It's important to have
hope. Scripture offers hope and comfort, but sometimes we still
wonder about evil. Just watch the news, that will have you scurrying
to find a bit of hope. We live in this big bad world where evil
abounds. People are hurting and have questions about God and good and
evil. Many wonder how could a good God allow so much evil and why
doesn't he do something about it? Couldn't God have created a world
without evil? I think we've all had these questions at one time or
another, and they really hit home when friends and family members are
suffering. I did some research and I'd like to share some of the
answers that I found. Rather than trying to put it all in one blog
post, I'm going to break it down into bits. First, I'd like to share
what I learned about good and bad, specifically evil. I never really
thought about defining evil before, but when I read what some great
minds have written about it, it really helps put everything into
perspective.
The reality of evil and
suffering has even baffled some great thinkers as they struggle with
the existence of a loving God and the fact of evil. I've learned that
there is even a word for this, it's called theodicy. Theodicy
is Greek, theos - which means God and dike which means
justice. One definition is: vindication of divine goodness and
providence in view of the existence of evil.
In
his book “Mere Christianity,” former atheist C.S. Lewis noted,
“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and
unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does
not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.”
Aha! When I first read this, I experienced a glimmer of
understanding. I thought of starlight against the dark night sky. We
never see the stars except at night. We know good because of evil.
Another way to think of it can be found in what Augustine said. “God
judged it better to bring good out of evil, than to suffer no evil to
exist.” You must acknowledge that good exists for evil to exist.
There can be no evil without there being good. Augustine defined evil
not as a thing in itself, but as a parasite on good. Augustine
considered evil something that is missing. It requires good to exist
because it is a parasite.
There
is one more point that I had never thought of and that is natural
evil and moral evil. Robert Velarde,
former editor for Focus on the Family, says, "evil actually
extends not only to the moral world, but also to the natural world.
When human beings do bad things to one another, this is moral evil.
But so-called natural disasters are often considered evil as well
because of all the suffering they cause."
With
these definitions and explanations of evil in place, we can have a
foundation for understanding more. The next post will attempt to
provide some answers to how could a good God allow so much evil and
why doesn't he do something about it? Couldn't God have created a
world without evil? Until then, remember we do have hope in Christ.
As the Apostle Paul said, we sorrow but not as those who have no hope
(1 Thessalonians 4:13). And without His great power and love we would
have no hope of ever getting a better world. Only a God who can bring
good out of evil can solve this world’s problems.
