Answering the Problem of Evil The idea of a powerful and inherently good God often comes as odd, and even as confusing or impossible, to many. There are many reasons for this; however, evil is probably the main one. If there is one common experience shared by every human on the planet, it is evil. Everyone has seen its effect, everyone has taken part in it in some way or another, and everyone has suffered from it to different extents. It isn't hard to see why some people would deny God based on it; after all, the basic assumption would be that a powerful and good, loving God wouldn't possibly allow bad things to happen. This is a common argument, and one that Christians are many times unable to answer. It is, however, flawed, since it assumes …show more content…
When referring to the problem of evil and using it to argue against the existence of God, people usually refer to the bad things that happen in life – suffering, disease, violence and natural disasters among many others. These people usually have the notion that evil is the opposite of good, something wrong, wicked and harmful that exists all on its own. However, a more correct definition of evil would be that it is good spoiled. God created all things good. Evil is not a separate creation, but the privation of goodness – it is good gone bad. There can be good without evil, but evil cannot exist without good. This leads to an important conclusion: Evil was never caused or created by God. In fact, there are two kinds of evil – moral evil, which is caused by men and their actions, and natural evil, which is caused by nature – and both of them have the same origin: man’s fall and the introduction of sin into the world. Evil entered the world through the temptation of Satan and the sins of Adam and Eve, and continued in it as a result of the sins of all mankind. God is good, and is not the author of evil, nor is He to be blamed for it. Once this is explained, evil can be properly understood, and only one question remains – why, being God all-powerful and good, does He allow