Thursday, February 12, 2015

If God is so good then why is there so much evil in the world?



The short answer: free choice mixed with lack of self-control in us humans. The longer answer: The Bible teaches us that God created the world and filled it with everything we needed. It was all good. We were free to live and do whatever we wanted, except evil, and this is where the problems begin. We have free choice when it comes to how we live our lives, which means we have a lot of opportunities to mess up terribly. Many of us also tend to lack self-control, which makes it so much easier to do the wrong thing.

Sometimes when I hear about the horrible things that has happened in the world throughout the week I kind of wish God hadn't given us free choice. Think about how wonderful the world would be if we weren't given the opportunity to choose between doing good or evil, if good was our only option. Think about how much easier everything would be. There would be no wars, no murders, no cheating etc.



I guess that the only problem with this scenario is that if we don't have free choice then how do we know if anything is even real? For example, if two people are in a romantic relationship because they are forced to be, then is it really a romantic relationship? I would say no, we would rather call it "an arrangement". You can't really force love can you?

If love is forced then it isn't love, it becomes something else entirely. Love is only real when there is freedom. In the same way love couldn't exist in this world if we didn't have freedom, freedom to choose love or evil.



Every day we make the choice, hundreds of times per day, to do what's good or what is evil. We choose between doing what's right or what's wrong. The more we have practiced self-control, the easier it will be for us to make the right choices. Should I forgive, or refuse to forgive and stay bitter? Should I help my co-worker or hurry on by and think of myself first today? Should I give in to the temptation to do the wrong thing or should I keep on fighting for what I know is right?

We have many choices to make and they are all small opportunities to either put more evil into this world or put more love into the world. Every choice matters. No good deed is wasted. Every time we are faced with a choice God is hoping we will choose good over evil. He wants us to come over to His side, but the choice is ours.



Let's go back to the question, "Why is there so much evil in this world if God is good?" It's simple, we are given free choice. It's up to us what kind of world we want to live in. Every choice matters. We have a choice to either pour more love into the world through our daily actions or to produce more evil.

The next question often becomes: "So God doesn't care about us? Will God just sit by and watch people do evil and do nothing about it?" No, He will not. The Bible is filled with verses about how God will always protect those who love him and believe in him. This doesn't mean that everyone who believes in Him will have an easy life where anyone trying to hurt them will be struck down by lightning from the sky. Although that would be very convenient, wouldn't it? :)




The Bible also talks about how our life is a test, God is interested in the condition of our hearts. Are we filled with compassion and care for others or are our hearts filled with envy and selfish ambition? God can also use the struggles in our lives to develop character in us, to make us into better people. This means that life won't exactly be like a long vacation for any of us, neither for believers or unbelievers. On the other hand if we believe we are never alone in our struggles. No matter what we are facing God can help us through it.

When we feel like we are running out of energy and strength to go on, God is there to fill us up with new strength. When we believe, we are not alone. When we have the God of the universe on our side there is nothing in this world that will be able to stand against us. When God gives us some of His strength we will be able to do things we never thought possible before. If you have God on your side, prepare to be amazed at what He will be able to do for you in your life.




The third question that people often ask is: "Will the world be like this forever, filled with wars, diseases and suffering?" The answer is no, it's only temporary. The world we live in wasn't always like this, in the beginning everything was good, nowadays everything's a mess. So when will the disasters end?

The Bible talks about how there will be a day when every evil deed will be judged. Whenever it seems like someone who committed a crime got away it's good to remember that it's only for now. Eventually every deed, good or evil, will be judged. For us, who will not be here for more than 100 years, it's more important to focus on today than judgement day.



What will we choose to do today to make a difference in this world? The Bible talks about how God loves every single person in this world, so if we are serious about following God we can't NOT care about those who are suffering in this world today. We are not here for ourselves, we were created to go to those in need and love them. Every single person on this planet needs to be loved, because a person who hasn't first experienced love will not choose good over evil. Loved people, love others. Forgiven people, forgive others. Hurt people, hurt others.

What will matter at the end of our lives isn't what brand of car we drove, the size of the house we lived in or how many beautiful destinations we traveled to during a life. What will matter is what we did for others while we lived. Did we love others? Did we feed those who are hungry? Did we use those who are poorer than us or did we try to help them? Did we spend most of our time, money and resources on "living comfortably" or did we use them to help those who suffer. No good deed is wasted and no good deed will go unnoticed by God. We are all born with free choice, how will you choose to live your life? It matters, because your life matters big time!


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