How do Christians really explain the existence evil?

Question

Christians believe in a 4-O God, that is a God that is all powerful (Omnipotent) all-knowing (Omniscient) is everywhere in all things (Omnipresent) and is all good (Omnibenevolent). If this is correct, then there should be no evil, as God should be able to perceive any evil anywhere and prevent it, and he would always do so because he is all good.

However, there are few that would argue that there is no evil in this world. In fact, most would agree there is a great deal of evil in this world. Just a few examples of the evil that men do everyday are rape, genocide, torture etc. The victims of these crimes are often innocent, often children.

Please do not answer "God is perfect, we just cannot understand his plan." The Bible spells out quite clearly God's idea of morality. And if he was all powerful, he could create any of the "good" consequences of evil without the suffering. Also, do not answer that evil is the absence of God, as God is omnipresent and thus can never be absent.

Answer 1

Christians "credit" the Fallen Angel for all the evil in the world.

Answer 2

First of all, I think there should be a distinction between what is "evil" and what is "bad". Famine and disease, for example, I would consider unfortunate events, but not necessarily evil.

Secondly, implying that a traumatic childhood or other similar factors could rule out free will is basically stating that all people exposed to such situations would respond the same way, which is absurd. No matter the circumstances, the freedom of choice remains. As for mental illness, I would honestly say I don't know. As much as psychology can tell us about mental illness, it is impossible to know exactly what it is like to be "insane" and what actually goes on in a mentally ill person's head.

As for the idea that God "must" eradicate all evil because of his good nature, go read the book of Revelations, in which God -does- enact judgement on evil.

Answer 3

i read everyone elses answer before answering myself, and it seems that those who have answered pretty much have the same concept... evil is the work of man, not the work of God in that he did not create it... it is Christian belief that Man (in the Biblical sense Man refers to human kind, our species, not gender) was created in God's own image, and as such we have the power to create things ourselves... such as the concept of time, evil, right vs wrong, etc... if God IS omnipresent, then evil cannot be the abscence of God because he is everywhere, even where there is evil... God did not say he was good, he wouldnt have been able to, for doing so would mean he had created evil, Man decided God was good sometime around the time that Man created evil... i prefer this theory (since it cannot be proven it's a theory... however if you PROVE the existence of God in a mathematical form, not only will you win a Noble Peace Prize, you may also become Pope, and turn this theory into fact :P) over the Ancient Greek mythology version of creation where everything is evil to begin with everything stemming from an evil or percievably evil source where at one point light emerges from the evils... dunno how exactly... but you start with Chaos and go to Darkness and Night, and it trickles down from there, each version being different and NO modern account of the creation of Man is found in this.... which actually DOES leave it open for God to exist... but that's enough rambling for now... on to another answer...

Answer 4

This is an extremely philosophical question that has been around since Plato, who was one of the first to try and answer the problem of evil. However it is saint Augustine of Hippo that gave the solutions that most Christians accept while using the philosophies of Plato.
Augustine says that everything God created is good. Evil is the corrution of good; it is the use of good to do evil things. Evil is nothing but the privation of good.With this Augustine concludes that free will is the cause of evil because it causes man (created good) to go against the will of God.
Humans choose evil only by choosing a "lesser good" which occurs when you allow feelings to rule rather than determining good and evil based on truth. If we seek the Lord's grace we can choose to be of good will.
It's all really complicated but if your up to reading about Platonism and St. Augustine you can understand it more.

Answer 5

How do you explain the existence of evil? If there is no God there is no right and wrong. If there was no God we could call nothing evil. Anything that goes against God is called"evil". So by asking this question, you are agreeing there is a God.

Now that we both agree about that, God gave us a free will. If he had not, we would be robots- there would be no point in even creating us. We were created to love God. One cannot be forced to love God. Love must be a choice.

