Why Does Evil Exist? I. Introduction A. Perhaps one of the most challenging questions that man has ever faced B. A great puzzle for many C. A reason often given for disbelief 1. When one gets below the surface reasons for disbelief, normally one of two reasons that people do not believe 2. They like something God calls sin, or some variant of the question we consider today D. The question: why does evil exist? 1. This question has a lot of permutations 2. Why does God allow evil to exist? 3. How can a loving God allow anyone to suffer? 4. Why is there pain, suffering, evil, negative things if God is good and holy? 5. Technical term: theodicy, or how can God be just when there is so much evil and suffering about! E. A serious and complex issue that deserves a serious and complex consideration 1. Simple answers do not come easily nor satisfy 2. One of the great challenges of the ages F. Therefore, if God is loving, all powerful, and good, why does evil exist? II. Sharpening the Issue A. When this question is posed, we automatically search for some answer to explain why evil takes place B. Unfortunately, the issue is much more fundamental than that! C. To sharpen and clarify the issue, let us first ask a question: can God create a world where there is no evil, pain, suffering, misery? D. The Christian is compelled to answer with an unqualified yes! 1. Romans 8:17-23, 2 Peter 3:10-13, Revelation 7:14-17, 21:1-22:6 2. Our future hope, as Christians, is to be part of the "new heavens and new earth" 3. Righteousness will dwell there, as will God, and there will be no night, misery, pain, or evil! E. This is well and good, but here is the kicker: if God can create a world without evil, and intends to create a world without evil, why did He not create this world without evil? 1. Why should we have to wait for the "next" world to be good? Why could God have not created this world without the evil that it experiences? 2. This question goes beyond why evil happens in any given circumstance, and wonders why evil is present or possible in the first place! F. Therefore, why does evil exist? III. The "Answers" A. Many answers are given to this question 1. They have Biblical merit 2. But are they designed to really answer the question we are posing? B. Evil as Consequence for Sin 1. One answer the Bible provides often is that evil exists as a consequence for sin 2. Genesis 3 illustrates this: sin and death enter the world as a consequence of Adam's sin (cf. Romans 5:12-18) 3. Message of prophets: God will bring evil upon those who disobey Him (cf. 2 Kings 17:7-23, Isaiah 1, Jeremiah 15:1-9, 18:5-11, Amos 1-2) 4. Likewise, this creation as subject to decay, futility because of sin (Romans 8:20-22): possible explanation of existence of natural disasters 5. As the examples of the Old Testament (and some in the New-- Acts 5:1-11, 13:4-12) attest, there are indeed times when people experience evil because of their sin 6. This also explains the sentence of hell for those who do not believe and obey-- it is the consequence for their sin (Matthew 25:31-46, Romans 2:5-10, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9, Revelation 20) 7. It also explains why infants, children experience evil-- "collateral damage," the consequence of sin in the world (cf. Romans 5:12-18) 8. But why was evil there in the first place? C. Evil as "Consequence" of Free Will 1. This leads us to the answer of free will: God has not compelled anyone to choose to follow Him, but gives everyone the choice whether to obey or disobey 2. Isaiah 7:15-16, Ezekiel 18 3. Thus, Adam and Eve had to have the ability to choose evil if the free will decision to do good had any value 4. So it is for the rest of us-- we practice and suffer evil because of our own free will decisions and the free will decisions of others 5. But if God knew that men would choose evil (cf. Ephesians 3:11), why allow evil to exist in the first place? Why allow the temptation to exist? And why doesn't God do anything about evil anymore? D. "Apocalyptic" Views of Evil 1. Another Biblical answer is the "apocalyptic" view of evil 2. In this view, the righteous currently suffer because cosmic evil forces currently rule the day 3. Daniel 7-12, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 12:9-12 4. This "answer" may provide some solace-- God does not act specifically in many circumstances lest He violate man's free will and because the evil forces hold sway for the moment 5. The day of their defeat, however, is near (Revelation 19-20) 6. But this still does not get us to the origin of evil! E. Answer Unknown 1. Another Biblical answer is that we do not and cannot know the answer 2. This is seen in the experiences of Job and in Ecclesiastes 3. Job asks why the innocent suffer and is not given an explanation 4. The Preacher understands such questions to be vanity, sees evil, but finds no explanation for it (Ecclesiastes 4:1, 8:14, 8:16-17) F. Thus we see the Bible's "answers" to the question IV. Not Wrong Answers-- the Wrong Question A. Many are left entirely unsatisfied by these "answers" B. After all, none of them really get to why evil exists in the first place! C. While all the answers have merit in certain circumstances, only the last answer gets to the heart of the issue-- we do not know why evil exists! D. So where is the problem-- the answers or the question? E. Why is the question considered as it is? 1. Let us stop and think for a moment 2. Why are we asking the question, "why does evil exist?" 