Beth Grider 
Two mass shootings within 14 hours! In El Paso, 22 were killed and dozens injured, including a 4-month old baby. In Dayton, 9 were killed, including the killer’s sister, and 27 were injured. The perpetrators were barely adults. While these events showcase the evil around us, they don’t stand alone. Hurricanes wipe out homes and businesses. People we love are killed in accidents or by disease. With eyes wide open, we see the horrible things people do all around us. I know adoptive parents whose children have gone through horrors we couldn’t and wouldn’t want to imagine. I know people who have lost a loved one to a drunk driver (and I’m one of them). I have a friend whose son was murdered, and another friend whose daughter is in addiction. Unfortunately, this isn’t news to you. You know people who have witnessed and experienced the same things and more. You see the devastation all around and it’s heartbreaking. The truth is…bad things happen to good people.
Sometimes when we consider the obvious evil in the world, we begin to wonder about God. How does a good and loving God allow horrible events to take place? If He’s in control, why doesn’t He stop the madness?
We need to remember that God is good, even though evil exists. God created everything in the world and called it good, including humans. Actually, He called people, very good. Yet, when our eyes are open, we can’t avoid seeing evil at every corner. “Evil is not a thing or a substance in and of itself, but the warping and twisting of an antecedent good, which results in a lack of proper goodness.”[1] God didn’t create evil.[2] After the Fall, God didn’t leave the world or people to their own devices. God sent Jesus as the atoning sacrifice to reconcile the world to Himself.
Opponents of Christianity question the existence of God, based on the existence of evil. They conclude that if God is all powerful, He could prevent any evil; if God is all good, he would prevent any evil. However, there is evil, so God must not exist.[3] But, believers ascertain that God is omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnipotent, but objective evil does exist. God has a moral reason for any evil He allows, and God will allow it for our good.[4] Evil was possible in God’s created world and became actual. God has a morally sufficient reason to allow the evil that He allows.[5] It’s difficult for us to understand, but God does exist and in His loving sovereignty He allows evil to exist.
Freedom to Choose
God created man with the freedom to choose to follow Him. This freedom also allows people to choose to act in accordance with evil. God is totally sovereign, yet humans are still responsible for their actions and choices. People are held accountable for their actions of belief, obedience, defiance, choice, etc.[6] Proverbs 16:9 states, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps” (HCSB). Even in Scripture, where God is said to have hardened a person’s heart, the person is responsible for his actions. He is in no way considered to have been without his freewill (Genesis 50:20; 1 Samuel 2:25).[7] Scripture supports man’s moral responsibility. “Suffering and evil are unavoidable if God is to respect the structures of creation and refrain from overriding human free will…”[8] So, people choose actions that harm themselves or others and they’re held responsible for those actions.
Greater Good
When bad things happen to good people, God will use it to bring about something good. “God uses certain evils to actualize a good greater than would be possible otherwise.”[9] While God does not cause evil, it can be used for God’s intended result. Logically, some good which is greater than evil, requires evil to ascertain; likewise, there are no other, better goods obtainable without those evils.[10] In Genesis, Joseph offers an example of a man who deals with the challenges and struggles of life, which lead to virtue. Risk or danger is required to produce courage, heroism, and self-sacrifice. A person must face adversity to become victorious.[11] “A perfectly loving being may use painful means to perfect less than perfectly loving creatures.”[12]
When you see the atrocities of the world, pray to the one with the power to use it for some good…pray for the victims and for our world and pray for people to choose good rather than evil.
[1] Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith, 626.
[6] Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith, 634.
[8] Brian Hebblethwaite, In Defence of Christianity, (Oxford, New York: University Oxford Press, 2005), 114, accessed April 10, 2016, Ebscohost.
[9] Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive case for Biblical Faith., 638.
Great read! Sometimes it’s easy to blame God for these bad things that happen every day. The truth is pure Evil is out there to pull us in if we don’t have our focus on the one true God!