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Answer
The Bible describes God as holy: “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3), righteous: “God judgeth the righteous, And God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Psalm 7:11), just: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: For all his ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4), and sovereign (Daniel 4:17-25). These attributes reveal that God is capable of preventing evil and desires to eliminate evil from the universe. If both statements are accurate, why does God permit evil? If God can prevent evil and wants to do so, why does He allow evil to exist? One way to approach this question practically is to consider alternative methods by which people might suggest God manage the world:
1) God could alter everyone’s personality to prevent them from sinning. However, this would eliminate free will. Individuals would lack the ability to differentiate between right and wrong because they would be “programmed” to always choose correctly. If God had opted for this approach, meaningful relationships between Him and His creation would not exist.
Instead, God created Adam and Eve as innocent beings with the freedom to choose between good and evil. This allowed them to respond to His love by either trusting Him or disobeying Him. They ultimately chose to disobey.Disobey. Because we live in a real world where we can choose our actions but not their consequences, their sin affected those who came after them (us). Similarly, our decisions to sin have an impact on us and those around us and those who will come after us.
2) God could compensate for people’s evil actions through supernatural intervention 100 percent of the time. God would stop a drunk driver from causing an automobile accident. God would prevent a lazy construction worker from doing a substandard job on a house that would later cause grief to the homeowners. God would hinder a father who is addicted to drugs or alcohol from causing harm to his wife, children, or extended family. God would prevent gunmen from robbing convenience stores. God would intervene to stop high school bullies from tormenting the brainy kids. God would deter thieves from shoplifting. And, yes, God would prevent terrorists from flying airplanes into buildings.
While this solution sounds appealing, it would lose its appeal as soon as God’s intervention infringed on something we wanted to do. We desire God to prevent terribly evil actions, but we are willing to let “lesser-evil” actions slide—not realizing that those “lesser-evil” actions are what usually lead to the “greater-evil” actions. Should God only prevent actual sexual affairs, or should He also block our access to pornography or end any inappropriate, but not yet sexual, relationships? Should God prevent “true” thieves, or should He also prevent us from cheating on our taxes? Should God only prevent murder, or should He also prevent the “lesser-evil” actions done to people that lead them to commit murder? Should God only prevent acts of terrorism, or should He also prevent the indoctrination that transforms a person into a terrorist?
3) Another choice would be for God to judge and remove those who choose to commit evil acts. The issue with this possibility is that there would be no one left, for God would have to remove us all. We all sin and commit evil acts (Romans 3:23; Ecclesiastes 7:20; 1 John 1:8). While some individuals are more wicked than others, where does God draw the line? Ultimately, all wickedness causes harm to others.
Instead of these alternatives, God has chosen to establish a “real” world where genuine choices result in actual consequences. In this authentic world of ours, our actions impact others. Due to Adam’s decision to sin, the world now exists under the curse, and we are all born with a sinful nature «Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: », (Romans 5:12). There will come a time when God will judge the sin in this world and make all things new, but He is intentionally “delaying” to allow more time for people to repent so that He will not need to condemn them «The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. », (2 Peter 3:9). Until then, He IS concerned about evil. When He established the Old Testament laws, one of His objectives was to deter and punish evil. He judges nations and rulers who ignore justice and pursue evil. Similarly, in the New Testament, God affirms that it is the government’s duty to ensure justice to safeguard the innocent from evil (Romans 13). He also pledges severe repercussions for those who commit evil deeds, particularly against the “innocent” (Mark 9:36-42).
In essence, we inhabit a genuine world where our virtuous and malevolent actions have direct and indirect consequences on us and those around us. God’s wish is that for the sake of all, we would obey Him.That it might be well with us «O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! », (Deuteronomy 5:29). Instead, what happens is that we choose our own way, and then we blame God for not doing anything about it. Such is the heart of sinful man. But Jesus came to change men’s hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit, and He does this for those who will turn from evil and call on Him to save them from their sin and its consequences «Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. », (2 Corinthians 5:17). God does prevent and restrain some acts of evil. This world would be MUCH WORSE were God not restraining evil. At the same time, God has given us the ability to choose good and evil, and when we choose evil, He allows us, and those around us, to suffer the consequences of evil. Rather than blaming God and questioning God on why He does not prevent all evil, we should be about the business of proclaiming the cure for evil and its consequences—Jesus Christ!