3. If we obtained a most satisfying answer, would it change anything? F. The search for the answer comes from a philosophical yearning 1. Knowledge is power, so they say 2. The idea is that if we could only know why evil exists, we could somehow gain power over evil because of that knowledge! G. But evil is too complicated for that! 1. Consider Ephesians 6:12-- if evil is so pervasive in the spiritual arena, how can we possibly overcome evil through knowledge, philosophy, or good intentions? 2. Furthermore, the question presupposes that somehow evil can be separated from those who perpetuate it-- and we all have, at some point, perpetuated evil (Romans 3:9-23)! 3. If we could eradicate evil, we would have to eradicate ourselves! 4. Furthermore, things defined as "evil" are so integrated into our world that it would require changes at too fundamental a level for us to accomplish! a. Death is generally considered an evil, but without death, we cannot eat meat, and there would be too many people for too few resources! b. The very forces that lead to natural disasters also perpetuate life c. We could find many more examples! H. Perhaps, therefore, the question is what is ultimately flawed 1. No one has yet come up with a compelling, transforming answer 2. Even if such an answer could be found, it does not change the reality of evil and the pain, suffering, and misery it causes 3. What good, then, is the question? I. As opposed to asking, "why does evil exist," we would be better off asking, "what is God doing about evil"? V. God and Evil A. The core message of the Bible can give us encouragement regarding this question B. Matthew 17:5, Romans 8:32, Hebrews 5:7-8, 1 Peter 2:20-24 C. Here is a powerful antidote to the standard phrasing of the question of evil: if God were truly able to just will evil away, would He have consented to see His beloved Son suffer on the cross for sin (cf. Matthew 26:39)? D. If there were a way of getting evil out of the way so that the Son would not suffer, God would certainly have taken that option! E. Thus we see clearly that the issue is not "why does evil exist," but instead, "what is God doing about evil!" F. And what did God do about evil? He defeated evil by taking on the cross! G. God as suffering evil, learning obedience (Hebrews 4:15, 5:7-8) H. Consider the forms of evil Jesus suffers on the cross (cf. Matthew 26-27, etc.) 1. Physical suffering in scourging and crucifixion 2. Political, social, and "religious" evil by the chosen people of God, the Jews 3. Political evil by the power of the day in Pilate 4. Political "unity" of Pilate and Herod because of Jesus 5. Moral evil in suffering evil without cause-- injustice 6. Spiritual evil in Satanic temptations (cf. Luke 4:13) 7. Personal/mental/emotional suffering by the taunts I. What forms of evil did Jesus not somehow experience through His suffering? J. God's answer to evil is not that we can somehow remove it, but instead, to defeat it 1. Evil did all it could to Jesus on the cross, and yet He accomplished God's purposes 2. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus triumphs (1 Corinthians 15, Romans 8:2) K. God may never explain to us why evil exists in the first place, but we know that He has dealt with the reality of evil by suffering on the cross in Jesus the Son! VI. Making Sense of It All A. What shall we say then? B. All of the explanations and answers we have given may provide some background, but they fail to answer the ultimate question, and do not satisfy even when applied C. In the end, evil is not something that we can write off in this world, but instead something to be conquered D. As Jesus conquered evil by suffering evil, so we can only conquer evil through His blood, faith in His name, and through suffering ourselves 1. Revelation 12:11, Acts 14:22, Romans 8:17, Philippians 2:5-11, 1 Peter 2:20-24 2. While we may never be able to understand why evil exists, we can find meaning in our suffering, and recognize its true value E. Perhaps there is more to "redemptive suffering" than many believe 1. As we have indicated, there is no definitive answer to the question of evil 2. On the other hand, if we consider Hebrews 5:7-8, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-7, among other passages, we see that it is through suffering that we learn obedience and maturity 3. In our lives, have we learned more by our successes or by our failures? 4. Perhaps God allowed evil to exist in this world so that those who would obtain the blessing would be tried and would learn obedience through the tribulation of this world 5. If you will, we have to learn through trial to experience/appreciate that which is ideal, and cannot handle the ideal first F. A supposition, to be sure G. Nevertheless, we will never know for certain why evil exists in this world in the first place H. But we can have all confidence that God has acted against evil definitively through the death of Jesus on the cross I. Do you seek a victory over evil? J. The only way to defeat evil is through Jesus Christ-- believe in Him and obey Him today! K. Invitation/songbook