Why does God allow evil to exist?

Question

While it can be argued that God is not the source of evil, but shouldn't he at least not allow bad things to happen to good people?

Why is it that even after adding that I can concede that God is not the source of evil, do many people still answer THAT!? The question is yes, Man is the source of evil. Why is free will so important to God that he is willing to let innocent people to suffer the sins of evil men. Take off your rose colored glasses for a moment and look at the world around you. These evil men are those who live in luxury while the good men are those who are content to suffer. If God is good, why does he not impose his justice in the world?

Answer 1

Wake up! Life is not fair!

Answer 2

I am not sure what your religion is but if you look in the Bible in Genesis, it says something like this: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Genesis 1:31)". The Christian apostolic tradition tells us that God did not create evil. Nothing evil comes from God, only good, only love, peace and kindness. Evil does exist however and if you will it can be thought of as a disorder in the order that God initially created.

Your question is at the very root at the Christian faith. You see, if you read the Book of Job in the Bible there you have some good answers. Evil will be conquered and completely effaced at some point, as Jesus promises in the Book of Revelation: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 1:4)"

So as an answer to your question, God will not allow bad things to happen to good people soon, after Christ's Second Coming.

But the question remains as to why He allows bad things to happen to good people until then...

Well, you see my friend, as long as evil is in the world, suffering is unavoidable. It is impossible for evil to be present in the world and for no one to suffer. And of course it's the good people who suffer. Those who do follow the doctrine of Christ will be precisely the ones who will be struck by evil: "I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also (Matthew 5:39)"

And why is evil still allowed to exist? Well, because when evil will be effaced by Christ and Our Blessed Mother, when Christ will return, then the Judgement will take place and it will be too late for anyone dead or alive to make more amends for their own mistakes. So here it is. The more evil is allowed to be among us, the more chance we have to make amends for our mistakes and for those of others so that we'll be found blameless when we will have to face Christ face to Face.
Every day that passes, people are turning to Christ and are being thus saved and prepared for His Return.

God bless you

Answer 3

I must challenge the point of view that 'God is not the source of evil'. Why is he not?
If God is the authour of everything he is responsible for the entire setup, including the necessity for free-will in the type of world he creates. This means that problem situations like babies smothered by depressed mothers or cruelty to children are allowed to exist by god to allow the free-will of others. This turns god into a utilitarian figure, which is a problem if you are a christian.

Even if objections can be raised aginst human evil, there is no accounting for so called natural evil. Why would a benevolent/omnipotent/omniscient god allow epidemic diseases or tidal waves to kill innocent people for no apparent reason? It serves no free-will purpose. Which is also a challnge to the design argument, in that god has limitations on the kinds of designs he can create.

It is rather that the concept of evil is unavoidably a 'caused' or purpose-filled idea in theological world views.

Answer 4

Evil is in the world and God does not make people do anything. He gave us a MIND to do and choose our ways. If we are Christians then we have someone to go to for help. He expects us to turn to Him. Sure bad things happen, but, it only brings us closer to God. If nothing bad ever happened then we'd soon feel like we didn't ever need God, So in a strange way, it's for our own good. If we didn't turn to and trust God then we would all be in sin. Now where do sinners go that haven't repented and accepted God ? Not me, I'll take the bad things and accept the free gift of salvation.

Answer 5

Though many writers in the Bible complained about suffering and evil....the Scriptures make it plain that God did not create the world in the state in which it is now, but evil came as a result of the selfishness of man. The Bible says that God is a God of love and He desired to create a person and eventually a race that would love Him. But genuine love cannot exist unless freely given through free choice and will and thus man was given the choice to accept God’s love or to reject it ... choose 'good' or 'evil.' "War, rape, starvation, and more," is the result of this.

How do we, from a Christian viewpoint respond to the problem of evil? With sorrow. With sadness. With revulsion. With perplexity. With questions that have no answers ... Each of us has had wrong thoughts, evil thoughts. Each of us has done something wrong — something evil. Why does God allow evil within us? None of us deserves to escape punishment, and yet God allows escape, too. If we ask why there is evil, we should also ask why there is mercy. Let us fight against evil and needless suffering, starting with ourselves.

Answer 6

God did not cause evil to exist. Evil is everything that goes against God's will. Actions against God's will are sins. Bad things happen to all people either because we allow them to happen or accidents happen with no one at fault, (not even God), or really mean people did something bad to you. But it is not God's fault. Especially ;people can choose if they want to do good or not. For now God is allowing evil to exist only because God wants to show how his mercy and love and forgiveness exist too.

Answer 7

i think your really wondering is if god is watching us how can he bare to see us suffer or evil things to take place in front of his eyes. god was created not as ruler of the universe as we probably all see him or her but as a force within it that binds it together like our sun does our solar system and as for why does evil exist because we believe in evil / in gods eyes he sees no evil only lost souls. i promise that . we know what goodness is so we labeled things that didn't lead us toward that goodness evil or bad and that's all i have to say about that.

Answer 8

Then what was the point of life?

It's a 'test' as all followers of any religion believe it to be. If there was no evil... everyone would go straight to heaven, which leaves no point of this part of life.

Second, evil is not created just like darkness.
Absence of good is known as evil just like absence of light is called darkness.

Answer 9

I think you should start to realize by this is that there is no God. The only thing that governs evil is the people who decide to be evil. Think about it. If you wanted to go mass murder the next 5 people you see, there will be no God that will stop you except for your own conscious self. Therefore, the only thing governing the source of evil is not God, but rather yourself.

Answer 10

That which does not kill us makes us stonger! God allows bad things to happen to us all!! I am kinda glad in a way....since sometimes we learn from things that go wrong in our lives....we are also tested to see what we will do in certain situations. It's called LIFE! Each one of us has to learn to take the good with the bad!! Sometimes, what may seem bad to us at the time, actually turns out to be a blessing in disguise!! God works in mysterious ways!!

Be Blessed!

Answer 11

Ok, here's the thing. God gave man free will. Just like America does. We get the choice to sin, to serve Him, we get the choice to live riotous lives, we get the choice to give our lives to Jesus. And GOD WILL NOT VIOLATE THAT. HE WILL NOT GO AGAINST MAN'S WILL. He's said that countless times in His Word. What people do not realize is that we have an adversary: the devil. The Bible says that the devil "roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." And we have the choice to yeild to the devil. When we do that BAD THINGS HAPPEN. I don't realize if people understand that. The Bible says that "the wages of sin is death." Not just physical death. Death in our homes, in our marriages, death in our finances, death in our relationships, death in our schools, in our neighborhoods.

When Adam sinned in the garden, he brough sin into the world. And when we sin, something dies. That's why the world is so bad now. That's what happened in Genesis with Noah. The world was so evil and so corrupt that God said that he had to destroy the world because it was so out of control. So, he brought the flood. But God won't destroy the earth with a flood again. (He said that in His word).

It pains God to see people dying in the streets and people leaving their families, young people going to jail, people being head over heals in death. It pains him to see children disrespecting their parents. But all that foolishness IS NOT HIS FAULT. It's not his fault that parents don't know how to control their children. It's not his fault that people can't stop spending money on frivolous things so that they can't even provide adequately for their families. All that nonsense isn't God's fault. Its ours. It's our own fault. And until we can stop blaming God for our poor choices, is going to be the time where we can fully understand how God operates.