4. Why Does Evil Exist?

<How can there be a God when there is so much evil and suffering in the world? Does God rule the world?>

 

 

Where was God's protection for all the thousands of people who were caught, injured or killed in the tragedy on September 11th? God does not seem to be protecting people. Why was God totally absent on Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Newtown, Connecticut when innocent lives really needed God with his intervention? 

In fact, we find many sins and sufferings of people in the Bible, but the problem of evil is not an easy topic because the problem of evil is something that must be discerned spiritually. In the matter of evil, the first thing we need to know is that God created the world perfectly and beautifully in the beginning and never created evil. When God created humans, he gave them free will, and that free will was never given for evil, but for good. However, when the first man, Adam, misused his free will, sin entered the earth (Romans 5:12).

 

 

 

After God created the first man, Adam, in the beginning, he gave him direct dominion over the living creatures of the earth, the sea, and the heavens (Genesis 1:16; Psalm 8:6). However, Satan (the devil: a fallen angel) who was driven to this earth after rebelling against God in heaven deceived Adam, and Adam ate the forbidden fruit from the forbidden fruit. Because of that sin, Adam was deprived of all God-given dominion over Satan (Genesis 3:1-6). That is the reason why Satan became the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) and mankind entered under Satan's control. Adam's sin entered the world and all became slaves of sin and of the devil, and all live doing all kinds of evil (John 8:34, 44) and ultimately must die according to God's righteous judgment(Romans 5:12). Sin brought suffering and death to all. Satan is the main source of the problem of evil. However, God had compassion on all mankind, who are sinners, and wanted to save them all.

 

 

 

 

<Then, how will God solve the problem of evil that is taking place in this world?> 

 

 

The first thing God did was to wash away the sins of those who committed sins. It is because without washing away sins, we cannot escape God's judgment, and we cannot give up our sins and live a holy life. So, while we were still sinners, instead of judging us, God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a sin offering, so that Jesus died on the cross, bearing all our sins and dying on the cross. So, if we repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, God will forgive all our sins and make us His children. God saved us who were slaves to Satan and committed evil deeds, and He rules and guides us so that we can now live according to God's will, doing good.

 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

 

 

 

However, there are still many who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, are separated from God, and still live as slaves to Satan. They still do not know the good will of God and are not led by God. So they have no choice but to live as slaves to Satan and do evil. That is why there are so many evils and misfortunes in this world. It happens because they reject the atoning grace of Jesus Christ on the cross. So, they cannot escape God's judgment. God will one day put an end to all evil and pain and death (Revelation 21:4).

 

 

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) 

 

 

 

By the way, it is commonly believed that nothing will go wrong for a child of God. That was what Job's friends thought. That is why they spent so much effort trying to convince Job that he must have sinned and incurred God's anger. But they were wrong (Job 42:7). The righteous are experiencing all kinds of suffering. Even Jesus, the Son of God, suffered a cruel death at the hand of evil men. God's greatest promise is the blessing of eternal life to those who accept Jesus Christ. There is no greater gift than that. However, we must know that what God has promised us is not a life without suffering on this earth. Suffering can come to anyone. However, we must know that suffering has a very important and profound purpose.

 

 

What God has promised is "that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

 

Good can come out of even deep tragedies, such as September 11th. But that ultimate good will only benefit those who have given their hearts into the keeping of the Almighty. 


"For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Timothy 1:12)

 

 

 

There are three reasons why the righteous suffer and what their purpose is.

 

(1) The suffering of the righteous is to be used as the channel of salvation.

 

(2) The sufferings of the righteous are for the sake of faith (so that they can know the Lord rightly and trust only the Lord).

 

(3) The sufferings of the righteous are for sanctification.

 

 

 

The sufferings of the righteous are as good as the confession of the psalmist (Psalm 119:71). Therefore, when we suffer, we must never lose heart, but, trust only God and rely on Him, endure hardships boldly to the end, and go forward with the hope of salvation. Then, the faithful and almighty God will surely make us overcome those hardships and bear beautiful fruits.

 

 

 

 

God is a righteous Judge. Satan (the devil) and evil spirits will be imprisoned in the abyss and will be unable to do anything when Jesus returns to this earth and establishes the millennial kingdom (Revelation 20:1-2). The devil will be set free for a short time after the thousand years have passed. However, he will again try to deceive people and make them fall (Rev. 20:7-10). The devil is such an evil destroyer from beginning to end that he cannot escape judgment. So, the devil will be thrown into the lake of brimstone fire by Jesus and tormented for eternity (Revelation 20:10), and all the wicked and unbelievers who followed the devil will be judged at the final judgment seat of Jesus and will be thrown into the lake of hell fire and torment forever (Rev. 20:12-15).

 

 

 

Therefore, we should not be misunderstood as to why God has not yet destroyed Satan the Devil, who, since creation, has constantly done evil to destroy mankind. We must properly know God's great and good will, and we must no longer continue to grumble and complain against God because of Satan and the wicked. Instead, by accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we must be saved from our multitude of sins, become children of God, do good works according to the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and boldly testify of Jesus (proclamation). And we must achieve sanctification.

 

 

Psalm 37:1-4 “Do not complain because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Amen!!

 

 

 

We Christians should never be afraid of the tricks of the devil. Instead, we must resist the devil in the name of Jesus Christ. Then, the devil has no choice but to retreat. Because we already have the authority of children of God.

 

 

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”

 

 

1 Peter 5:9 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him(the devil), standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering”

 

 

 

Thus, we must always watch and pray, put on the full armor of God, and proclaim the gospel and truth of Jesus Christ(Ephesians 6:10-18) so that we can save lost souls who are suffering from being possessed by the devil and lead them to Jesus the savior and Lord. That is the mission of Christians (Mark 16:15-18; Matt 28:18-20).

 

 

2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, encourage — with great patience and careful instruction.”

<Note>:

This web page contains eight articles with the following headings.

You can open any article by directly clicking on the website under each heading.

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7. The Faith and Life of the Christian:

https://eternallifeforyou.blogspot.com/2022/06/7-faith-and-life-of-christian.html

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6. When is the End Times?:

https://eternallifeforyou.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-is-going-on-in-this-crazy-world.html

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5. How Can We Obey God's Will?:

https://eternallifeforyou.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-kinds-of-spiritual-journey-do-most.html

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4. Why Does Evil Exist?: (This is in this page)

https://eternallifeforyou.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-doesnt-god-protect-us-from-evil.html

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3. Do All Religions Lead to God and Salvation?(Attached: Religions and Christianity):

https://eternallifeforyou.blogspot.com/2012/12/3-why-are-there-so-many-religions.html

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2. How Can We Know That God Really Exist?:

https://eternallifeforyou.blogspot.com/2012/12/blog-post_2910.html

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1. Why Should We Believe in Jesus Christ?:

https://eternallifeforyou.blogspot.com/2012/12/blog-post.html

<Another option>: 

<How to move to Other Articles: No.3~ No.1>: If you want to read other Articles, go to the bottom of this page and click Right Arrow(>>) or Older Posts. Then you can see No. 3 Article. Instead, if you click "View web version" on the bottom, you can see Blog Archive and the Years of writing(2016, 2013, 2012). When you click each year, you can see No.1 ~ No.3 Articles in them.>