GOOD AND EVIL
We have only a few choices concerning what to believe about God and Good and Evil.
EITHER GOD EXISTS, OR GOD DOES NOT EXIST.
IF GOD DOES NOT EXIST,
and there is no deity or spirit or "mind" apart from chemical brain functions; then neither is there a human soul that survives the death of the body. There is neither eternity nor any eternal reward for good nor any eternal punishment for evil. There is nothing absolutely good or evil because there is no supreme and powerful authority to define and declare them! Even behavior that aids the survival of the human accident is meaningless because survival is irrelevant in a cosmos of anihilation. What meaning is there to life or pleasure or intelligence or art or invention or emotion or personality or improvement where there is no purpose or goal or reward?
Without God we are an accidental flash of self-awareness with no more meaning than a flash of lightening. When the mindless forces of nature momentarily favor the formation of lightening, then the brief and blinding flash occurs. When favorable conditions pass, so does the lightening. Without God, it is the same with the appearance of humanity. It is inevitable that this gathering of coincidences which made humanity possible will pass and take us with them. There will be no one "there" to care or remember that there ever was a thing called humanity.
GOD IS NOT NEEDED
to explain what is observable, say the pseudo-scientists. The nature of the elements, by their various properties, predetermines and predicts what combinations and conditions CAN exist. Given enough time and luckily sequenced random combinations of elements and energy at precise measures and instances, we are told, intelligent life was bound to occur. Never mind that the odds against even one amino acid molecule forming by accident is greater than the total number of atoms in the universe!
ALL IS MEANINGLESS
if there is no God. There is no hope if there is no God. This argument is totally meaningless if there is no God. Why would anyone care if anyone else believed there is a God? When this flash called humanity is over, it is over. All concept of "truth" as well as all "lies" will have evaporated with us, as if never having existed at all...and no one will be around to care or remember!
IF GOD IS,
then all else derives meaning from His existance! Good and Evil - Right and Wrong - are determined by the Designer/Maker of all things. If there is a Creator, we immediately assume PURPOSE for creation. Why did He make anything? Why did He make things as they are? Did God come along as a "lucky" accident Himself? Even if that was so, it is still God who is writing the rules of ethics and purpose and meaningfulness! With the existance of God, and His determination of what is good or evil, we are again left with two choices.
EITHER GOD IS GOOD OR GOD IS EVIL
IF GOD IS EVIL
and malicious and cruel, then He is the source of those things in His creation. We could easily explain all that is bad in human experience by saying it is because God is evil. We could not explain all that is truely good unless there was some source for good other than that evil God. Both Good and Evil must have a source since they were not available untill that High Intelligence declared them. God would necessarily be PURE EVIL in order to invent so many diverse people and circumstances and variables for the purpose of causing grief and suffering and pain and death! Could pure evil create beauty and love and joy? If that God could create both good and evil, then His good would be created in order to cause greater harm. The cruel pains of life would be bitterly intensified when compared to moments of happiness. Therefore, good would become an agent of evil, and hence, not good at all! So an evil God could not be the source of true goodness since the purpose of His mock goodness would be to torture us the more!
IF GOD IS GOOD
we are again faced with only two options. If God is good, then He cannot be the source of evil. How could a good source of evil be? Therefore, this good God must either be powerful enough to prevent evil, but does not (which suggests that God is evil and not good at all!); or he is too weak to prevent evil which comes from some other source.
IF GOD IS WEAK
then the Source of Evil has greater strength than this good God. God may be able to deliver a few people from evil at least some of the time, but He obviously fails most of the time! The REAL power in the universe would be evil. That brings us back to an EVIL GOD who controls all or at least most things, with an opposing but failing source of good...or with mock goodness only being an evil God's agent for causing greater sorrow! There is no hope for deliverance from evil by a weak God. A weak God is no God. If God is weak, He may as well NOT exist.
IF GOD IS STRONG
enough to prevent evil and does not, yet retains His necessary goodness, we are again left with two options. Either we must state that evil is good, or that God is sovereign.
