Why Does God Allow Suffering And Evil
If God eliminated suffering and evil right now, you and I wouldn’t be alive at this moment.
Why? Because you and I are the sources of suffering and evil.
We create suffering and evil for this world whenever we conceive evil thoughts and/or act upon them. The world can only be perfect if everyone obeys one set of law perfectly, and only if that law itself is perfect.
I believe we have the perfect law, which is God’s Law (Psalm19:7), but no one is perfect enough to obey it (Romans 3:20).
20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight [God's sight] by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Romans 3:20
The Law makes us aware of how sinful we are. Try to act good for one week by following the Ten Commandments, and you will discover that you cannot act good for very long.
Even if you are not Christians, you can still act good according to your conscience. Many people have tried this experiment when they were kids. One must be disillusioned to imagine that they are good if they can’t even stay good for a few days.
It took us many years of education and growing up to convince ourselves that we aren’t sinners. Most people were successful in believing that.
Can a boiled seed sprouts?
No, just as a boiled seed can never sprout, a fallen race can never be perfect either.
Have you ever wondered why we have tried for many thousands of years but we still failed at stopping murders, rapes, wars, greed, injustice, poverty, sickness, and other curses that are caused by human weaknesses?
The answer to the problems doesn’t lie in a perfect system or government. If the root of problems is human, you can never fix the problems through a perfected system or government.
People who thought they could change the world with their ideologies only created bigger suffering and evil for everyone. For example, communism and fascism. Communism alone had caused hundred of millions of death in the last half century.
When the first human couple sinned, they and their offspring were fallen and spiritually dead. It could never be undone.
Death had entered the world because of sin, and this was why we have had all kind of suffering and evil since.
The first transgression of Adam and Eve had contaminated our DNA and created a moral weakness, and since then transgressions in the world have only increased as the human race departed further and further from God.
Through generations, our moral weaknesses and hereditary diseases and disorders have been piling up. We have been degenerating, not evolving!
12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— Romans 5:12
With each new transgression, more damage is done to our race and the world we live in. As we invent new ways to sin and grieve God, we also bring more and more suffering and evil into our world (Romans 1:28-32).
God delayed our punishments because of mercy
If God didn’t delay punishments for anyone, there would not be one single Christian on earth, because all would have died the moment they sinned.
Those of us who asked, “Why does God allow suffering and evil?”, might possibly be pointing our fingers to the “evil men” who do “evil”, such as Hitler. And we might be also pointing fingers to God Himself, and imply that He is the ultimate author of suffering and evil.
If you call someone Hitler, it is considered to be one of the worst insults. No one wants to admit that his or her heart is just as capable of evil as Hitler. However, the truth is we just don’t have the power and guts to carry out the evils in our hearts like Hitler did.
Who voted Hitler into power? The average people! Who carried out his orders? The average people!
Have you ever voted anyone who was pro-choice (pro-abortion) into any public office? If you voted for that person because he or she promised government handouts, you are hiring murderer for bribe!! (Ezekiel 22:12)
In you men accept bribes to shed blood [abortion for example]; you take usury and excessive interest [Illegal central banks such as U.S.'s Federal Reserve] and make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion [Governmental wealth redistribution program, stealing from the rich and give it to the poor]. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.
At least half the population of every democratic country have voted for murderers because of welfare or other ungodly reasons. As for totalitarian governments, they were given power by the majority of their people at one time.
There are at least a hundred other ways in which we have been participating murder and extortion, voting for murderers and wealth re-distributors were just two of the many examples.
“Thou shall not murder” and “Thou shall not steal” are just two of the Ten Commandments, and we almost break the rest of the ten commandments on a daily basis.
1You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? Romans 2:1-4
God allows suffering and evil for you and I!!!! He is tolerating us for just a little while.
This is not the time to fold our arms and judge God and others, but it is the time to repent!!! The day of God’s wrath and reckoning is quick approaching.
God’s solution to our fallen state
If the seed is boiled, then replace it with a new seed! This is God’s solution.
The old seed is useless. Whatever you do to it it will not sprout. Many people try to do something to their nature to become better, spiritually enlightened, or whatever they call it. However, no amount of good work can compensate our sins and transgression, nor can it bring about a lasting change to our fallen nature. (Romans 7:5)
5For when we were controlled by the sinful nature,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. Romans 7:5
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not undehttp://bible-verses-insights.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=609&message=10rstand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Romans 7:14-20
To believe we can change our nature, or evolve into a more enlightened being, is like watering a boiled seed and hope it would sprout.
God decided to give us a new nature. This new nature is the new life of Jesus Christ.
9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:9
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” … 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John3:3,5
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Those who accept Jesus Christ as their personal savor will receive the new nature, but he must also follow Jesus as Lord and live by faith in God every moment to grow and manifest that new nature everyday:
My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. Galatians 4:19
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[c] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17
Faith is superior than willpower. Faith come by the Spirit of God speaking into our spirit (Romans10:17). When God speaks His Word into our spirits, faith is formed, and we response to this initial faith by confessing His spoken Word with our mouths, and believing it in the hearts.
