Why God Permits Evil

Last month a newspaper article entitled, “Where Was God in Oklahoma City?” was quoted. It was written because of the tragic bombing of the Federal Office Building in that city. In posing the question, “Why does God permit evil?” the writer of the article probed three major religions for answers. None of the scholarly spokesmen for these religions gave definitive answers. We quote what they said, and then follow with the concluding portion of what is contained in the Dawn publication, “Why God Permits Evil,” which does provide the answer.

The following answer was given by a scholar of Judaism:

“There are several contradictory answers—none entirely satisfactory. One is that God has given human beings free will with which we can rebel against or obey God’s norms.

“The responses of Job’s comforters, which Job rejects, are, first, that he is being punished for something he has done; and, second, that God tests the righteous because he knows they can bear up.

“Another view is that suffering is a form of atonement, a balancing of good and bad deeds, the paying of dues for what we have done or not done.

“There is also the position that God’s ways are not our ways, and we do not and cannot know, and must trust God. That’s what God says when he speaks to Job out of the whirlwind—that our puny human ideal of retributive justice, rational justice, is not the way the world works.

“A modern response is in Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book, ‘When Bad Things Happen to Good People’, which says, ‘asking why is the wrong question’. The issue is how we respond Kushner sees God as a force for healing, comfort, and the courage to persist, a reserve of strength.”

Here is the answer given by a scholar of Christianity:

“The challenge is living with the tension of these polarities: God is all good and loving and powerful. And the world that God created is finite and imperfect, containing sin and evil, and that God gave to nature a certain autonomy and to humanity freedom.

“God does not cause evil or intend harm to come through the forces of nature. The danger comes when we anthropomorphize the Creator, judging God from our perspective of power, freedom and love.

“Christianity doesn’t have a final answer. Christians encounter God through God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ, who enters into our suffering, suffers with us. The message of the Crucifixion and Resurrection is that death and evil will not triumph.”

The answer given by a scholar of Islam follows:

“This world is preparation for eternal life, our lives a test. Tribulations develop faith, wipe out misdeeds, produce lessons for others, and primarily emphasize our total dependence on God and our limitations. It is in true obedience to God that we can live in peace and goodness.

“God’s compassion is revealed in the reward of eternal life. When someone dies an accidental death, the person is a martyr and goes directly to paradise.

“Everything is good. There is no evil or suffering per se, only the abuse, misuse, or overuse of good. All suffering is because mankind has disobeyed God. Individuals suffer either because of their misdeeds or others’ misdeeds. Natural calamities are the consequence of human mistakes.”

We conclude with the Bible’s answer, as given in the booklet entitled, “Why God Permits Evil:”

PART 2 INFORMATION NOT ENOUGH

RIGHT AND WRONG, as principles, are established by divine law. The world today is filled with crime, chaos, and suffering because God’s laws, his standards of right and wrong, are ignored and denied. While man was endowed with a conscience, the conscience itself is not aware of what is right and what is wrong unless it is furnished with this information from an authoritative source—which in the world today is the Word of God, the Bible.

Knowing that Adam possessed the ability to understand facts communicated to him, God placed a test of obedience upon him, defining the law which was involved. The Creator had provided our first parents with a wonderful home, “eastward in Eden,” possessing “every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food.” (Gen. 2:8-17) There was the tree of life, and another which is described as “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The Lord commanded Adam not to partake of this particular tree, and informed him that the penalty for disobedience would be death. “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” The Creator had a right to demand obedience of his human creatures.

This demand of obedience was a divine law. And since God informed Adam that death would be the penalty for disobeying, we can say that by information he knew the result of transgression. He knew that disobedience would lead to death.

EXPERIENCE NEEDED

But this information was not sufficient to deter him from taking the wrong course. He lacked a heart understanding of what was involved in his disobedience, because his knowledge was not based on experience. Doubtless Adam loved his Creator, but perhaps he falsely reasoned that since Eve had already transgressed, and would die, it would be better to die with her than to live without her. So, not having the strength that experimental knowledge would have given him, Adam transgressed divine law, and was plunged into death.

A KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL

Adam’s freewill disobedience was to lead ultimately to a fuller knowledge of God and of his standards of right and wrong. The tree of which he was forbidden to partake was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” It followed that having partaken of this tree he would gain the knowledge implied by its name, even though in the process he would need to suffer and die.

After both Adam and Eve had partaken of the forbidden fruit, the Lord said concerning them, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” (Gen. 3:22) This does not mean that the forbidden fruit had some magical effect upon our first parents, enabling them at once to have a full knowledge of good and evil.

We think the Lord’s statement means, rather, that because of disobedience, man was now destined to know both good and evil, and that he was to gain this knowledge through experience. And the education of our first parents soon began. They were driven out of their garden home into the unfinished earth to die. They were to be plagued with all sorts of unfavorable elements spoken of as ‘thorns’ and ‘thistles’ which the earth would bring forth to them, and against which they would have to struggle until, in death, they would return to the earth from which they were taken.

