An atheist once told a pastor, “I don’t believe in God because there’s too much evil, pain, and suffering in the world.” The pastor replied, “Okay, let’s pretend God doesn’t exist. Is there still evil, pain, and suffering?” The atheist thought for a moment and said, “Yes, there still is.” “Exactly,” the pastor said. “Getting rid of God doesn’t get rid of the problem. It just removes hope.”
That conversation points to something vitally important: the existence of evil and suffering doesn’t automatically disprove the existence of God. In fact, I believe it proves just the opposite. It shows us that God really does exist and that he is good.
If God didn’t exist, how would you even know what evil is? Who would set the moral standard? Who would tell you what is right and wrong? Only a holy God can do that.
The reason we know what evil is, is because God has shown us what is good, and he has written morality on our hearts.
God is the absolute standard of right and wrong. Without him, we wouldn’t know the difference.
Isaiah 33:22 says, “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.”
The question everyone is asking with the murder of Iryna Zarutska, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the recent school shootings is this: If God is so good, why does he allow evil?
To answer that, we have to go all the way back to the beginning and look in the book of Genesis. There, we read that God made a perfect world and placed two perfect humans in it, named Adam and Eve. They were the crown of his creation.
In the garden, God gave Adam and Eve the loving freedom to choose.
We read in Genesis 2:15-17 that, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
For love to be love, it must be freely given. God wanted Adam and his wife Eve to choose to love him. They weren’t forced to stay in the garden and eat from the tree of life.
God gave them a clear warning. You can choose the tree of life, or you can choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God was clear that when they ate from that tree, it would bring death. Not just physical death but spiritual death as well.
That’s the moment the deceiver, our enemy the devil, came to take advantage of the situation. “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-7)
It’s the same lie the enemy has been whispering into the ears of every single person who has lived since. You don’t need God! You can be a god to yourself. Then you can decide what’s right and wrong. You can make up your own rules.
And sadly, Adam and Eve listened.
It says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:6-7)
It’s not that God allows evil; Adam and Eve chose it instead of the tree of life. And what was the first thing they did? They tried to cover over their own shame.
As a result, sin and every evil thing that comes from it came into the world. Romans 5:12 says, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”
That’s why we read that “everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23)
If we stopped right there, this world and our lives would be pretty depressing. But we can’t stop right there because God didn’t.
You see, if you remove God from the equation, you remove all hope.
The good news is that even though Adam and Eve rebelled, you and I are born sinners and prone to trying to be our own gods. And even though we were deserving of the full force of God’s justice and wrath, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
You see, the reason Jesus appeared was to “destroy the devil’s work.” (1John 3:8)
God is bringing evil to a righteous end through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In fact, Jesus is the only one who can destroy all evil for all time.
Adam and Eve faced the same choice you make every single day. Are you going to eat from the Tree of Life or from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
Which tree are you eating from?
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