If you like to read books, you may have heard of Elie Wisel. He is a famous writer who had been in a concentration camp during the Holocaust which completely changed his way of thinking God and furthermore his life. Like this, sometimes evilness attacks and even destroys people’s faith in God. Then why is there evil in this world if a loving God who is strong enough to remove the evil exists? We can find an answer from ourselves, not God. We, who were given freewill from God, have chosen to let evilness exist and even prosper in this world.
Evil is let exist in the world by human beings. Adam and Eve brought evilness into the world by disobeying God (NIV Bible gen.3), but bringing the evil and creating the evil are completely different. Then, what is the origin of the evil? Who made the evil which has made this world very abnormal? The Bible clearly says that God did create not only the light and prosperity, but also the darkness and disaster (Isaiah 45:7).
He is the only creator who is able to make a huge thing such as evil which causes great pain in this world. Let’s think. Isn’t it ironic that perfectly loving God who wants to get rid of all evilness exists in this world created the evil? A parable of weeds among the wheat gives us a clear answer (NIV Bible matt.3:24-30).
In the parable, the wheat is the symbol of the good and the weeds stand for the bad. The weeds grow with the wheat. The weeds are parasitic on the wheat and prevent the wheat from being provided enough nourishment. At first, it is hard to distinguish the wheat from the weeds, so we cannot pull the weeds because while we are pulling the weeds we might also pull the wheat. However, at the time of the harvest, the weeds are rooted up without remorse. The reason why God allows evil in the world is to distinguish the good from the bad. Let’s pretend there is a grain of rice. Do you think you would be able to find the grain of rice if you put it in a rice bag? However, if you put it in a black sesame bag, you can easily find it. Like this, good is exposed when it coexists with bad. Also, if we view the concept of vaccination, we can understand the purpose of God more easily. Vaccination means to inject a vaccine into the body do that the body might create specific antibodies and become immune to the cold. The vaccine could be kind of ordeal to the body, however, as a result, the body can develop its strength against the real cold viruses, and be resistant to the disease. Just like the concept of vaccination, by coexisting with the evil, we can have a power to fight against the evil and to choose the righteous way, not the temptation of the evil, when we are confronting the evilness in this world. Thus, the existence of the evil makes us be able to be mature spiritually. Ultimately, the choice of God to create the evil is for our ultimate good.
The Essay on Good Things Evil God World
Dostoevsky: Why is there evil? This story is about two brothers, Ivan and Alyosha. Alyosha is a monk and Ivan is his brother who doesn't believe or accept God. Ivan believes that God cannot exist because there is evil. He doesn't want to try and be convinced otherwise by his brother. Ivan accepts and believes in God and says that there has to be evil. Evil has to be permitted because without it ...
God definitely created the evil, and we were definitely given freewill from Him. We can clearly see that God wants us to have freewill from the dialogue between God and Moses (NIV Bible exo.3:4-4:17).
In the Bible, Moses keeps on asking God whether or not he is qualified for the task that God gave to him. Since that mission is extremely important and its burden is too heavy, Moses is trying to not undertake the task if he can. Even though he is just talking around, not getting straight to the point, God is waiting for Moses and answering patiently. God is easily able to make Moses obey, but he doesn’t, because he respects Moses and his freewill. God, who knows what Moses is concerning about, does not force him to undertake the task, but suggests another way for Moses to help Him. Then, why does God want us to have freewill? To give us freewill means to renounce a right to be directly involved in our decisions and to be sovereign over everything but our freewill. Wouldn’t it be so annoying? Wouldn’t it be so painful to just watch all evil things happen in the world and do nothing? However, God does allow us to have freewill, because He wants us to love Him as He loves us, and “genuine love cannot exist unless freely given through free choice to accept God’s love or to reject it” (McDowell Q. Why does God allow evil to exist?).
The Essay on God vs. Evil
God, like Adam and Eve, suffered consequences. Genesis 3:14-17, God says: “Because you did this…” referring to the serpent who tempted Eve, then to Eve, and finally to Adam, “Because you did…” Humankind invited the existence of Evil into the goodness of God’s creation. No longer did God walk in the breeze of the Garden of Eden; no longer did God remain in the actual presence of humankind. No ...
Since to be loved by a robot which is designed to give only love to its owner is meaningless, God has given us freewill so that He can have a true love relationship with us even though the freewill that He gave us made the evil become very real.
So, we have freewill, we have a right to decide as we want, we have chosen to allow evil prosper in the world, and we are now trying to shift our responsibility to God and put blame on Him. Freedom comes with responsibilities. We have been able to have freewill, but as a result, we have to be responsible for what we’ve done. The evilness prospers or prospered in this world such as Holocaust is a price for having freewill. God definitely could have prevented the Holocaust, but He didn’t. He just stood by and watched people, even the goods, died of hunger and torture in a great disbelief in God, because He knew that that was the consequence of the wrong choice of humans, and taking a part in the result of humans’ choice is not a righteous way to lead them to His Kingdom. He did choose to give us freedom and let us do whatever we want, but it does not mean that he is indifferent to us. He feels sorry for our wrong choices and our sinfulness (NIV Bible gen.6:6), and does care us and want to help us (NIV Bible Mark.3:5).
Also, before we blame God for tolerating the Holocaust, we do need to take a look at ourselves. Did many people help Jews who were suffering without any cause? Would you have risked your life to save or support Jews if you were living in that period? Almost no one dared do it but chose to be silent. “The question is not so much “Why did God allow the Holocaust?” but “Why did we?”” (Why did God allow the Holocaust?).
God created evil and gave us freewill because he wants to have true love relationship with us. However, we have chosen to allow evil and even complained about taking full responsibility for what we have chosen. We have forgotten what the word “freewill” really means for too long. Child has a freedom when he/she is under the parents’ care. However, we cannot call it freedom when the child shakes off the mom’s hand and runs into the roadway. Genuine freedom can exist when it is under the wise control which does not affect the freewill. Child can be truly free when he/she chooses to be in mom’s care. The freewill that God has given us is the power that makes us able to have true freedom. We are lead to the intact truth though the Bible and the truth will let us free. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(NIV Bible John 8:32)
The Essay on Religious Freedom Bible Printed People
Over the history of mankind there have been relatively few who have truly enjoyed religious freedom. Though we see definite signs of increased limitations being put on traditional religious organizations today, we here in America enjoy freedom far beyond that enjoyed by the generations before us and most of our contemporaries around the world. We take our freedoms for granted just as we take fresh ...
Blech, Benjamin. If God Is Good Why Is the World so Bad? Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Simcha, 2003. Print.
McDowell, Josh. “Why Does God Allow Evil to Exist?” Bethinking.org – Engage with Culture. Web. 20 May 2010. .
Niv Bible. Hodder & Stoughton, 2008. Print.
“Why Did God Allow the Holocaust?” Bible Questions Answered. Web. 20 May 2010. .