God designed that our first parents should generate an entire race. God knew that in order for Adam’s children to really know him, and have a true appreciation of his standards of right and wrong, they also needed to learn by experience the terrible results of disobedience. He therefore allowed all of Adam’s offspring to be carried into death with him. Paul wrote, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men.”—Rom. 5:12

DEATH PLAGUES ALL

For more than six thousand years, humanity has been exposed to evil, and by experience has been learning the awful results of disobedience. The seeds of death are manifest in everyone, by myriads of infirmities and diseases of mind and body. Neither the young nor the old have escaped. Upheavals of nature in an unfinished earth, accidents, and men’s own cruelties to one another in war and in crime all contribute to the process.

Throughout the ages, God has not interfered with the great enemy, Death. Paul informs us concerning the people as a whole that “God gave them over to a mind void of judgment.” (Rom. 1:28, Margin) He has not restrained humanity from taking its own course, although selfish and sinful.

But God’s great design does not end with the human race prostrate in death, for through Jesus, the Redeemer, he has made a provision for all to be awakened from death and restored to life. Paul wrote, “By man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (I Cor. 15:21,22) This provision of life through Christ is based on Jesus’ own death and resurrection. He said, “My flesh … I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51) The word used in the Greek text means ‘a corresponding price of release’. Jesus was a perfect man, just as Adam was a perfect man before he sinned. Thus, in death, Jesus became a corresponding price for the forfeited life of Adam. And as all mankind lost life through Adam, so all mankind is redeemed from death through Christ.

JUST AND UNJUST

This means that in God’s due time all will be awakened from the sleep of death. There is to be “a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:15) Yes, throughout the ages, while sin and selfishness have predominated, there have been noble men and women who, for their faith and obedience, are spoken of by Paul as ‘just’. But these have been allowed to suffer, just as Job did—not to punish them, but to test and prepare them for exalted positions which the Creator has designed for them.

There have also been millions of noble, unselfish people who have had no faith in God. One reason for their unbelief has been their observation that the innocent suffer as well as the guilty. They could not understand why an infant is allowed to die. They could not reconcile the idea of a loving, powerful God with the fact that so many have suffered sickness, blindness, insanity, or other cruel maladies. But had these unbelievers known the full plan of God, they would have understood these situations.

Moreover, God has been flagrantly misrepresented throughout the ages. Many professed believers in Christianity who bemoan the suffering they see around them, try to believe that all who die in unbelief will be tortured eternally in a burning hell of fire and brimstone. This blasphemous teaching has helped to create many unbelievers, for a properly reasoning mind cannot believe that a God of love would torture his creatures. Such cruelty is even contrary to the laws of civilized men.

THE FIRST AND SECOND LESSONS

Few in all the ages have as yet profited by their experience with evil. But we have seen, according to the Bible, that those who sleep in death will be awakened and given an opportunity then to profit from the experiences of the present life. Then they will enter another term, as it were, in their school of experience.

In Job’s case, when the experience was over, he could say, “I have heard of thee [God] by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee.” (Job 42:5) So it will be with the world of mankind. When the experience of suffering and death is over, and they are awakened from death, their faulty understanding of God will be corrected. Then they will learn of the gracious, loving provision the Creator made for them through Christ to ransom them from death, and restore them to life.

JOY IN THE MORNING

The psalmist wrote, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Ps. 30:5) This ‘nighttime’ of sin, sorrow, and death began with the disobedience of our first parents. And it has indeed been a night of weeping. The sorrow that has borne down upon the human race has been bitter, and many in their distress have wondered whether God has any pity.

But there is to be a morning of joy for the human race! That morning of joy will be ushered in when “the Sun of Righteousness,” who will have “healing in his wings” appears. The new day of blessing will be brought about through the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom, which is a government of righteousness foretold by God’s holy prophets.—Acts 3:19-21

Associated with Jesus as rulers in his kingdom will be his faithful followers—those who have suffered and died with him. Jesus died, the Just for the unjust, and his followers voluntarily suffer and die unjustly with him, and will be exalted to the highest of all spirit realms of life. Jesus said to his disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2,3) The Scriptures also declare that these will reign with Christ a thousand years, being brought forth from death in “the first resurrection.”—Rev. 20:6

Christ and his followers, a ‘little flock’, will be the invisible, spirit rulers of the world during the thousand years of his kingdom. (Luke 12:32) They will be represented here on earth by another group of God’s faithful servants, each of whom proved loyal to God under adversity during the ages preceding the coming of Jesus. These will be made “princes in all the earth.” (Ps. 45:16) This group will consist of the ancient and worthy servants of God of past ages, beginning with righteous Abel. It will include such outstanding figures as Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Daniel, and all God’s holy prophets.

