The Problem with Evil

“You’re a Christian, right?”

“Yes…”

“You read the Bible, go to church, and you’re pretty intelligent … so let me ask you a question.”

“Sure, fire away.”

“I was reading the newspaper the other day, and I ran across this story where a man was delivering a load of dirt to someone’s house in a dump truck. While the man was talking to the customer about where to put the dirt, his two-year-old son—fascinated by dump trucks, as many kids are—started exploring the truck. As the conversation finished, the kid hid inside the dual wheels where no one could see him, playing a little game.”

“Oh, no … I think I see where this is going …”

“Yep, the driver got in the truck, backed up, and crushed the kid.”

“That is horrible!”

“The parents thought so, too. On the other hand, in their grief, the parents reached out to a local pastor, leading a church they had never attended to spend a good deal of time caring for them. In the end, this horrible event convinced the couple that Christianity is true, so they became members of the church.”

“That, at least, is good, right?”

“Even better, the couple became so convinced of their new-found Christian faith that they gave a lot of money to that church. They were wealthy, so this allowed the church to expand its operations. In the end, the church converted thousands of people to Christ.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! God is so good! But you said you had a question?”

“Sure. Could God have created all the good things I’ve described without the death of that little child?”

Before you answer “yes” or “no,” listen—really listen—to the question. We don’t often really listen to questions, especially about faith. The faith dialog has devolved into a dance where pat questions are countered with just-so answers. No one really talks. They just say things to one another.

There are three different questions here:

• Was the death of this child, this evil, required for God to accomplish the good of converting thousands of people?

• Couldn’t God use something less evil than the death of an innocent child to bring about the conversion of people? How many people must be saved to offset the death of an innocent child? Why this evil?

• Of all the families in this neighborhood, why should this family suffer this way? Regardless of the good that comes out of the evil, why this evil for this person?

The first question is a logical quandary:

• If you answer yes, you are saying there are some good things God cannot create without using evil. Is this really a good answer?

• If you answer no, you are saying God could create everything good without evil—so then why does evil exist?

The second question is more about quantity or quality—couldn’t God create this good with a lesser evil? Even if the world must be evil, and even if we do not understand those reasons, couldn’t God have created a world with less evil and the same amount of good?

The third question is the most personal—why should this specific person experience this specific evil?

Before we explore these three questions in more depth, let’s look at some failed answers.

Many Christians reading this will open their Bible to Romans 8:28 and say, “God turns every evil thing in my life to a good thing.” Is this (honestly) what this passage says, though?

It says that God makes it so all things—good and evil—work together for the good of those called for God’s purpose. Paul does not say:

• For every evil thing you can point to in your life, you can point to some specific good thing that directly counters that evil. The promise here is general rather than specific. Paul is not suggesting a transaction: “You get this good thing from God by paying with this evil.”

• Every person experiencing evil will experience a counter-balancing amount of good.

• The balance of good and evil in each person’s life will equal out in this life.

Paul says that in the bigger scheme of things, God uses all things for the good of those who believe in him.

But let’s grant a poor reading of Romans 8:28 just for the sake of argument. Even if Paul is saying: “God converts every specific evil into some specific good,” does this passage answer these questions?

It does not seem to. Paul is not saying, “God creates evil to create good,” nor is Paul saying, “Every evil is offset with a specific good.” Paul’s concern is pastoral. something like: :”When you experience evil, know that God is still at work for good; God has not abandoned you.”

What about Job? Didn’t God give Job more than he started with?

Yes, but now we must be careful about the difference between description and prescription. Just because God gives Job more than what he started with does not mean he will always or must always do this. Job can comfort us in the midst of evil by showing us that we don’t always understand God’s purposes and should not lose hope for the future (despair is a sin!).

We are not told if the destruction of Job’s life is necessary to counter Satan’s claims. We are not told if Job ever completely healed from the evil Satan visited on his life. Was Job’s faith stronger? Were Job’s friends convinced they were wrong? We know Satan didn’t “give in”—he’s still active to this day, trying to destroy souls and prove some point.

We do not have these answers—and we should not try to read them into the text.

These three questions …

• Why does evil exist?

• Why does this much evil exist?

• Why did this evil happen to this person?

… deserves a full accounting.

But not in this post.