Answer 6

God allows evil into the world and bad things to happen because it provides the necessary stress against which the strength of our character can be tested and his will can be done. Also what worth would paradise have if we had no concept of pain to contrast it with?
His omnipotence and such is not questionable because of the existance of evil in the world. He exists everywhere because he exists in a form outside of reality and time whereas he already knows what will happen. The actions of evil and the force of suffering drive souls towards him whereas without the force of such those people might think they do not need God, therefore they would not seek him in this life and not be with him in the next.
It is not his choice that people commit evils and suffering occurs, it is the choice of the people who do it because people are given the ability to choose what they want to do. Even though they are acting agaisnt God in evil their actions cannot change what God wants to happen. It is better to suffer in this life and in paradise in the next than it is to be in pleasure now and hell later. I am not saying that all people who suffer become chrisian or any other religion. I have heard that someone is not punished for what they dont know but what they do.
The main point of christian dogma that you are overlooking is that God gives people free will. It is repercussions of the actions and choices of people that bring suffering,You could point out that nature kills indriscrimatly and God controls that, but that is anohter discussion.
Another reason evil exists is because of the influence of the devil and demons altough that is not as expressed as it once was and to discuss it would be another matter. It is necessary to know that they are not as strong as God and are suborinate to him even though they choose not to follow him.
Also, you might want to look in different places of the bible so you will see that in places what God suggests as morality is different - as in the killing people for breaking the law, and killing every person in Jericho (both from the old testament) agaisnt the turn the other cheek and such in the new testament.
Another thing - you mentioned God is always present - this is so, but there are times when does not look at you, or does wish to be present(which I do not know) for example when a person sins God cannot view them because as you implied he is free of sin and to view(or be in his/her presence) it would be agaisnt his nature. Because he exists as 4-o does not mean that he is everywhere and in everything(I mean he does not exist within evil) He does not do things that are agaisnt his nature. The omnipresent term can be misleading.

Answer 7

Interesting question and answers. The consensus amongst the Christians seems to be free will. I don't have an answer myself, but I'm interested in this free will solution.

As somebody noted above, what about evil not caused by man? Not just natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, but systemic things like disease and faminie. Clearly these are"Acts of God" but Christians seem to ignore this and say nothing of God causing these disasters, only that he is working in the hearts of those helping the victims of said disasters. I always found that a glaring contradiction.

Also, in terms of free will and evil, why couldn't an all-powerful God give us limited free will- i.e. why couldn't he give us the ability to not believe in him, to not love him, to make bad decisions, etc. without extending those bad choices into the realm of rape, murder, etc? Why give us the ability to do these horrendous things?

Finally, Christians say we are given free will and some CHOOSE evil, but many of the most horribly evil men we can think of, such as serial killers like Ed Gein, had unimaginably terrible childhoods and were systematically abused as young children. What kind of choice did God give them? What about people with mental diseases, esp. ones that make them highly prone to evil acts. Is God really giving them the same free will to choose good from evil?

I'm genuinely very interested in Christian's responses as I used to be one myself and I wonder if others have resolved these issues in their minds.

Answer 8

The God of the Bible does not present himself as any of those omni-categories. That's the problem with conflating Scripture with Greek philosophy.

To answer your question, however, evil cannot be explained. If it could, it wouldn't be evil. If it exists to bring glory to God, for the greater good, or so that good (its opposite) can exist, then it is not evil, it is good, and we just can't see it. This explanation is unsatisfying to anyone who recognizes the existence of real evil in the world.

The Bible recognizes that evil exists, but it does not attempt to explain it. Instead, it records the story of God empowering his people to oppose and eventually defeat evil. For Christians, the problem of evil is not theoretical; it is practical.

Incidentally, nowhere does the Bible credit the origin of evil to a fallen angel. Evil is a human construction, a human problem, and one that humans must eventually overcome.

Answer 9

a million). God style of created evil, he created us and he created us with free will. We abused that free will and sin and evil is what we were given from it. each and every thing is justified in the international by using what we are able to get carry of in heaven. 2). I used to imagine an same way about evil, yet then i realized evil doesn't disprove God, it proves him. If we were robots that purely imagine and act because some chemical compounds reason us to we doesn't have a free will and idea, which creates eveil. 3). i imagine it become the point to attempt all people, certain. He created the serpent, the serpent i do not imagine become meant for evil, i'm not truly positive what the point woudl be for that. 4) nicely i imagine if God is the mark of greatness, then each and every thing else doesn't be close, subsequently each and every thing is evil. 5) i imagine of evil as extra of a attempt you may want to bypass to get carry of the end result and presents of God. God did not get crucified, Jesus did. i'm fantastically positive God gained't have a human body. i do not understand what each and each and every of the drama become for.. yet i imagine it would were on your question, to save adult males.. i imagine that very element gave us extra of an incentive to choose between good and evil.. and to respond to all of this, the Bible does say the extra competition you face and the extra assessments you get carry of of your faith that you bypass and nonetheless proceed to be trustworthy you'll get carry of extra rewards in heaven, and on account that heaven or hell will be all of us's very last destination, the tremendous image try to be specializing in is heaven and what you'll get carry of in heaven and what you would nicely be in heaven, not the judgment and the assessments and the sin of this international because that is all smoke and mirrors.

Answer 10

God allows evil because it makes it harder to believe in him. He wants us to believe in him because we want to not because he gave us a perfect world. It's easy to believe in something bigger then you when things are good all the time not so when you have to take the bad along with it. Because only when your down and out do you start to question God. Why God did you let this happen to me. If God is so great why did this happen to me. If there was a God he wouldn't let this happen to me. It's all about having faith in something beyond your self.