The Problem of Evil

“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.” (1 Peter 3:15)

For another entry in our apologetics series, we are going to look at a common objection among nonbelievers and skeptics alike, often called the problem of evil. This objection can be worded in many ways such as: “Because there is evil in the world, God must not exist,” or “Why does God allow evil?” The latter is more of an argument that points to our free will, and we’ll give C.S. Lewis the last word on that at the end. If you ever encounter an objection to God based on evil in our world, you can first ask for an example of something evil. Once the person gives you an example, you can follow up with, “Why is that evil?” This question is important, because to say something is evil presupposes a standard of good; many people who reject God on the grounds that there is evil in the world don’t realize that they can only recognize something as evil because they have some idea of good, some idea of right and wrong. So hopefully your questions will guide them to this realization, so they can begin to examine where it is they get their standard of good or their sense of right and wrong.

“Everything good comes from God. Every perfect gift is from him. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same. God decided to give us life through the true message he sent to us. He wanted us to be the most important of all that he created.” (James 1:17-19 ERV)

The objection to God based on the existence of evil assumes that evil is a thing, that it’s something that exists on its own, but this is not accurate. Evil is not a thing on its own, it is merely the absence of good. Dr. William Lane Craig calls evil a “privation,” a lack of something. In our post, “Measure the Light,” we discussed the fact that we have no tool for measuring darkness or identifying levels of darkness, we can only measure the amount of light present; it’s the same way for evil: evil is the absence of good. The fact that we can recognize evil proves there is good. Our Creator, the source of all things good, gave us an inherent idea of goodness.

“And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” (John 3:19-21)

When you are facing a light source, you cannot see your shadow; you can only see your shadow when your back is to the light. The fact that the shadows exist doesn’t mean there is no light—quite the opposite—the very fact that you can see the shadow proves there is a light. Just because there is evil doesn’t mean there’s no God. Our ability to identify something as evil is truly evidence for God’s existence. Now, while someone else’s shadow can fall upon you even if you’re facing the light, you cannot be living in repeated and intentional sin while walking with the Lord. We can only see our own shadow, our own sin and evil, when we turn from the Light.

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7) 

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

“For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don't belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation." (1 Thessalonians 5:5,8)

Peter tells us that we must always be ready to explain our faith, and we hope these points on the problem with evil will help you to explain your faith should you encounter someone with this objection. Pray for those who are struggling with belief and remember that in all things, you act as a representative of Christ.

”If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.“ — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed