Living with the Problem of Evil

Bringing It All Together

We began this series by noting that the problem of evil is the only serious argument against the existence of God. It touches every human being and confronts us on three levels: emotional, intellectual, and historical.

We saw how false solutions, atheism, pantheism, naturalism, and idealism ultimately fail because they deny one of the essential truths. They either deny God’s existence, His goodness, His power, or the reality of evil itself. Christianity refuses to abandon any of them. God exists. God is good. God is powerful. Evil is real.

The challenge, then, is to see how these truths can be reconciled without contradiction.

What We Have Learned

1. Evil Defined — Evil is not a “thing,” but a privation of the good. It exists in two forms: moral evil (sin) and natural evil (suffering). Both are real, and both trace back to the misuse of human freedom and the Fall.

2. Freedom and Personhood — To be a person means to have intellect and will. True freedom is the capacity to choose the good. Misusing freedom leads to real harm and, in a sense, depersonalizes us by turning us away from what it means to be fully human.

3. Omnipotence and Goodness — God’s power does not include contradictions. He cannot create free persons without the possibility of sin. God’s goodness is not mere kindness; it is love that sometimes permits suffering in order to lead us to greater goods.

4. The Cross — God’s answer is not abstract. He enters into suffering Himself. At Calvary, justice and mercy meet. Evil is not explained away but redeemed. The worst act in history, the crucifixion, becomes the source of salvation for the world.

5. True Happiness — Shallow happiness is fragile, dependent on feelings and fortune. True happiness, or beatitude, comes from virtue, wisdom, and communion with God. Suffering, far from disproving this happiness, often deepens it by detaching us from false goods and pointing us to eternal joy.

How We Live This Truth

The problem of evil will never be “solved” in this life, the way a math problem is solved. It is something we must live through with faith. But the gospel gives us practical ways to face it:

• Trust God in suffering — not because we understand everything, but because He has proven His love at the Cross.

• Forgive as Christ forgave — evil is not answered by vengeance, but by mercy that heals and restores.

• Bear one another’s burdens — suffering becomes lighter when it is shared, and we share in Christ’s work of redemption when we carry it with love.

• Keep our hope fixed on eternity — suffering is real, but it is not the last word. Resurrection is.

The Final Word

The problem of evil does not end with a clever explanation. It ends with a person. Jesus Christ is God’s answer to evil. In Him, we discover that our pain is not meaningless, our guilt can be forgiven, and our hope is secure.

As Karl Barth said, the deepest truth is still the simplest: “Jesus loves me.” That love is what makes sense of everything else.