A better response to the existence of evil and suffering...

This week we are addressing the fifth of these eight common questions that those who are skeptical ask as a challenge to God and the Christian faith. And that question is this: “Why would a good God allow so much suffering?” Yesterday we discovered that this is a question that we all ask at some point in our lives. And, for many people, this question serves as the chief objection to the Christian faith. 

The timeless reality is that every human being experiences suffering. We experience suffering as a result of the frailty of our bodies and the inevitable march toward death that we all experience. We also experience suffering as a result of the seemingly cruel laws of nature that produce earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, or a branch falling on a moving car in a storm. We experience suffering as a result of the hatred and hostility of humanity toward one another.

And it is not just the quantity of the suffering that causes us to question the existence of God. The very nature of the grief that surrounds suffering causes us to question God. Those who reject God often make a very strong case against God when it comes to the issue of suffering in the world. As Bill Kynes points out, the philosophical case against God often goes something like this: A God who is all powerful would be able to prevent evil in the world. A God who is all good would want to prevent evil in the world. However, evil exists in the world. Therefore, an all-powerful and all-good God cannot exist.

Often religious people will try to respond to this philosophical argument against God by trying to water down one of the premises. For example, some religious people will respond to this argument against God by proclaiming that evil is not as real as we imagine. Other religious people will respond to this argument against God by proclaiming that God exists but He just simply isn’t as powerful as we thought. Still other religious people respond to this philosophical argument against God by proclaiming that God is all powerful, but He is just not as caring as we would like.

But this morning, are these the best responses that we can come up with to this philosophical argument? That evil is really not that bad? That God is really not that powerful? That God is really not that good? What if I told you that there is a better response? What if I told you that there is a response that is found, not just in the letters that make up the Bible, but in the very life of the historical figure of Jesus?

First, the response of followers of Jesus to the existence of evil and suffering in the world is not to deny or minimize its existence. Instead, as followers of Jesus, we are to readily admit the reality of evil and suffering because Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible shed a spotlight on it in a way that exaggerates and reinforces the existence of evil and suffering in the world.

You see, Jesus and the letters than make up the Bible declare that the evil and suffering that is in the world is far worse that we realize. As a matter of fact, the existence of evil and suffering in the world is itself a pointer to the existence of God. Think of it this way: if there is no God, is there really any ground for believing that injustice and evil exists? If there is no God, wouldn’t evil just be the result of genetics, or bad luck? But who really believes that? No, we know evil when we see it, don’t we?

But the evil we see is only the tip of the iceberg of the evil that God sees.  You see, as human beings our experience of evil is focused on the outward acts of violence and hatred or the suffering caused by natural disasters. However, God sees an additional dimension of evil, which is the spiritual dimension of evil that is personified by a being that the letters that make up the Bible refer to as Satan, or the Devil.

Now Jesus and the other authors of the letters that make up the Bible teach us that demons are a group of supernatural beings who are under the leadership of the Devil, or Satan. We also know that the Devil and demons have superhuman, but limited knowledge and power. The Devil and demons are angels that were created by the Lord before the creation of the universe, who rebelled against God sometime before the fall of humans that is recorded for us in the very first letter in the Bible in Genesis 3. And the Devil and the demons that follow the Devil are driven by a desire to destroy the Kingdom of God and the people of God. The Devil and the demons are driven by a desire to be worshipped as gods instead of worshipping God.

However, the letters that make up the Bible also reveal another element of evil that we can often be oblivious to. And that is the evil that is found within our own hearts. We see this reality revealed for us in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Romans. Here is what a man that we know today as the Apostle Paul had to say about the human condition in Romans 3:9-18:

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; ¹⁰ as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; ¹¹ THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ¹² ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." ¹³ "THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS"; ¹⁴ "WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS"; ¹⁵ "THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, ¹⁶ DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, ¹⁷ AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN." ¹⁸ "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES."

Here we see the Apostle Paul provide the evidence to demonstrate that all humanity has a huge problem with God as a result of the evil of our hearts. Paul reveals the reality that this problem that is the result of the evil in our hearts is universal. Paul reveals the reality that this problem that is the result of the evil in our hearts is revealed by our words and by our actions that cause suffering and harm to others. Paul reveals the reality that this problem that is the result of the evil in our hearts is insurmountable.

You see, evil is real and is deeper and far more pervasive than we can possibly fathom because God is far more right and just than we can possibly imagine. And this is where what is referred to in church mumbo jumbo talk as “the fall” comes in. The world that God created was good, very good. God did not create evil. Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well if God did not create evil where did evil come from?” 

Evil is not something that has an existence all its own; evil is a corruption of that which already exists. Evil is the absence or deprivation of something good. For example, tooth decay can exist only as long as the tooth exists. The cause of evil is not material. Instead the cause of evil is moral.

Evil came into existence the moment that Adam and Eve used their God-given freedom of choice to choose to rebel against God by disobeying God, which is recorded for us in a section of the very first letter in the Bible called the book of Genesis, in Genesis 3. As a result of this choice by Adam and Eve, the relationship between God and Adam and Eve, and humanity throughout history, was drastically changed. Now the church mumbo jumbo talk phrase for this event from history and the consequences from this event from history is “The Fall of Man”.

You see, for humanity to be truly human requires the ability to choose and to freely love. By very definition, love is voluntary and must be freely expressed. Free choice, however, leaves the possibility of wrong choice. Evil is inherent in the risky gift of free choice. While God’s plan included evil when he gave humans the freedom of choice, the actual origin or evil came from man who directed his heart away from God and toward his own selfish desires.

Thus, whereas God created the fact of freedom, man created the act of evil. Through Adam’s act of selfishness and rebellion, all humanity acquired a natural bent toward selfishness and rebellion against God. Through Adam’s act of selfishness and rebellion, all humanity through history has acted on that selfish and rebellious bent to do things that hurt God and others. And it is this selfishness and rebellion that alienates, or separates us from the relationship with God that we were created for.

However, not only does evil exist and is far worse than we realize as a result of what is found in our own hearts that rebel against God. A second response of followers of Jesus to the existence of evil and suffering in the world is that evil and suffering actually reveals that God is far more loving than we could ever hope.

After all, if evil originates from the rebellion of humanity who directed their hearts away from God and toward their own selfish desires, then an all good and all-powerful God should simply do away with humanity so as to do away with evil. If the problem is humanity, just remove humanity and the problem is solved.

But the letters that make the Bible make it abundantly clear that God did the exact opposite. Friday we see the Apostle Paul reveal this reality just a few chapters later in the book of Romans...