If God Is Perfect, Why Is There Evil?ਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 6: 2 Objections to the Biblical Solution

Today, we address two common objections to the biblical, free will solution to the problem of evil.

Objection #1: Couldn’t God Have Made Creatures Who Would Always Choose to Do Right?

Some Christians respond to this objection by saying that, no, God could not have created free creatures who could only have chosen to do right. Free will makes sin inevitable, they argue.

Others call the question meaningless because it references a plan that isn’t reality. If God is omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipotent (all-powerful), this plan (that includes evil) is the only possible plan, and so it must be the best.

Omniscience requires that God knows what plan would be best, and omnipotence requires that God be able to carry it out. Only if God is not wholly good could he have chosen a plan other than the best.

Let me provide two examples of why this question isn’t as theoretical (or straightforward) as some think. One is the unfallen angels, who chose to remain faithful to God, continue to do so, and will for all eternity (Revelation 5:11–14); does this mean they no longer have free will? Second, resurrected believers will never sin. God will take away the power of sin so that they can be with God and serve him forever. Does this mean there is no free will in heaven?

These two examples make clear that free will can exist without the necessity of sin. Divine sovereignty will coexist with the creatures’ freedom for eternity.

If we extend this into the past, we can see that God could have kept his creatures from sinning without interfering with their free will. This is precisely what will happen in heaven. This all boils down to the divine sovereignty/human responsibility mystery.

Are we then answering the problem of evil with a mystery? Yes, because if both divine sovereignty and human responsibility are true (as the Bible affirms), then God is powerful and completely good even though evil exists.

Truths of a mystery are not contradictory. They only appear contradictory to human comprehension. What I am offering as the solution to the problem of evil is thus a self-consistent explanation based on the original assumption that God has revealed himself to mankind, and that revelation is the Bible.

Objection #2: What About Natural Evil?

Another objection to the biblical free will solution is that it only solves the problem of moral evil. What about natural evil?

The answer is that this type of evil is also a product of human rebellion against God. Many biblical passages about the curse clearly reveal that the present disease-death environment is a direct result of the curse due to the fall of mankind (Genesis 3:14–19; Romans 8:18–23; Revelation 22:3). Nature isn’t now as God desires—it is abnormal. The Bible is unique in its teaching that death ought never to have occurred. It would appear that there was no death before the Genesis 3 curse (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21).

Even animal pain falls under the curse. Some interpreters say that before sin entered the world, there were no carnivorous animals (Genesis 1:29–30). When the curse is lifted, the animals will once again become herbivores (Isaiah 11:6–9).

Nature itself will be redeemed when God’s children are resurrected (Romans 8:18–23), and this resurrection is possible because Jesus rose from the dead. Since sin brought the curse of death, when sin is removed, the curse also will be removed.

Summary

To paraphrase Francis Schaeffer from his book Pollution and the Death of Man, God can be furious with natural and moral evil without being angry with himself.

God didn’t create people as they now are, for otherwise God would be evil for creating cruel and sinful creatures. Instead, the Bible teaches that humans changed themselves just as the fallen angels changed.

The uniquely biblical teaching of the two falls is the only real explanation of the problem of evil.