These ‘princes in all the earth’ will be awakened from death to human perfection, and for a thousand years will be the representatives of the divine Christ among men. What a wonderful governmental arrangement this will be! It will establish universal and lasting peace, which man in his selfishness has been unable to do. Christ, the divine head of this government, is “The Prince of Peace,” and we are assured that “of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”—Isa. 9:6,7

THE “HOUSE” OF THE LORD

In Micah 4:1-4, the kingdom of Christ is referred to as God’s ruling house: “In the last days … the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall … say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

“And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.”

The ancient nation of Israel, to whom this prophecy was first addressed, was governed from a mountain: Mount Zion in Jerusalem. So the Lord uses this background in presenting this prophecy of Messiah’s kingdom. The ‘mountain’ of the Lord is the kingdom of the Lord, represented by the symbolic Zion of this prophecy.

Notice that under the rulership of this kingdom the people learn the Lord’s way. The entire period of Christ’s kingdom will be one of learning, of education. In this prophecy one of the results of this education is that the people will learn war no more. Then the angels’ message of peace on earth will be translated into reality. The Prince of Peace will then reign supreme.—Luke 2:13,14

UNDER VINE AND FIG TREE

Also, there will be economic security. This is symbolized in the prophecy by the assurance that every man will dwell under his own vine and fig tree. Much of the suffering in the world throughout the ages has been due to lack of food, clothing, and shelter. But this will be corrected in Christ’s kingdom.

Nor will peace and security be the only blessings guaranteed to the people. Isaiah wrote, “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

“And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, … we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”—Isa. 25:6-9

In addition to supplying a ‘feast of fat things’, ‘the veil’ now covering the faces of the people will be removed. This clearly refers to a symbolic curtain which hinders the people from seeing and knowing God. Another prophecy says that then “the eyes of the blind shall be opened.” (Isa. 35:5) Those literally blind will have their sight restored, and those spiritually blind will acquire a true vision of God and his glorious character.

ALL EVIL TO BE DESTROYED

Of this same time we read, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:9; Isa. 65:25) There will be no more suffering and death as a result of Adam’s transgression. Killing calamities will no longer be permitted. Peaceful and prosperous conditions will then exist, because ‘the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea’.

The Lord “will swallow up death in victory”! (Isa. 25:8) What a blessed assurance this is! Paul wrote that Christ would reign until all enemies are put under his feet, and that “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (I Cor. 15:26,27) The result of this is described in Revelation 21:4: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH GOOD

During the reign of Christ, Adam and his children in general will receive their first real experience with ‘good’. This will complete their education respecting the importance of the standards of right and wrong. Though perfect when created, Adam did not have sufficient knowledge to prevent his transgression. But, like Job, Adam and his race will ‘see’ God as a result of their experiences.

The God they will then see will be the one they have longed to know and to serve. They will recognize the value of their experience. They will realize that the few short years of hardship through which they passed were as nothing compared with the eternity of joy then stretching out before them under the panoply of divine love. No wonder they will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, … we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation”!—Isa. 25:9

At the conclusion of the harrowing experiences which Job passed through, he was restored to health, and his family was also restored to him. This partially illustrates the great blessing which lies ahead for all mankind during the reign of Christ.

As we have seen, this loving provision for the human race includes those who have fallen asleep in death. This is the key to an understanding of why God permits evil, for it means that his viewpoint of human experience is not dependent upon man’s present short span of life. God is viewing this as a lesson which in the resurrection can be compared with all the good which will then be showered upon the people.

A TIME OF LEARNING

This future period of blessing is also described in the Bible as one of judgment, or trial. Isaiah wrote that when the Lord’s judgments are abroad in the earth, “the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa. 26:9) All the inequalities of the present will then be righted. Those who now willfully oppose God and his laws, and unjustly treat their fellows, will then receive appropriate discipline designed to correct their wrongdoing. All the circumstances relative to each individual will be considered, and the people blessed or punished accordingly.

Even those who have died in infancy will be awakened, will mature to adulthood, and have an opportunity to enjoy God’s blessings. In a comforting promise to mothers who lose their children, the prophet wrote: “Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.”—Jer.31:15-17

Having had real experience with both good and evil, each individual will be able to choose intelligently between good—and live forever; or evil—and again be sentenced to death: a death from which there will be no resurrection. Christ will then be king, and judge supreme. Peter refers to him as a great ‘prophet’, and informs us that it shall come to pass “that every soul, which will not hear [obey] that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”—Acts 3:22,23

In the present nighttime of sin and death, all die—believers and unbelievers; the innocent and the guilty; the righteous and the unrighteous. During the reign of Christ, only those who willfully disobey the laws of God will be destroyed. All others will continue to live and mature toward perfection. If they continue faithful they will enter as perfect humans into the everlasting future ages of happiness and life, “with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. … And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”—Isa. 35:10

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