father, which will be revealed at His return. A time when they will join Him in His Kingdom to begin building a world, and ultimately a universe, that will never know evil and suffering again.
As the Apostle John was told, in vision, of that final estate:
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:3–4).
May God send His Son soon to finally solve, once and for all, the real problem of evil.
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