Why Does He Allow Evil And Pain In The World?

982 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Christian beliefs about the origin of evil

The inquisitive as well as the opponents of Christianity ask this question. If God is omnipotent and all loving, then why does He allow evil and pain in the world? Numerous responses have been given, but enduringly settling the matter is unattainable since consequently many of our answers bring up additional questions. However, our lack of aptitude to respond to the question completely does not mean that we cannot present explanations.

Initially, it is likely that God has a purpose for letting evil exist. We just cannot appreciate it. In this, the Christian can have self assurance in God realizing that His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). As the Bible states, “the just shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4).
Second, God may be allowing evil to proceed on its course in order to show that evil …show more content…

In other words, He creates endurance through misfortune (Rom.5:3). He may also want to save someone through it. For instance, the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by His brothers is a good example. What happened was wrong and Joseph suffered very much for it. However, God lifted up Joseph in Egypt to provide for the people during the drought for seven years. Joseph conclusively said that, "they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good," (Gen.50:15-21). Obviously, the best example of God using evil for good is in the crucifixion of Christ. Evil people sent Him to the cross, but God used it as the method to redeem the world.
God said that He does not desire for us to suffer and sin. But God can use evil regardless of its obvious dreadful nature. God is in the world using the world and its failures for His glory and the benefit of those who listen to Him.
But then, what about those who seem to suffer blamelessly with no assistance? What about the innocent passerby who is shot along the roadside? In these situations, victims and families suffer pain and loss. What good could possibly come from

Show More
Related

  • The J.B. by Archibald MacLeish Argues Why God Allows Evil and Suffering

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    If God is powerful and loving the humankind, then why does He permit evil as well as suffering in this world? Various answers had been offered by many Christian philosophers and many victims of suffering, but there was not a lucid answer that could settle this argument permanently. God uses malicious acts of this world to rise up His own people and remind them that there is an opportunity that they can posses their eternal life. Literature, especially biblical literature has exploited this biblical nature to its fullest in various types of forms, including the play J.B. by Archibald MacLeish. In the play J.B, Archibald MacLeish reanimates and modernizes elements taken from the story of Job to come up with his own response to the ultimate question which has been asked by countless generations, “Why do the righteous suffer?” Throughout the play, Archibald MacLeish delineates the sudden corruption of J.B and his family, his calmness despite the helpless pieces of advice from the Three Comforters, and his unusual ending in order for God to test if one’s will and faith are strong enough to rebuild oneself after an irrational decadence.

    Read More

  • Shadowlands: Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?‎

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    Not preventing suffering is the same as actively inflicting it. Humans generally believe that if they love another person, they should prevent their loved ones from suffering. Why shouldn't God be the same? If a human causes suffering for an...

    Read More

  • Good vs Evil in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being.

    Read More

  • The Problem of Evil in the Judeo-Christian Tradition Depicted in Hicks' Philosophy of Religion

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    It also follows that God, not as benevolent as could be hoped, prefers the maximization of good (2) as opposed to the minimization of evil (1). This is disquieting for the individual who might be the victim of suffering a “greater good.”

    Read More

  • Would an All-good, All-powerful, All-knowing God Allow Evil to Exist?

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is a lot of evil in the world, and much of it happens unexplainably. In the history of life on Earth bad things have happened and evil has caused problems. In relation to some world wide events, 6 million people died in the holocaust, 65 million people died in the war, 800 thousand died in the Rwanda genocide and 230 thousand people died in the 2004 boxing day tsunami. There is a lot of human suffering in the world, but there is also suffering of animals too. A lot of suffering in humans is due to other humans, however some of it can be caused by non-human causes, such as natural disasters etc. Under religious beliefs god was the creator of life on Earth, so if he was all good, powerful and knowing then he would be capable of at least preventing natural disasters from erupting as they cause life to undergo suffering. Likewise, capable of preventing human suffering from natural disasters, i.e. saving people from hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes etc…

    Read More

  • Point Of View In Grendel And Beowulf

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    Good, is portrayed by God, and evil seems to be what fate has in store for the

    Read More

  • Analysis Of If God Is Dead Is Everything Permitted

    1251 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is an important point, because if our understanding of God is that He is purely good, then why would so many of this heinous events occur. “Theist reply that because God is necessarily good, He would never do anything morally reprehensible Himself nor command us to preform heinous acts.” (Anderson, 2007). However, God is seen punishing not only those who are considered to be evil, but also those who are innocent, He causes floods, plagues and death to many people because of one person’s act, or if He was angry. This is completely opposite to our understanding of God loving us all and to our most important idea that God is perfectly good. Even if these acts were seen as punishing those who are considered evil, then God would have not done any act that would harm someone, nor would He permit us to do so. The bible is filled with these inaccuracies, is God loving of all, or just the few that follow Him, it states different allowances in stories (Infidels.org, 2016). It is my understanding that these stories are proof that God is not purely good, which itself is an argument for Him not to exist or that the stories themselves or false. Murder was perfectly fine for the soldiers of the First Crusade, who slaughtered every man, woman, and child, however it is written in the bible that murder is prohibited, it is a sin. Many other events like this occurred. When we look

