This is a common argument against God presented in philosophy class. If God is all Powerful, All Good, All Knowing, then why does evil exist? Since He is all good, He hates evil; since He is all knowing, He should know that evil exists; and since He is all powerful, He should have enough power to take care of it. So how can evil exist if God exists?
< STRONG Evil happens because evil is caused by people, and God lets people commit evil so that they can see the results of their actions.
If God stopped all people's actions, then no one could be blamed for what he did, because what he did never really actualized. For example, if a murderer was about to kill someone, but God stepped in and saved the victim's life, then how could the murderer be charged for killing the person, if he never fully killed the person? The only thing he could be charged for is attempting to kill a person, but we know that that charge in courts is not as severely punished as the charge of killing someone.
If someone where charged for attempt of murder with the same degree as someone charged for murder, then it makes no sense... someone who "attempted" murder could probably have changed their mind before the act, where as someone who murdered had finalized their action. These two should have different punishments.
>> WEAK But God should heal the person afterward, so that no evil is committed.
God should let the murderer kill the victim, so that the murderer can know what he did, but then afterward, God raises the victim to life so that evil does not really happen. So there can be less broken families and less problems as a result of a dead loved one.
< STRONG That's missing the point. Evil has already been committed.
It's just that God has healed an evil act.
Nonetheless, evil has still been committed. It's like the victim getting shot by a murderer, and the doctors taking the bullet out. It's as if the victim never got shot, but that doesn't mean he didn't get shot... the murderer still committed an evil act, and hence here, evil exists. The only way for evil to not really exist is if the murderer NEVER shot his weapon. But then that would be taking away free-will of the murderer.
In addition, evil is doing an act to someone when you know that that act can kill a killable being because of the curse of death brought by the forbidden fruit. Click here for more details: Can moral laws change according to the Bible?
< STRONG If He judges now, then it would affect the crop. (Biblical)
In other words, He'll kill all the evil people as well as the potentially good people if He were to judge now and get rid of all the evil. Here's a biblical backup:Mat 13:26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
Mat 13:27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?'
Mat 13:28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'
Mat 13:29 But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.'
< STRONG If God never lets humans use their free-will to commit evil, then they really don't have free-will.
Free-will means being able to think AND do what you will even if it is evil and wrong. If you murder, you have free-will to do the evil act. If your ability to commit evil was taken away from you, then you no longer have free-will. And if you no longer have free-will, then you no longer are human or "created in God's image." Also, you don't have the free-will to love God. If you don't have that, what is it worth to God? It is like making robots without free-will say to you "I love you." No one who knows what love is would like that.
Therefore, evil in this world exists because God has given us free-will (which enables us to do BOTH good and evil) and some humans have chosen to exercise their free-will to do evil.
< STRONG It’s Christians' responsibility to take care of evil.
This is where Christian doctrine comes in. The power to destroy evil is given to us. Whenever a person suffers, it is our responsibility to take care of it. With all the problems in the world, we are the salt and light of the world. It is our responsibility for the moment; God has given that to us, especially Americans who have so much power and money compared to the rest of the world.
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