IF EVIL IS AN AGENT FOR GOOD,
(because this good God uses evil to produce good results, or because he brings good finishes out of bad starts) then "evil" ceases to be truely evil! Such thinking erases the opposing natures of good and evil by making one the result of the other. This fundamental error makes evil the root of good, and good the fruit of evil! If such were so, then there would actually be no good or evil! How can evil serve a good purpose and still be evil? How can good serve an evil purpose and still be good? There must yet be a solution that allows God to be good and powerful.
http://blueletterbible.org
IF GOD IS SOVEREIGN AND GOOD, WHY DOES HE ALLOW EVIL?
Here, philosophy must yield to revelation. The deffinitions of Good and of Evil are entirely dependant on God alone and cannot possibly be determined by nature or human philosophy (
Different human cultures often contradict each other's arbitrary "good" and "evil"). A quick but honest scan of scripture will reveal that whatever pleases God is declared Good, and whatever displeases God is declared Evil. It will also quickly appear that what pleases God is obedience and trust toward Him, and what displeases God is disobedience and unbelief! (
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/1Sa/1Sa015.html#16 )
I Samuel 15:22-23 gives a striking proof text! Indeed, it is declared by God that there are rewards given by Him to those who obey and trust Him, as well as consequences upon those who disobey and disbelieve! See:
Evil and its consequences are in the world by HUMAN INVITATION!
Death is not a natural law. Death is a spiritual law.
(
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Hbr/Hbr003.html#7) Hebrews 3:7-19</a> shows that the unbelieving who had plenty of reason TO believe were allowed to die off to prevent them from receiving the reward held for believers. God's original and enduring intent was that none should perish.
HOWEVER, THIS VICTORY ONLY COMES TO THOSE WHO HAVE TRUSTED CHRIST'S DEATH TO HAVE PAID FOR THEIR OWN SINS, AND HAVE BELIEVED THAT GOD RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD, AND HAVE CONFESSED CHRIST'S LORDSHIP OVER THEMSELVES OPENLY!
Death is not a natural law. Death is a spiritual law.
WHAT ABOUT EVILS OTHER THAN DEATH?
shows that as those who knew God (in the beginning) suppressed the truth about God Then God began to not suppress the immorality of those who suppress the truth. As TRUTH faded, immorality grew! As the memory that God is rewarder and judge faded, so fear of consequences also faded. Conversely, as the truth that God is rewarder and judge grows in a person, a group, or a society, then immorality fades! History easily supports this postulate! Biblical history as well extra-biblical history will show the rise and fall of nations based on how closely or loosly they followed God's truth, or reasonable faximiles of it. Do you get the feeling that Jesus knew what He was talking about when He said,"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." ?
Trusting and yielding yourself to God will set you free from personal evil and personal eternal consequences, though the evil of others may still have an affect.
BUT WHAT ABOUT DISEASES
which explains that when believers need correction, God will correct. That correction is called chastisement, which relates to chastity or purity.
which explains that tribulation brings about that mature characteristic we call patience.
Consider yet another important aspect of this subject as presented by Jesus in
which explains a birth defect as giving an opportunity for the works of God to be made manifest. Of course there are many obvious warnings to unbelievers and rebels that their sins are not hidden and will be punished in any of a variety of ways and/or delays as indicated in:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/1Ti/1Ti005.html#22 I Timothy 5:24
No where in scripture do I find a meaningless suffering or a valueless trial. Even the simple is made wise when he observes the judgement of God falling on an impenitent sinner! In listing these most recent examples that show "WHY" evil comes upon people, I am not saying that good comes from evil. I offer you quite a different conclusion.
OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD!
tells us that in the world we will have tribulation, but that Jesus has OVERCOME the world! This is not good coming from evil, but good conquering evil!
tells us to do the same. Overcome evil with good!
These verses give an eloquent presentation of this ultimate and complete victory over evil by God.
After all the studying that can be done, I do not think that every question can yet be answered. However, these things are sure:
God exists.
God is Good.
God will overcome evil with good.
Your suffering and problems are not meaningless nor are they forgotten by God.
Your only constant responsibilities are to obey God and to trust Him totally.
I hope this has helped you make sense out of whatever unpleasantness you are facing.