If we choose evil, why would God allow our choices to hurt the innocent?

Question

God gave us all free will, we are told. But we are also told He is infinitely loving and caring. So why is it that one person's evil choice is allowed to impact on the life of another innocent?
I'm thinking about that young girl just found guilty of the murder of a harmless old lady. Her choice was to commit an evil act, but why does her victim, and her victim's family have to suffer?
Why are children, surely the most innocent, allowed to suffer at the hands of child molesters?
If God is truly caring, wouldn't He create a set of circumstances where one person's evil choice does not impact on the innocent or undeserving?
Really, what I'm asking is, why is there evil?.Evil is not necessary.There can be free will without evil. Presumably, there is free will in Heaven; yet there's no evil there.So, if God created everything, then he created evil. Why? If He loves us all so much, why?

Answer 1

He gave you free will just that.

Answer 2

The decisions we make every day affect someone. No matter what they are, we are supposed to make the right ones. That is our responsibility. Don't you think that if someone decides to do something evil and no-one got hurt, that there would be no detterent for better behaviour? Or would the act even be considered evil. 100% of all evil, deliberate acts hurt the innocent in some way. Our freedom of choice is a precious gift given by our Creator and if we are aware that our actions carry consequences; then why do those evil acts? As far as heaven goes, I don't know exactly what happens there. I have never been and haven't met anyone that has come back. But I do believe that if people thought about how their behaviour affected others they might do things differently. The fact that God does not control me actually helps me control myself better. He has given me the burden to care for others as well as myself. Shouldn't we all be that way and wouldn't the world be a better place?

Answer 3

I think that it is because you are thinking of this world and not eternity; I think that what we go through here (like the old woman being killed) may be part of what that woman was to learn in this life to prepare for the next. Killing is bad because it takes the choice out of God's hand but as far as the lady, it is not a bad thing to die.
There really is a reason for everything, I know it sounds cliché, but it is true... we are all here to share God's love, perhaps that child will learn through experience how to help someone else. You have to know that this is just a stop... earth that is... Again I know it is cliché, but think about that lady... in Heaven with God, that is truly a wonderful thought and to wish that this woman stayed in this earth (especially with all the war and horrible things that humans do to each other) it is truly a blessing that this lady can know God now!!!! Honestly I do not know, because I do understand that you are also talking about the pain she may have went through and the pain of those kids, but I do know that everything is interconnected, (which is a reason why religion and science can be interchangeable if people would open their minds) and see that everything is effected by everything else. For the children, maybe that will have them start a life of helping other children, or make them more standoffish in order to enable them with the thoughts and powers they need down the road to handle another situation. God did not say this would be an easy life. God knew this would be rough, but it is not for this life we live, it is for eternity that we are with God. Nothing is intrinsically good or evil it depends on its manner of usage that may make it that way. We need our experiences here, we would not want to waste this time or this part of eternity that God has given us, you take the good with the bad and make that into who you are. Not all people live for God (and even the ones that say they do, not all do) some still hold hate in their hearts and that is why they do not know Jesus and the reasons they preach hate towards anyone. But really being with God means that through those times you find strength, if God took all the bad times than it would be harder for us to learn and experience in this world. Just because we do not like certain experiences and have been taught that they are evil does not mean that we know everything that is going to occur because of that taxing time. We have to believe that there is a reason and that God’s love will prevail and keep us in this life and into the next.

Answer 4

sadly, sin does effect the innocent. look at the son or daughter who does drugs, they seem to think that it only efects them, but in truth it hurts their parents, spouse and children. it's a ripple effect.
actually, there is free will on earth, in heaven I don't find anything that backs up the notion that we have a freewill. we will become as the angels, angels do not have a free will. but I could be wrong in my thoughts.
why do the innocent suffer? I can only guess since I don't know the mind of God. but I would imagine that the innocent suffer to show those around them the effects of evil, we are creatures of example, as God designed us. God did not create evil, evil is a effect of sin, sin being born in the garden of Eden. all are products of having a free will. he gave us the 10 commandments, not to prove he is a strict God, but to protect us from being hurt.. just like a parent gives rules to their own children. as parents we tell our children "do not touch a hot iron" you will get burned! why do we tell them not to touch it? to prove we are the parent or out of concern for the child? God loves us just as a parent loves their own children. don't ever think that you are unloved because bad things happen, we aren't in heaven yet. this is a temporary home, filled with some painful issues that teach us as we journey through a unknown land.
God bless you on your journey toward home.

Answer 5

If evil only effected evil, what would we learn? God took the time to let us know what harm would come when we choose evil over Him, its our own faults that we dont follow Him. If He made it so only evil things could be done to evil people, we wouldnt have free will at all. There is free will in heaven, at least for the angels... but many chose to go against God and were cast out of heaven, were evil cant exist.

God didnt exactly "create" evil, not like how He created light, He did not say "Let there be evil..." what evil IS, is the absence of good. Like light doesnt create darkness, but remove light and you get darkness. God is good, remove Him, and there is evil.

