The problem of evil

One day in primary school I was asked by a friend: "If God really loves me, why didn't he save my Dad?"
This sounds cliché but it actually happened. I, being nine years old at the time, had no answer. At some point in our lives, most of us will be asked a question along these lines; if God exists, why does evil exist? This will likely be asked by a very vulnerable individual who is at a spiritual cross-roads and the answer you give may well be among the most influential things you ever say on this Earth.

It is for this reason that I write this blog post. I do not wish to belittle the problem, cause upset, or pretend that I have all the answers. I don't. But I would like to explore the issue and believe that we all should.

In order to minimise offence, let us begin with some impersonal philosophy:

(1) Assume: God exists, and is all-good, all-knowing and all-powerful
(2) An all-good being would want to prevent all evils
(3) An all-knowing being would know how to prevent all evils from existing
(4) An all-powerful being could prevent evil from existing
(5) A being who knows how to, has the power to, and wants to prevent all evil will do so
(6) By assumption God exists; evil can not exist
(7) Evil exists. Contradiction; our assumption is false; God does not exist

As a Christian, this is a rather unsettling proof. Before we get too emotionally involved, it is probably a good idea to invalidate the proof. This wont be easy. In fact propositions 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 seem rather unshakeable. We must, then, set out to disprove propositions 2 or 5, which essentially boil down to a single seemingly self-evident proposition: That the existence of evil is worse than the non-existence of evil.

We have defined God to be all-good, so it makes sense to define evil as separation from God. Why, then. is the existence of realms where God is not present better than a reality in which everything is holy? If evil did not exist then separation from God would not be possible; everything would be entirely good, and holy. Why is this better than a world full of death, poverty and abuse?

The answer that springs to mind is free will; if everything was perfectly holy - as no alternative would exist - then God would really be no better off than if He did not create anything. The trinity is entirely good, infinitely powerful and eternally self-sufficient. Adding to this realm of perfection would perhaps be meaningless. God created humans and placed them within an imperfect system so that we would choose to follow Him.

A perfect universe in which every entity was - by their very existence - entirely holy, spending all of eternity praising God is considered to be an inferior reality in God's sight. Far better is a reality in which God's creations can choose Him by choosing against separation from Him. By allowing dark patches to smear the picture, the whole canvass is more beautiful as a result. Perfection is intensified when contrasted with evil.

One last thing before we move on; is (7) as strong a proposition as we assumed it is? Does evil exist? Evil is absence of God and so in the same way that darkness does not exist, one could argue that there is no such thing as evil. Furthermore, is our notion of "good" and "evil" absolute? If so then there must be some higher power, but if not then we can hardly use the assumption in a disproof of God!

It seems that God survives the philosophical "proof".


All this philosophy will, of course, do little to console someone who has recently lost someone close to them. It goes some way to resolve the problem of evil, but does not explain why innocent people suffer; perhaps God wants us to choose between following Him and choosing sinful ways, but how does that reconcile God allowing child fatalities, natural disasters or abuse? For this we will have to look at scripture.

Firstly, there is no such thing as innocent;

"All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" - Romans 3:23
"The heart is wicked and deceitful above all things" - Jeremiah 17:9

At the fall sin permeated every one of our natures and thus we have all distanced ourselves from God. Separation from God is punishable by eternity without Him. We don't deserve to be bullied, to live in poverty, or to be slaughtered; we deserve far far worse. It is ridiculous to claim that any suffering that we endure is more than we deserve.

But isn't that the point of grace? Didn't Jesus die so that we could prosper and be filled with everlasting joy?

Yes. But what do you have in mind when you envision joy and prosperity? Perhaps the physical health of you and those close to you. Perhaps mental and financial stability. A bigger house would be nice too...
The point is that the most joyful people in human history were all far worse off than you in these natural terms. If you have central heating then what you consider to be mere commodities are privileges unimaginable to the kings a few hundred years ago. Clearly joy goes deeper than the natural.

Let us suppose that God did save my friends Dad from dying, purely because to let him die would cause a lot of suffering. Then, in order to be consistent, He would have to prevent all equivalent occurrences causing that amount - or more - of suffering. But why draw the line at precisely that amount of suffering? To "lower the bar" by any amount would clearly have positive repercussions. So we induct and realise that it would be best if God prevented suffering from existing in the first place. This sounds familiar.

But perhaps the logic is not entirely circular. Perhaps we can have sin without some forms of suffering. Although sin inherently causes eternal suffering, as it causes separation from God, we could perhaps eliminate all other forms of suffering which are not directly caused by sin, like earthquakes or miscarriages.

A life without any physical pain sounds appealing but you would all too quickly kill yourself if you were granted this; pain is a safety mechanism to let us know that something is wrong so that we can take action to prevent damage. Spiritual suffering - a lack of satisfaction with anything but God's spirit within us - is a similar blessing which ultimately informs our choice about whether we will serve God or not.


This is quite a lot of content from the Bible here but please don't skim over it. I am not about to make points based on the scripture; the Bible puts it far better than I could hope to do myself!

"No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterwards there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way."  - Hebrews 12:11

 "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. 

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation." - Romans 5:3-9


We may suffer for an hour, a day, or maybe even for decades. But these times and this intensity of suffering are nothing compared to an eternity spent worshipping God! Jesus bore all of our suffering on the cross, and went through more pain than we could ever imagine just so that this option is open to us.

I'll leave you with this passage. It is a good reminder that God ultimately knows what He is doing, and that provided we give our lives to Him, He will not allow our souls to come to any harm.

“For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” - Romans 8:28