As we do that, the power and faith of God are being released from the Word of God and we will be able to accomplish or receive what the Word of God says it will accomplish.
Holiness is the nature and work of God. What was started by God cannot be completed by our willpower or old nature, but has to be completed by God Himself:
3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Galatians 3:3-4
What is our part then? Our part is to live by faith, speak words of faith, act upon faith, and hold our faith.
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Hebrews 4:14
By exercising faith persistently, we substantiate the life of Christ until He is formed in us!
If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savor, go here to learn how to do so.
OK, I have become a Christian now, so when will the suffering and evil stop?
Congratulation! No matter you have become a Christin just a minute ago, or years ago, you have signed up to become God’s lasting solution to the problem of suffering and evil.
Hear this again! You have become part of God’s final solution to the problem of suffering and evil!!!
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that[i] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:22-23
After we have become children of God, it added new meaning to our suffering. Prior to knowing God, we suffer for the sake of suffering. After knowing God, we suffer for great purposes.
As we wait eagerly for the manifestation of our full inheritance as children of God (i.e. heaven, eternal life, and the whole nine yards), Christ is forming in us as we face our earthly challenges with godly faith each day (Galatians 4:19).
Suffering become purposeful tests that test our characters and faith. It actually help us grow if we respond to suffering properly:
3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-5
You may want to know why does it have to take so long? Why can’t we just go back to the good old days of Adam and Eve as if nothing happened? No more suffering and evil as soon as we believe Jesus?
What were God waiting for? Why doesn’t He stop the suffering and evil as soon as we become Christian?
In the good old days of Adam and Eve, everything was good –no death, no sin, no sickness, no aging, no evil, and no suffering – but good wasn’t good enough to prevent them from sinning!! (Genesis 1:31)
Think about it, it hadn’t been too long since God created the earth, the Garden of Eden, and the human couples, before they sinned. Everything was good, nothing was forbidden from humans except just one thing: they can’t eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Of all the good and juicy fruits in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose to eat the only fruits that they were not supposed to eat. God told them, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2: 16-17)
They still ate it.
By choosing knowledge of good and evil, they chose to decide for themselves and be their own god. God planted the tree there because He had to give them the option to decide to stay with Him or to depart from Him.
You can’t really physically depart from God, because He is everywhere, but you can depart from God if you separate your spirit from Him and develop a strong sense of self and self determination. This was what our ancestors essentially did.
God already told them they will die if they chose that option, but they didn’t really believe it.
To this day, He still offer us freewill. Without freewill, we can never be perfect. A perfect being is a conscious, sentimental being.
If God simply revert things to the days of Adam and Eve, and stop the suffering and evil right now, what make you think that you won’t decide to sin again?
An eternity with God is too long and too perfect for us… if we enter it without proper preparation
If you have become a Christian long enough, you might have pondered this question, “Eternity… how does God make sure I won’t sin for that long?”
Even some of the angels sinned! In fact, they sinned before humans did.
One third of the angels rebelled against God. Their leader is Satan. They knew mentally what they were doing. They had been living in heaven and seeing God everyday prior to their fall, but still decided to rebel against Him.
They knew what they were doing mentally, but they couldn’t really understand the gravity and the eternal consequences of their choice because they were pure and innocent just before they sinned.
Even the angels, who can see God and dwell in heaven, have the need to learn and gain knowledge (1 Peter 1:12).
If you and I were born in a good state like the angels and Adam and Eve, we wouldn’t understand suffering and evil either. We could never understand the Word of God deeply by just listening to God preaching in heaven, for it is written:
A servant cannot be corrected by mere words; though he understands, he will not respond. Proverbs 29:19
Imagine talking to a healthy kid about death, crime, handicap, cancer, or evil, she won’t really understand if she had never experienced it. She knows no real pain. You can’t talk her out of harm’s way if she feels itchy and wants to entertain her “what if I do this?” kind of curiosity.
In order for a kid to learn to hate evil and love good, she must experience some real pains such as being lied to, get some small cuts, or volunteer for unfortunate people as she grows up in order to understand these things deeper.
God is omnipotent, but I wonder if even He is able to tell a “good” man what sin, death, sickness, murder, and other evil is like. What I meant by “good” was the Adam and Eve kind of good before they sinned for the first time.
God is a wise teacher, so He allows us to learn by experiences if we ask for it. His plan A was for Adam and Eve to never have sinned in the first place, but since that plan was forever gone, now His plan B was to replace our fallen nature and forgive our sin through His Son Jesus Christ.
That’s not all, God is able to bring good out of evil, so He makes use of evil instead of simply eliminating it all together. Therefore, part of His current plan was to raise His Church through present suffering and evil, instead of without.
3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-5
1Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2
By going through tribulations and temptations in this world, we learn God’s Word deeper than we would if things were good and perfect. (Psalm 119:71)
Nothing in our life is pointless, even the bad and evil. Everything is going to be useful even after we enter the other side of eternity, because…
Our life is an epistle! The Church is the perfect teaching material!
