Why Does God Allow Evil?
Recently, my Sunday School class tackled the issue of why God allows evil. This topic is one of the most often used arguments by non-Christians to refute the existence of God. They say, “If God is a loving God, why does He allow evil?”
The answer is two-fold. First up is Jonathan Edwards (follow that link for more info on Mr. Edwards). He says in regard to sin and evil:
“There would be no manifestation of God’s grace or true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be saved from.”
In short, I believe we’d be living in a perfect world with no sin or evil. That would completely rule out our need for God and His salvation. There has to be standard set in place to define good and bad, with God representing the good.
John Piper adds to the subject with the following:
“2 Corinthians12:7, where Paul says that his thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan and yet was given for the purpose of his own holiness…Which means that here Satan is being used by God to accomplish His good purpose in Paul’s life.”
Part two of the answer is a bit more vague. What was God’s purpose behind the tsunami? Why did Katrina happen? If God is in control of all things, why does He create such disasters? The Old Testament is full of examples of God using disease and disasters to show judgement upon those who turn away from him (see: story about Noah). The bottom line is, however, we cannot try to comprehend God’s purpose behind every event in the world. If we could understand God, that would put us on the same level as Him. That’s not the case - God’s God and we’re not.
My conclusion is the same as Mr. Piper’s from above. God allows Satan to work in the world, He allows evil to happen, for one reason alone - to make us more holy. To set the standard of the kind of life He wants us to live - void of all sin and evil. Sure, bad things are going to happen to good people (see: story about Job). God gives and God takes away. However, if we can say “blessed be the name of the Lord,” when these things happen, He’ll be truly pleased.
