Yes, I Believe God Allows Evil to Exist

This is a hard topic to think about, but today I got a comment on one of my stories, and I felt compelled to respond.

Here is the story in question:

In the story I discuss how sometimes bad things happen to us, and we wonder why God allows it, but it turns out to be part of His greater plan.

Someone commented that God does not cause bad things to happen, which I agree with, but then she said He does not allow bad things to happen, which I disagree with.

To state that God does not allow bad things to happen to us is to deny the sovereignty of God. Either He is omnipotent or He is NOT God. Either He knows that bad things will happen and allows them to do so OR he is not aware they will happen. And if He is not aware — then how can He be an omniscient God?

In the story above, I shared an incident that graphically illustrated for my benefit how God uses something “bad” to bring about a greater good.

He also allows human beings free will.

This is demonstrated throughout the Bible.

In the Garden of Eden, who was it that was in charge? Was it Adam? Was it Satan? Or was it God? Who of these is the Supreme Creator?

In the Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam writes:

And ev’n with Paradise devise the Snake: For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken’d — Man’s forgiveness give — and take!

I sympathize with the poet’s sentiment, though I disagree with him on God’s needing to ask our forgiveness. God created us, He created the heavens and the earth and all that dwell therein — which means He also created the angels, and therefore Lucifer. However, Lucifer did not have to become Satan. He chose to rebel against God, just as Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the fruit.

Yet to assume that God did not know this would happen — that would minimize the power of God.

Later in the Bible, Christ dies on the cross.

Yet, Christ is part of the Trinity — He IS God.

Could Christ have chosen not to die that horrible death? Yes. He had the power. Yet He chose to die.

How do you think His mother felt when she saw Her beloved baby hanging on a cross? When His followers saw Him die — did they not believe something horrible had happened?

Yet, just a short time later — He rose from the dead and became the salvation of the world. Without His horrible death, none of us would be saved.

When bad things happen to us, we can choose to believe that God is not aware of these things, that He isn’t a sovereign God. OR we can choose to put ourselves in His hands, trust Him as the Almighty One, and believe that He will work everything for the good for those who love Him, in the long run.

Thank you for reading this. I hope you found it interesting.

I am fighting stage IV cancer. If you can help with medical bills, I would really appreciate it. Or if you enjoy my writing and would like to buy me a cup of coffee, that’s great too. Maybe someday I can return the favor.

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This post was previously published on Shefali O’Hara’s blog.

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