Why is there evil and suffering in the world?

Question

The question implies that if a good God exists, then evil shouldn't because God, being all powerful, should stop it.
We need to ask and answer two questions. First, what is evil? It is that which is against God. It is anything morally bad or wrong. It is injurious, depraved, wicked. Some acceptable examples might be murder, rape, stealing, lying, and cheating. Second, if we want God to stop evil, do we want Him to stop all evil, or just some of it? In other words, if just some of it, then why? If He were to stop only part of the evil, then we would still be asking the question, "Why is there evil in the world?"
Let's suppose that someone was about to commit murder. God would have to stop him, maybe whisper in his ear, or if that didn't work, do something a little more drastic, like have something fall on him, or stop his heart, or make his hands suddenly fall off. Anyway, God would have to do something.

What if somebody wanted to steal? God would have to stop him too, right? Undoubtedly, God's imagination would permit a more practical method than I have suggested, but the end results would be the same.
What about lying? If someone were to tell a lie, then to be consistent wouldn't you want God right there to stop that person from lying? After all, He couldn't let any evil occur, could He?
Let's take it a step further. Suppose someone thought something evil. Then, of course, God would have to step in and prevent him from thinking anything bad at all, right? The end result would be that God could not allow anyone to think freely. Since everyone thinks, and no one thinks only pure thoughts, God would be pretty busy, and we wouldn't be able to think. Anyway, at what point do we stop - at the murder level, stealing level, lying level, or thinking level?

As your question implies, if you want God to stop evil, you would have to be consistent and want Him to do it everywhere all the time, not just pick and choose. It wouldn't work.
Evil is in this world partly because we give it its place but ultimately because God, in His sovereignty, permits it and keeps it under His control.
Then you might say, "Couldn't He just make us perfect and that way we wouldn't sin?" He already did that. He made a perfect angel, Satan, but he sinned. He made a perfect man, Adam, and he sinned. He made a perfect woman, Eve, and she sinned. God knows what He is doing. He made us the way we are for a purpose. We don't fully understand that purpose, but He does.
God is sovereign; He has the right to do as He wishes. He has the right to permit evil for accomplishing His ultimate will. How can He do that? Simple, look at the Cross. It was by evil means that men lied and crucified Jesus. Yet God in His infinite wisdom used this evil for good.

. It was on the Cross that Jesus bore our sins in His body (1 Peter. 2:24) and it is because of the Cross that we can have forgiveness of sins.
Consider the biblical example of Joseph in the Old Testament. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. Though they meant it for evil, God meant it for good (Gen. 50:20). God is so great that nothing happens without His permission, and in that permission His ultimate plan unfolds. In His plan He is able to use for good what man intends for evil. God is in control.

Answer 1

Apparently, according to your own kind, you should never question "God".

Answer 2

The answer to this question is not exactly simple.

According to my Grampa whose a baptist minister,

While God does know what we are going to do before we do it, he chooses to let us made our own decisions anyways.

Lets put it this way.

Would you rather have people be your friend because they like you or because you invent a way to control them and force them to be your friend.

The first is undoubtably more satisfying.

This concept can be applied to any issue,

If you choose to rape or murder, then in effect you are choosing to reject God,

and According to my Grandpa it says somewhere in the Bible that free will is the way God prefers it. He gave us an established set of guidelines to follow, and we can choose to either follow them or not.

So I guess what my grandfather would say is, God could easily stop us from doing wrong, but chooses not to, because of the concept in my example....true beleif is by choice not by force...and hes not going to force people to choose salvation over hell, even though the Bible says he will give them every chance he can to choose. (rapture etc.)

I by no means claim to be a great spiritual person, those are just my beleifs mixed with that of my Pastor Grampas.

Ok I take that back, in light of recent events I nno longer agree with my Grampa, I now just think God hates me

Answer 3

my answer is as clear as any transparent thing . See if there would be no evil how would a person can be able to differentiate between the good and the bad. If there would be no evil how would people understand that good is better than evil and they would never respect the good thing and not that. there is also a famous saying that people who are good god takes them with them bcoz he like good people . and in a way evil is helping him.

Answer 4

There are many explanations. My agnostic one is that human nature sucks, so there's evil and suffering.

My religious one is that according to the Bible, we have free will. This means that we are free to make our own choices in the world, whether or not they respect God. Also, good cannot exist without evil, just as evil cannot exist without good. Without extreme poverty, there can be no Peace Corps.

Answer 5

There is no way around it, if God created all things, then God created evil. To say that Satan or man are the creators of evil is to say that that they are equal creators with God.
As religious people are so fodnd of saying, a creation needs a creator. If evil exist, it is from God as all things that exist are from God.

Answer 6

Evil and suffering is the result of the curse of sin!

http://www.handlethetruth.net

Answer 7

I blame it on Hitler