The problem of evil...

Epicurus asks...

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?”

What is at the root of his question?  All of us look around us a realize that evil exists.  Bad things happen to good people.  Where is God in all of this?


Interestingly enough, God answers these questions by giving us His word.  We must read it to gain an understanding on these issues.  What does his word tell us?  Yes, bad things happen to good people, but nothing happens randomly.  God is personally involved in what happens to us.  God is intricately involved in the details of life.  Evil, wicked things happened to God's people - sometimes as a result of their sin directly, other times as a result of sin in the world.  Time and time again though, God uses the things that we would deem evil or wicked (and justifiably so) to produce the results that He desires - ultimately the results are good and necessary for everyone.


The best example is Christ Himself.  Why did God allow an innocent - completely innocent - man to die with "cruel and unusual punishment".  Spat on, flesh ripped from his back - his legs- his face, his beard plucked - not ever so gently, but torn from his face, a head piece of thorns jammed on his head, beaten with rods, whipped, nailed to a cross, left to hang for hours, eventually pierced in his side to prove death.  Innocent!  He was completely, utterly innocent!  In a way that even our babies cannot claim innocence.  Not only was He not guilty of personal sin as a result of His behavior, but he did not have the original sin of man passed on to Him because His Father was God Himself.  He was without sin, without blemish, without a stain!  He was perfect.


Yet He submitted Himself to a cruel punishment for our benefit.  That we might gain a relationship with the Father.  That we might acquire eternal life.  He chose that for us.  He has made that available to us.  Through an evil, wicked death, He brought the ultimate good to us.


Does this explain away evil?  No.  Does this give us reason to hope when the world around us is evil?  Yes.  


In the vision of the nearsighted, things don't always look clear.  In the ears of the novice, sounds cannot be easily distinguished.  In the hands of the master though, the senseless makes sense, the worthless receives value, the hopeless become hopeful.