    Read More

  • Comparing God, Evil, And Suffering

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Suppose he had a reason to permit evil, a reason that was compatible with his never doing wrong and his being perfect in love, what I 'll call a justifying reason. For example, suppose that if he prevented evil completely, then we would miss out on a greater good, a good whose goodness was so great that it far surpassed the badness of evil. In that case, he might not prevent evil as far as he can, for he would have a justifying reason to permit it” (5). Even if God had a reason to allow evil, he who is all loving and powerful would want the least amount of people to suffer and feel pain. Since God knows what is going to happen before it actually happens, would he not be morally obligated to stop people from doing something evil to others, or preventing suffering by those who have been hurt by evil?

    Read More

  • On Free Choice of the Will

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    God is the source of evil. He created natural evil, and gave humans the ability to do moral evil by giving them a free will. However, had he not given people free will, then their actions would not be good or evil; nor could God reward or punish man for his actions since they had no choice in what to do. Therefore, by giving humans choice and free will, God allowed humanity to decide whether to reward themselves with temporary physical goods, and suffer in the long run from unhappiness, or forsake bodily pleasures for eternal happiness.

    Read More

  • Conflict Between God And Evil Essay

    2051 Words  | 5 Pages

    “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (Lewis, 1994, p. 91). Throughout history man has had to struggle with the problem of evil. It is one of the greatest problems of the world. Unquestionably, there is no greater challenge to man’s faith then the existence of evil and a suffering world. The problem can be stated simply: If God is an all-knowing and all-loving God, how can He allow evil? If God is so good, how can He allow such bad things to happen?Why does He allow bad things to happen to good people? These are fundamental questions that many Christians and non-Christians set out to answer.

    Read More

  • Leonard Pitt's Essay 'Sometimes The Earth Is Cruel'

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout hard times, many will question God and why he lets horrible things happen to them. They will begin to doubt him and his motives. Some even doubt his existence. This is what the devil wants. This is what the devil strives so hard to do. However, people must keep faith and know that God is on their side. God doesn't let his people go through anything they aren't capable of overcoming. In the article, The Earth is Cruel, by Leonard Pitts, he says, "As the playwright put it, your arms are too short to box with God." Even though people may not always understand why God is letting them go through something, they must trust him. People can't change the situation so they must trust in God to conquer what they are going

    Read More

  • Good And Evil In John Milton's Paradise Lost

    1306 Words  | 3 Pages

    more than evil is capable of what seems to be good. More often in the story, God

    Read More

  • Problem Of Evil Essay

    1753 Words  | 4 Pages

    This is the understanding of a God which includes moral perfection; a God that simply created the universe and left is not whole enough for most theists (for if this were the real God religious morality would have an unsupportable foundation) (Blackburn, 2001: 169). This is the God of the Abrahamic religions. A God that is all knowing (omniscient) all powerful (omnipotent) and, as emphasized above, all caring or omnibenevolent (Blackburn, 2001: 169). Thus the Problem of Evil arises, as formalised below.

    Read More

  • Good Versus Evil: Good Vs. Evil

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Evil has plagued the lives of all creatures and has existed throughout all of time. The problem of evil is that since God created the world and is all omniscient; omnipotent; and omni-benevolent, and since a good thing strives to rid evil; and because there are no limits to an omnipotent being: then because God is all three the world would therefore not contain evil. But fact is that evil does exist and from this some conclude that God does not exist because he would possess all three omni’s and rid evil. He knows of evil because he created it and had knowledge of what it would be, but he does not stop it even though he is omnipotent then that would explain the conclusion against God’s existence due to the problem of evil. If he exists then why does he allow suffering? pain?

    Read More

  • Could God Maintain A World Without Evil

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    Could “God… maintain a world without evil by continual divine intervention?” The answer to this question can be found in the reality that evil itself is an indicator of why mankind needs a holy God and is ultimately part of the God’s plan for mankind. First, is the fact that God is Omnipotent and indeed has the power to do anything. Lewis (2012) stated: Omnipotence means "power to do all, or everything"… It is common enough in argument with an unbeliever, to be told that God, if He existed and were good, would do this or that; and then, if we point out that the proposed action is impossible, to be met with the retort, "But I

    Read More

More about Why Does He Allow Evil And Pain In The World?

Open Document