Why Does God Allow Evil

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After World War II, many were left pondering about why God would let such evil hurt his “children.” The question arises “If a loving God exists, why would he allow evil in the world?” The Bible describes God as righteous, gracious, and full of compassion (Psalm. 116:5: The New King James Version). This tells us that God is capable of eliminating all evil, so why would he not do so? Evil exists in many forms, gun violence, rape, earthquakes, war, serial killers, or even a plane crash. The answer as to why God allows suffering to touch our lives can never be truly known, but we do know that God allows suffering in our lives because he does not coerce. A possible answer to this question lies in what is known as our greatest gift and greatest curse,…show more content…
These bad events are prime examples of moral evil, which is the most common type of evil found today. In fact, God is the reason for moral evil, but only because he gives man the gift of choice. Bad acts committed by humans are due to human flaws, not because some people are born with evil inside of them. “Evil is socially enacted and constructed. It does not reside in our genes or soul, but in the way we relate to other people” (Baumeister, 1996, p.375). There is no gene or mutation that causes humans to perform bad acts, it all comes from free will. Everyone knows the moral boundaries between right and wrong, but some choose to perpetrate evil deeds. Some bad acts are quite shocking, not by the actual deed perpetrated, but by the people who do them. People are not born with evil inside of them. The Nazi’s did not have a burning desire from birth to murder people they were just normal people who only did what they were told. The Nazi’s did have feelings and opinions also. For instance, in The Painted Bird there was one soldier who showed the boy kindness. “The soldier turned toward me and pointed to the forest made a gesture with his hand which seemed to say, ‘run away be off’ (Kosinski, 1965, p. 76). Here this German soldier was ordered to kill the boy because he was thought to be a Gypsy, but the soldier,…show more content…
Think disasters such as earthquakes and cancer. God does control the force of the earthquake and the pace the tumor grows, this is because God created a world that allows us to exist but without suffering we would not know what a privilege it is to feel joy. “Not a single sparrow falls from the sky without God knowing it and therefore willing it” (Flescher, 2013, p. 68). This evil is described in The Birth of Satan called natural evil. Natural evil is not something that can be controlled by humans, it is events that happen with no explanation. These are sometimes called acts of God and are also blamed on the devil, but who causes these tragedies? We do not truly know the answer, but what we do know that whether God is the cause or not, he has the ability to stop them. God may allow this evil because it gives us the motivation to develop a holy and religious character. Disasters allow people to see others suffering and be thankful or when we are the ones in need, it drives us closer to God. When people are involved in a hurricane or a family illness they many turn to prayer. God may use natural evil to focus our thoughts and desires on him and
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