The Problem of Evil and Suffering.

Why do bad things happen to good people? How can an Omnibenevolent God create or allow evil? Why is there suffering in this world that a loving God created? This has been a problem that men have wrestled with for thousands of years. Most formalized arguments that I skimmed though ended with the similar conclusion that either God is a flawed, finite being, or that God doesn't exist at all. Christians, specifically, have often been assailed with this issue for nearly as long as men have rebelled against God. While I do not presume to offer the solution to this issue, hopefully I can open up some Scriptures that will shed a little more light on the subject. To begin, I will use some common responses to the problem of evil and show how they are un-Biblical.

One response defines "evil" as an absence of good. Augustine of Hippo (fifth century) asserted that evil was simply a 'privatio boni'-a privation of good. Evil is only the negative form of a good thing and is therefore opposed to it as sort of a contrast (ie, darkness is the absence of light and is also its contrast). This response is commonly called the Contrast Theodicy. If a being is not completely good, then evil will naturally fill in the space like a vacuum. However, this response denies that good and evil are moral judgments. Also, Mankind is inherently evil, so there's never been any capability for good in them to begin with.

"As it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.'" (Romans 3.10-18)

Romans 3.23; "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."The Bible teaches that we not only "fall short" and that "no one seeks for God," but that we have also inherited guilt from Adam. Psalms 51.5; "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." We were born as sinful beings even before we committed our first offense against God, so that all are in complete rebellion against God even from before birth. Evil in mankind then isn't the "absence of good," but the result of Adam's Fall in combination with our conscious moral judgments (we consciously "turned aside"-Romans 3.12). Romans 5.12 says, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." We inherited guilt and we also trespassed God's laws ourselves.

Another response defines "evil" as a necessary opposite. This concept is known as "Yin and Yang" and is related to the Contrast Theodicy and to dualism. According to Wikipedia, "Yin and Yang (known as "Taiji") is used in Eastern thought to illustrate complementary opposing forces (positive/negative, light/darkness, male/female, heat/cold, good/evil) as an unchangeable and necessary law of nature." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil) Evil can only be defined in terms of its opposite good. But in this dualism there's a little bit of good in the evil and a little bit of the evil in the good. They must always exist because of their opposite and balancing natures toward each other.

Assuming that God is the "good" part, there must be a being who is completely opposite but completely equal in power, knowledge and eternality to God. Isaiah 45.5 says, "I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God" If "there is no other," then God must have a different side to Himself that balances the "good." But Deuteronomy 32.4 says, "The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he." And 2 Samuel 22.31 also says, "This God--his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him." There is no evil power that is equal but opposite to God, nor is there a different side to God that is contrary to His nature (see the Law of Non-Contradiction).

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit." (Isaiah 14.12-15)

This is what the Bible says about the beginning of evil. Satan (Lucifer, or the "Day Star") was the first created being that sinned. The first sin was pride; Satan was lifting up and glorifying himself rather than God. Somehow, Satan had been created with a mind that was capable of conceptualizing malcontent of his own position in relation to God's. I don't know how, philosophically, an omnibenevolent God could have specifically created that mind; but He did and the Scriptures specifically record the Fall of Satan. Next, we will examine how evil entered the world.

When God created the world He made several laws that hold the universe in place. On the second day, God created the atmospheric pressures, the vapor canopy, the layers of the atmosphere and established laws that would keep them in order so that they were complete and "good" (Genesis 1.10). On the third day, He created vegetation, the processes of germination, photosynthesis and reproduction "according to its kind." These cycles operated on specific laws that God created to govern them and allow them to subsist. On the forth day, He created the "lights in the expanse of the heavens" (Genesis 1.14) so that they would mark "signs," "seasons" and "days and years." This is the order of the planetary system and system of stars. Psalms 147.4 says that, "He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names."

I could go on through the description of creation, but I can draw my point from the days already mentioned. Everything was created in a specific order and under certain laws that would sustain and contain them in that order so that all things were "good" (Genesis 1.4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). God is pleased in the law and order of the universe. Because laws cause order, when those laws are violated or removed, there must be a specific effect on those things which were previously held in order (IE, disorder).

"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'" (Genesis 2.16, 17)

Next we see a commandment (or law) set in place for mankind. This law keeps the trusting, perfect relationship between God and man in place. The result of violating this law is stated as, "you shall surely die." This was not an immediate physical death (although physical death would be included, it would not be the immediate result directly following), but an immediate separation of the perfect relationship between God and man, a spiritual death. Although mankind had a propositional knowledge of this commandment and the result of its violation, they were still innocent of the experiential knowledge.

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'' But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'' (Genesis 3.1-5)

Here is the temptation. Satan presents the option of mistrusting God and discontentment to Eve. Sure, the commandment was always there and so was the opportunity, but Eve had not yet known the sweet but always temporary taste of disobedience which Satan described to her.

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." (Genesis 3.6)

Contentment, innocence and obedience were immediately sacrificed for the desire of what was not hers. The law was broken even before she ate, since she mistrusted God already in her heart. Adam also partook of the mistrust and of the act of eating the fruit with Eve. The law that preserved the trusting, perfect relationship was violated and the effect was the forewarned separation by spiritual death. God then cursed the serpent for his deceit, Adam and Eve for their mistrust and the earth as a result of the separation.

Genesis 3.15 however, records the first Messianic prophesy: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Still in the wake of Man's Fall, God promises to send the Redemption of Mankind, His Son, the Son of Man.

Romans 5.12 "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." Sin came from Adam. And all are under the same judgment of death "because all sinned." We inherit sin and we also sin ourselves. We inherit guilt from the former and judgment from the latter. Evil is a result of the disobedience of the Fall.

Why is there suffering then? Why do "bad things happen to good people?" There is suffering partly because of the Fall. But also, we are not "good people" to begin with. What all the formalized arguments failed to consider, was the fact that we merited all suffering and sin because we crossed the line that God drew in the sand, as it were, before the Fall. But where we have transgressed, God is able to "remove our transgressions from us" (Psalms 103.12).

So why does God allow suffering to come to His saints on the earth who are justified in His sight? He allows it because He will work it for our good. Romans 8.28 says, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." But we cannot see the specific good that God will accomplish in suffering on this earth, just as King Solomon talks about life "under the sun" in the book of Ecclesiastes. Life is like an enormous tapestry, being woven through us down the passages of time. All we can see from our point of view (or, "under the sun") are the knots and tangles on the bottom. What God sees, is the completed work of beauty and meaning from the topside. While sufferings and injustices occur on the earth, we must remain confident that God is still sovereign in the heavens. Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." God has given us a hope and yearning for eternity.

How does an omnibenevolent God allow evil and suffering in the world? I don't know. But I do know that God did not leave the world in its evil and hurting condition. John 3.16, 17 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." We were condemned already because of the Fall, but God sent a Savior into the world to redeem the lost. God endures the wickedness in the world because they will reap their reward at judgment. How are we who are justified in His sight supposed to respond to the evil and suffering in the world? Hebrews 4.16 "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 10.23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."

2 Thessalonians 2.16, 17; "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word."

God bless,
~Curtis~