The Bible: The Existence Of Evil

As believers in God we have had our fair share of questioning “Why does evil exist?”. Often we ponder why or how did God let something so Evil happen if he is all good. He has the power to do good, why not the power to stop evil?

If god was all good, all powerful and all knowing, he would not allow the existence of evil.

In the book of Genesis in the Bible, God created the heavens and the Earth and all was good. God told Adam and Eve that they can eat from all the trees in the Garden of Eden except for one, The Tree of Knowledge and Good and Evil. God was and is compassionate enough to give the beings he created freedom of choice. Nobody wants someone who is forced into love. God also does not want us to be made to love Him but wants us to do so out of our own free will. That free will that God gives us is the source of evil. Just as Adam and Eve used the free will God gave them to be disobedient and sin, human beings evil because of their freedom to do so. In addition to free will God allows evil to exist because without it, the beings he created could not develop ethically. The Problem of Evil states that God cannot be all loving, all good, all powerful and everywhere because evil exists. Philosopher, John Hicks states that evil is necessary for soul and moral development. How would humans know that is good without it counterpart for comparison? In situations like the Charleston church shooting, where loved ones lives are violently taken by evil, the families of the victims are made to develop morally. When confronted with evil, violence, and grief, they either exhibit patience, love, courage, forgiveness, acceptance, and/or faith. Otherwise they conform or give into evil and become timid, weak, angry, or even become violent themselves. Without evil our world would be blissful.

Blackburn is right to claim that the existence of evil strongly suggests that there does not exist a god who is all-good, all-knowing and all-powerful.

A possible solution to the problem of evil is the Augustinian theodicy which is based on Genesis. St Augustine argued that in genesis 1 God is seen as creating a world that is perfectly good and free from defect. He said that this was clearly outlined in G1:31 where it says “God saw what he had made and it was very good.” He believed that evil itself is not a thing or substance therefore God did not create it. Augustine argue that “evil was the going wrong of something good and as a result Augustine termed evil as a “privation of a good” that did not come from God but entities with free will such as angels and humans who were willing to give

The problem of evil is often summarized as followed: If God is omnipotent (all powerful) and omnibenevolent (wholly good) there should be no evil. There is evil in the world, so God cannot be omnipotent or omnibenevolent or either. One of the earliest theologians to address the problem of evil is St. Augustine. In his book, On Free Choice of the Will Augustine states, “If man is a good, and cannot act rightly unless he wills to do so, then he must have free will, without which he cannot act rightly.” Augustine’s solution to the problem of evil is that God gives humans free will to do good or evil. The evil that humans do is the evil which is evident in the world. This shows that evil is not created by God, but instead evil exists because of

I will provide my own opinion on few of objections that most people say about God. There are many bad and evil things happening in this world whether it's natural suffering or natural evil. Humans tend not to put the blame of bad things happening to themselves rather than on something or someone else. It's our human nature to not own up to our responsibility. We run away from accepting our flaws and bad choices.

Why do bad things happen to good people? In reference to Christianity, if God is all knowing and omnipotent, why does he allow evil to exist? I believe God is all knowing and omnipotent, he created us with a purpose and knows what we will do before we make the choice ourselves. But God has also given us the gift and curse of free will. Evil is a result of sin and is present because of the fall of man. (Romans 8:19-23) The secular world uses the problem of evil to attempt to denounce the existence of God. Evil is seen in some lights to depend on good for its existence (Bennett, 1938) while others believe without struggle, temptation and failure there is no progress, moral growth or moral worth (Pauley, 2011). Last, God uses evil for his purposes.

Is it possible to exist in this world without evil? We have no problem saying yes to this question when it means to put an end to rape and murder. But, what we must understand is that evil does not only exist in actions but also in thoughts. Thinking something evil is still allowing it to subsist in this world. It is destructive and ruinous whether or not it is acted upon. So, if God were to rid the world of evil, in doing so he would be taking away our freedom of thought. We would no longer be able to think and do as we please. Therefore, we can conclude that it is possible that God allows evil into the world in order to protect man’s free

As far as evil goes, I have dealt with some many evil people, people who used me, people abused me. I get to watch them completely take over someone and get everything they ever wanted in life, how is this fair? How does this have any purpose in life? Why if there is a god, does he allow his children to be so evil to others and give them life filled with greatness? I guess I see it as if there is a god, he can’t always make the world a better place, it’s those who live to make the world better, but isn’t he supposed to guide us through the ways of

The problem of evil sure poses a challenge in believing in a loving God. One who argues for the existence of God brings up the concept that good cannot exist without evil. This dichotomy would be meaningless if everything was considered “good.” As human beings, we naturally compare, and the “not so good” would then be considered evil. It’s hard to say whether good can truly exist without evil, because humans' conceptions of either word are subjective.

Evil was never part of the original creation of God. However, this came into existence when the first humans disobeyed God. The suffering of humans today is due to the original sin. The punishment theodicy claims that suffering is the punishment for the original sin. This means that every human is born with the sin of our first parents in them, therefore making suffering an inevitable condition. This could explain why new born babies, innocent children and even animals who do not know anything suffer. Punishment is not only due to the original

Good and Evil are two sides of the same coin. If one exists then the other has to exist. Existence of evilness and goodness makes us human or inhuman and also allows us to live in the world of free will, where we can choose and can make choices of our choice. So, for us to be a free will creature, we have to have a choice, to choose what is good for us. If God has given us only one choice rather then the two, then this world will be robotic, there will not be any free will and everyone will be following the same rule. Therefore, God has given us choices in be-tween goodness and evilness and it is on us what we choose. Everyone made there on choices and there is no way, one can held God responsible of happenings, which caused by humans.

In Christianity evil came as a result of the selfishness of man. The Bible says that God desired to create people who would eventually come to love him. As genuine love cannot exist unless freely given through free choice, God gave man free will with the option to accept God’s love or to reject it.

questions to God's nature: he said to be all-powerful, all knowing and all good. Uncertainty this is the case, why does not he stop evil? In addition, since people are supposed to be created in God's image, why are they capable of moral evil? If single person believes that God exists, there can only be one answer: evil exists because God permits it, and moral evil exists because God has controlled us independence of choice.