Answer 6

there are two kinds of evil. natural evil like earthquakes tsunamis forest fires, and moral evil like rape, murder.Christian doctrines increase the probability of the coexistence of God and the evils in the world. Let me just mention a couple of these.
On the Christian view, the purpose of life is not happiness as such in this life. Rather it is the knowledge of God---which will ultimately produce true and everlasting happiness. What that means is that many evils occur in this life which might be utterly pointless with respect to producing human happiness. But they might not be pointless with respect to producing the knowledge of God.you assume the absence of evil would make this world a better place, that the purpose of life is basically to be happy in this life. And I certainly admit that you could make changes that might appear to make this life a better place, make it happier. But that's not God's purpose. So if you understand that the purpose of life is not happiness as such, I think that you can see that the existence of evil doesn't necessarily cast any improbability upon God's existence., I think that there is actually an argument for God from evil. It would go like this:
(i) If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist. If there is no God, moral values are either socio-biological by-products or just expressions of personal preference.
(ii) Evil exists. That's the premise of the atheist. There is real evil in the world.
(iii) Therefore, objective values do exist. Some things are really wrong.
(iv) Therefore, God exists.
Thus the presence of evil in the world actually demonstrates God's existence because in the absence of God, there wouldn't be any distinction objectively between good and evil, between right and wrong. So although evil in one sense calls into question God's existence, in a much deeper sense, I think, it actually requires God's existence.

Answer 7

this is a world of free will. the consequences of everybody's actions are played out, regardless of good or bad.

Thank God, these are temporary. The time in this world shall come to an end, and those (innocents) who had suffered at the hands of those malicious or evil ones usually are freed through what good they had done. It is like 'karma' - whatever good you do comes back to you, likewise any bad.

Although this is reflected in the world we live in by all the actions we commit through our free will, including pollution, hatred, crime, war, sickness, death and so on, it is all temporary and contained and is with full knowledge of the Creator.

Peace.

Answer 8

It's a question many have asked. God gave us free will, he doesn't give with one hand and take it back with the other. However, part of free will is responsibility. So we have the responsibility of our actions and God holds us accountable. but don't forget, there is another God out there. The god of this world. AKA The Devil, Satan, etc. He also exists. He is responsible for the evil of the world. When someone commits murder, it is of him. It is one of his devil spirits that has possessed that person to act for him. There are many such evil ones in the world, but God has given us a way of detecting and defeating them. So please don't blame God for the work of the devil, it makes the devil a winner and God a loser.

Answer 9

There are no easy answers to the wickedness in the world. However, Satan was one of God's closest angels, and with his free will, Satan chose to challenge God. Hence, he was cast out of Heaven forever. Now Satan walks the earth trying to tempt all to use their free will in terrible ways. Try as he might, Satan WILL lose the battle. So in answer to your question, no personally I don't consider God giving us free will the same as creating evil. He does love us and wants US to choose Him as the Lord God Almighty. One day, all will be revealed and we will have the answers to all of the "whys"...Sorry, that's just my opinion, hope it helped a bit in some way.

Answer 10

There can be several layers in answering this question:

Layer1:
According to Jewish/Christian/Muslim faiths, God has given freewill and if someone decides to misuse this then they will be punished. The body is meant to be ressurected so in the end for the good person/s it may just be an early release from the miseries of live.

Layer 2:
Not wshing to hurt anyone's we cannot ever be 100 percent sure about anyone's innocence and thus they may be suffering the result of some past crime/sin.

Layer 3:
The Hindu scriptures state that a soul is different to the material body and as such it may reincarnate through several lifetimes iin different bodies. The laws of karma state that a soul may be punished for crimes/sins committed in previous lives - for example in a past life they might have hurt/killed someone and they are merely getting the resultant reaction of the other person taking their revenge. Thus in the Hindu belief no one is really innocent if they are born in this material world - similar to the Jews/Christian/Muslim beliefs that all born sinful.

I cannot offer any relevant arguments from a Jewish/Christian/Mulsim viewpoint regarding child molesters, child suffering etc however, the Hindu reincarnation for me appears a more cohesive argument. What you have to weigh up for yourself is that despite any number of attempts at democracy, citizenship, education, these things happen in the so called developed countries too and by people claiming no religious affiliations therefore blaming these on God alone seems rather far fetched/unfaiir.

The Jews/Christians/Muslims argue that evil entered the world through Adam/Eve who disobeyed God's commandment and therefore evil was a inherited trait for all generations. The Hindus argue that man wanting to enjoy separately from God gets deeper into evil behaviour the more he distances himself from God and into material affairs.

God has given freewill and therefore he doesn't interfere unless there is a danger to the whole of humanity.

The scriptures explain the nature of evil and how to overcome it, however, we can see more and more of evil as increasing numbers of people blinded by technological advancement and the lure of easier lifestyle and more money abandon God.

Many people attribute wars in the past to religious differences, in contrast many modern day wars are fought to gain control over money, land, drugs, oil etc therefore it can probably be said more correctly that wars are generally fought by irreligious people wanting to gain control over something and sometimes using religion as an excuse.

Many people don't really care to examine the subtle difference between those who merely claim some religous affiliation and those who sincerely practice it - could this be because they themselves don't bother to understand what is required by God? This is also very much like expecting all democratic/capitalist people to be law abiding and morally upstanding. Also, would everyone agree that all scientists only ever worked for the common good of all mankind - only producing fully effective medicines which didn't have side effects or not producing weapons of mass destruction?

God informs us through various scriptures that not all who profess faith in Him are actually sincere followers.

It is up to you to decide which path you want to choose.

Good Luck.

Answer 11

God did not create evil. Satan chose evil when he defied God. Satan was at one time an angel of God that chose evil and was cast into Hell. Evil comes from Satan and it is up to us to choose Good over Evil. Free will is a gift from God not to be abused by someone who chooses to follow Satan. Satan also is the king of doubt and it looks like he has planted some of it in your mind. Do not let it poison your heart. Pray to God to answer this question for you.This sounds like a question borne of pain (also a present of Satan) I will pray for you