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. 2 Corinthians 3:3
The reason God let us live the rest of our earthly days after conversion is because He wants to write on us with His Spirit. We are His living letters, books, and tablets. Nothing is more touching than a real life story. God wants to co-author our life as much as we let Him to.
For those who are obedient, they enjoy more blessings and rewards in this life and in eternity, and maybe endure some persecutions for God on earth. For those who are goofing around and are disobedient, they suffer consequences and disciplines, and may become some of the “poorest” folks in the kingdom of heaven, if they make it there.
The suffering and evil that we endure through our earthly life will become part of the eternal teaching materials for the entire heaven and the rest of human race. Everyone will know how good good is, how bad bad is, and how evil evil is, by reading us.
The ripples of every good choice or bad choice made by us in this life will be revealed fully to all intelligent creatures, who are humans and angels, for eternity. God doesn’t need to teach us with “Thou shall not!” anymore. He will have plenty of living epistles to teach everyone.
9For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. 1 Corinthians 4:9
It would be like a multi-dimensional slide show (at least 3-D if not 4, 5, 6 D). The audiences will be able to know exactly what you have been through, feel what you felt, and know exactly how each person felt who had ever interacted with you.
We will be able to study each living epistle from all points of view and depths, gaining experiential knowledge from each epistle quickly and easily. We will be able to understand the Bible much deeper by watching epistle movies in relation to the Word of God.
Remember I established earlier that one of the main reasons why Adam and Eve and the fallen angels chose to sin was because they lacked experiential knowledge? Problem solved!
And that’s not all…
Without the Church, eternity is too big, too long for everyone
God doesn’t want a quick fix for suffering and evil. He wants a solution that guarantees to last!
Part of the lasting solution is to form Christ in each one of us, because only the very nature of God can guarantee to live for eternity without sinning. Good and innocent aren’t enough to ensure a 100%, eternal guarantee, but with the nature and life of Christ intertwined with the very fabric of our soul and spirit, we can have confidences for eternity.
That’s not all, every “Christ container” interconnect with one another as the Church! The Church is the greatest invention ever! Only God could conceive such an ingenious idea (Ephesians 1:8-10, 18-23).
God is huge. He is deep. He is intense. He is absolute and holy. And to think that anyone would live with Him forever, can you imagine that?
Remember, even angels sinned!
But now things have changed: we have the Church!
We learned that in eternity there will be living epistles to gain experiential knowledge from: Not a hundred, not a thousands, but possibly hundreds of millions of living epistles.
The Church is like a gigantic library of epistles.
The Church, which we are part of, will maintain intimate fellowship with God and with each saint for eternity.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3
In eternity we will fellowship with every saint who once lived on earth and fought a good fight. They had gone through many suffering, evil, and temptations, but they have overcome with their faith, the word of their testimony, and the blood of the Lamb. (Hebrews 11; Revelation 12:11)
There will be no communication barrier like we have on earth. We can communicate with instant thoughts. The richness and speed we receive and share knowledge and understanding with in eternity will be far beyond our present earthly mind can comprehend. (1 Corinthians 13:9-12)
If temptation to rebel God exist in eternity at all, we have the entire Church behind each one of us. The moment a temptation fly by anyone, the rest of the Church, with all her heroes of faith and saints with different spiritual gifts, will come to our aid in the speed of light, literally.
If there is a Bible lesson to be learned, millions of “movies clips” from epistles that are relevant to that lesson, along with relevant Bible verses, will flash through the mind. There will not be any boring “thou shall not” or “one day you will understand” anymore.
Conclusion: There are more suffering and evil to come, but you can escape it!
The earth will soon go through the most horrible time in history. There was nothing like it before, nor will there ever be. That period is the Great Tribulation.
The Bible has long prophesied that final 7 years of the present world. The anti-Christ will rise. He will persecute those who follow the biblical God, and wage gigantic wars with factions, subdue them and cause mass scale destruction on many parts of the world.
There will be global disasters. People will will be extremely paranoid and frightful because of what happen during that period. It will not be pleasant to have to live with people at that time, because the Bible says the people grow cold because of wickedness, and they betray and hate each other. (Luke 21:25-26; Luke 24:10,12)
The worst thing is, the godly men and women will be snatched away by Jesus Christ into heaven: Christians who are counted worthy will escape the Great Tribulation (Luke 21:34-36). With all the godly and mighty men and women gone, the world lose its only true light.
And Satan will be given greater freedom to do his evil deed, for only worldly people will be left on earth and they have always been following Satan anyway. Satan will overcome the saints during the Tribulation, and those saints are Christian who are left behind and new converts.
The Escape event is called the Rapture. You can participate in it too if you are a true Christian and you meet the requirement for the Rapture.
I will see you in the Rapture! Let’s look forward to our glorious hope of heaven!
Thank you for your life! I thank God that He continually blesses the people who seeks Him with true insights. Something was stirred in me and moved me to tears. May God employ you more to be a blessing to others. May He guide you with His wisdom!
Thanks Aristotle for the kind words. Keep in touch with me by adding me through facebook and subscribe to my newsletter. Your encouragement is crucial to me. I am able to persist with a handful of these words.