Twice in my lifetime I have been diagnosed with an incurable disease. The first diagnosis, Myasthenia Gravis, came in 2012 when I suddenly became weak and struggled to hold my head up while cycling. The disease attacks the connection between the nerve and muscle with an overabundance of antibodies made by my own body. If you can imagine visualizing a stack of antibodies blocking this connection, it is easy to see the result that comes with the obstruction. For example, the brain sends a signal to a body part to function (e.g., arm movement), but the connection is blocked, and the body part does not work properly.

In 2014 I had what is known as a “crisis” when the disease started to negatively impact my breathing. I was rushed to the hospital and spent several days in the ICU. Prior to this episode I renewed my faith in Christ and began reading my Bible each day, journaling, and spending time in prayer. I also started to question, “Why me?” Why was something so terrible as this incurable disease happening to me? Had I done something wrong? Was this God’s punishment for that wrong I had committed? I considered myself to be a “good” person and did not understand how this could be happening to me.

Looking back today, nearly a decade later, I praise God that I did not take the path of blaming him for this evil thing that happened to me. However, I can also see how someone could question God’s existence and the evil, such as my disease, in this world. Many in this world question how a good God and evil can coexist. In this blog I will briefly summarize, based on the work of Geisler and Brooks, the argument for God’s coexistence with evil, and how it supports belief in the Christian faith.

Defining Evil

What is evil? The simple answer points to evil as the opposite of good, but we must further unpack what evil is to establish a starting point to build a case for the coexistence of God and evil. Examples of what might be considered evil surround us each day. Evil comes in many forms such as my incurable diseases, murder, rape, and child abuse, to name just a few. People also often come to mind when visualizing what evil looks like. Men like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong along with their regimes who killed more than 100 million people could also help frame the definition of evil.

However, if 1) God created all things, and 2) evil is a “thing”, 3) he also created evil. The first premise, according to the Christian faith, is true that God did indeed create all things.  As Geisler and Brooks argue, if the first premise is true, to deny the third premise we need to deny the second premise – the existence of evil as a thing. They further argue the existence of evil can be denied as a thing without saying it is not real. Instead, evil is a lack in things. The authors posit, “When good that should be there is missing from something, that is evil.” (p. 61). Evil can also be explained as a case of bad relationships. For example, a hammer hitting a nail is a good relationship that could lead to building something of value but change the relationship between the two by inserting someone’s hand into the situation and you have evil. The author’s argue bad relationships are lacking something, so the definition of evil as a lack of something that should be in a relationship between good things remains true.   

Where did evil come from?

In the beginning only God existed, and he is perfect. He went on to create a perfect world, which leads to the question, where did evil come from out of this perfect world? How was it Adam and Eve sinned if they were perfect? Did God not create the snake who led them into temptation perfectly as well? Geisler and Brooks suggest the following:

1. God created everything perfect.
2. God created free creatures perfect.
3. The cause of evil is free will.
4. So, evil or imperfection, can come from perfection, not directly, but indirectly through free will.

Free will implies we have a choice in what we do. We can choose to do good or to do evil. God created us this way so we could be like him and could be free to love others. However, by creating us this way he also allowed for evil to exist. God took this risk knowing free will could lead to evil. As Geisler and Brooks write, “He made evil possible; men made evil actual.” (p. 63). When we do evil, we, through the free will given to us by God, are the source of the evil we commit.

Why Evil Cannot be Stopped

A common argument is if God is good, he would eliminate evil. And if God is all powerful, he could eliminate evil. However, evil has not been destroyed, so there is no God. This is an argument that seems reasonable when you look around the world and see all the evil taking place. Where is God in all the evil that is happening? Why is he not doing something about it?

Two answers can be used to defend God’s existence for why evil cannot be stopped. First, destroying evil would also require eliminating free will, but doing so would eliminate the possibility of love. Taking away one’s free will is the opposite of love. Ironically, taking away one’s freedom to do evil would be evil because it would rob humankind of their freedom to do as they want.

Secondly, arrogant assumptions are also present in one arguing against God’s existence and evil. Just because God has not yet defeated evil does not mean he is not capable of defeating it later. God has eternity to work things out. Just because God has yet to act does not mean he will not act in the future. We just have not waited long enough for God to act. He is not finished yet.

The Purpose of Evil

Does God have a purpose in the evil that exists? From a personal perspective, I could argue he does. My incurable diseases have been a physical curse, but also a spiritual blessing. Without my sickness I may not have turned back to the Lord and made him the center of my life. My story is an example of how out of something evil it is possible to have good arise.

C.S. Lewis summarizes well how God may have been using my diseases to get my attention. He writes, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” (p. 91). When times are good God can seem distant and silent. I can attest to this that when my life was “good” God did not seem to be as close as he was when I was at my lowest points laying in an ICU hospital bed when God was “shouting” at me.

The Cross is the best answer to the question, “Can anything good come from evil?”. Christ, an innocent man, took on the injustice of the Cross. This injustice is impossible to understand unless some greater good could come from Christ’s death. The evil actions of men have led to our freedom from sin. Adding to the case for good from evil is that we, not Christ, deserve death, yet he bore our sin on the Cross, the greatest injustice in the history of the universe, so we could have eternal life.

Conclusion

In this blog I have provided several arguments for the coexistence of God and evil. God is good and yet evil does truly exist in the world he has created. However, we, not God, are the source of the evil we see in the world. Through God’s love for us he has given us free will – the ability to choose between doing good and evil. God could have created a world in which we were forced to do good, but forced love is not truly love.

God also has purpose in some of the evil that he allows to take place in the world. My disease is one example that God used to get my attention to draw nearer to him. The Bible is also full of examples where evil led to good (e.g., Joseph, Samson, Job, Paul). To truly begin to understand God and evil we must humble ourselves before God knowing our finite minds will never fully comprehend the infinite thoughts and actions of the Almighty God.