"Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of our human existence," wrote Aristotle. Most people share this opinion. Everyone seeks happiness, but so much in our world prevents us from obtaining it.   Many people search for satisfaction with life, and a part of that quest involves eliminating pain, suffering, and discomfort.

One of the most significant objections people have to the existence of God is the seemingly unanswerable question, “Why does a good God allow evil and suffering?” This question is a serious one that almost everyone has wrestled with. It is also a loaded question that presupposes several assumptions about God.

1. It presupposes that God is good:  Interestingly, many world religions teach that good and evil are both forces of equal power in the universe and that God is both good and evil. This view of God is tragic. This view necessitates evil, suffering, and sadness will never be defeated, will never go away and that mankind’s desire for happiness will never be fulfilled. Holy Scripture does not share this view. The Bible reads, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5). Therefore, the God of the Bible does not have a “dark side” and did not invent evil. He is purely good and just.
2. It presupposes that evil and suffering can exist independently of God:  Can we have a universally accepted moral standard if humans are merely soulless animals? According to an atheistic outlook, everything in the world is just a clash of atoms, a process of ongoing purposeless change. In this worldview, justice is just a human construct (something we have made up). The logical conclusion one must honestly draw from this is that there is no goodness and justice, and everything is permissible.
3. It presupposes evil and suffering are always the same thing:  While evil can include suffering. Not all suffering is evil, though it may be the consequence of evil. Consider this example: if there is such a thing as goodness and justice (as the Bible teaches), and a criminal robs a bank, he may have to go to prison for a time. In prison, he will undoubtedly suffer for what he has done. His suffering is the result of evil in that he is justly punished for robbing a bank, but his suffering is not the evil itself. The bank robber going to prison is, in reality, good and just both for him and for society as a whole.

Therefore, to answer one of our biggest questions, a biblical assumption is made that a good God exists and that evil exists in a world that this good God has created. Therefore, we must start from that place to see if there is an adequate answer.

Man, Not God, is the Originator of Evil and Suffering

God created the world good, and originally, there was no suffering or death. Suffering and death were introduced into the world when Satan (who also must have once been good because God creates all things good) tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why did God even give man an opportunity to disobey Him?

“God is love” (1 John 4:7): God created man because He had the desire to love and be loved. True love demands that each party involved in love must love of their own free will. We cannot be forced to love, or it would not be love. God allows man to walk away from that love in rebellion, and when we walk away from the love of God, consequences follow. This walking away from God in the Bible is called “sin”, and the “wages of sin are death” (Romans 6:23). Because God is good, His justice demands that He punishes wickedness, so the world was cursed in response to the fall of man (Genesis 3:1-19).

Therefore, the suffering in this world is the result of sin. Sin has consequences that goes beyond our own personal suffering.  A drunk driver might hit and kill someone driving sober and responsibly. The sin of Adam and Eve has corrupted the whole world even though we are not responsible or accountable for that sin. A question that is often asked is "Why did God bring evil into the world?".  However, God did not bring evil into the world; man did.  If we are honest with ourselves, this sad reality is self-evident. Much of our suffering is caused by other people. War, violence, family problems, fraud, and abuse, just to name a few, are the result of people, not God. We are so selfish in our sins that we often do not consider how our actions will affect others.

Complete the quiz before moving on to Lesson 2