There is no doubt. The debate is over. The ballots have been cast. The evidence is irrefutable. Evil, suffering, pain and death are ever present in this world we live in! But how can this be? If God is a loving God, how could He allow this to happen? To help understand the answers to those questions, we must first answer this question: Why did God create us and this type of world to live in, in the first place?
I am not sure anyone can be absolutely certain of the answer to that question. But the Bible does give us some insight in this regard. In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis we are told that God “created man in His own image.” In the English language, the word “image” most often refers to “physical likeness”. But the original Hebrew word, “dmuth” (dem-ooth), has a much deeper meaning that incorporates a spiritual likeness, as well as physical similarities. So we see that God created humans with a “likeness” of God’s love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, justice and many other of His characteristics, including the attribute of free will.
It is also in the Book of Genesis where we find that God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Now, hear the words of Revelation 21:3. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people and He Himself will live with them and be their God.’ ”
From these words we can see that from the beginning God had planned to live with us in an eternal paradise. Of all the creatures of Earth, we humans are uniquely created. We are the only creation on this Earth with the capacity to worship God and we will do that for all eternity. (Revelation 5:13, “Then I heard every creature in Heaven and on Earth… singing, ‘To Him Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever.’ ”
Before He even created Adam and Eve, God formulated His plan to have a loving relationship with perfect human beings. But God also wanted that relationship to be founded in love for one another, God for His creation and His creation for their God. He did not want it to be a forced, robot- like love that we had for Him, but a genuine, deep-rooted love that comes from our hearts. That is why He created us with free will. We can choose to love Him, or choose to reject Him. God wants to fellowship with humans based solely on His character of perfect love, perfect holiness, and perfect righteousness.
However, in case you haven’t noticed, we humans are not perfect! That pesky old “free will” thing has come into play, and at sometime or another we all have used it to make “imperfect” decisions. That creates a HUGE problem. For God requires that we be perfect in order to have eternal life with Him! For we humans, left to our own devices, that is an impossible situation. But praise be to God! With Him, all things are possible!
See, God knew that we humans would use that gift of free will to do evil things. So God has also given us the free will to choose redemption. Yes, even though we have misused our free will to make corrupt decisions, we can use that same free will to be reconciled to God the Father, through Jesus Christ, God the Son. Hebrews 10:12 & 14 say, “But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God the Father…because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
What this is telling us is that anyone can be “made perfect” by accepting Christ’s sacrifice made for him or her on the cross of Calvary’s hill. It is through this act of being made perfect in Christ that we, or anyone, can be afforded the gift of living with God in Heaven for all eternity. What a place to spend forever. Heaven is so incredible, so beautiful, so AWESOME that the apostle Paul was given a chance to pay a quick visit to Heaven, and when he returned, he tells us that, “there are no words in the human language that can adequately describe what he saw there.”
Revelation 21:4-5 gives us a tantalizing glimpse into Heaven for ourselves. These passages tell us that in Heaven, “He (God) will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. He Who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making all things new.’ Then He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ ” Yes, what a place to spend eternity Heaven is. Sometimes I can hardly wait to get there. Oh well, in due time. For now I, and we, must spend our time here on this Earth.
So the question is now, “Why did God create this kind of world for us to live in?” I mean, how does this world fit in with God’s plans for us to:
It is true that God could have created humans so that He could control us and make us always choose to righteous path. He could “make” us love Him. Yet if He did that, we would be nothing more than God- controlled robots. It would be like me programming my computer to say “I love you” every time I turn it on. Would my computer really love me? Nah, it would just be saying and doing what I told it to say and do. No thought, no choice, no love.
So God created us knowing full well that we would sometimes choose to use His creation, and our free will, to do ungodly things.
There was once a science professor who told his class that a loving God could not exist precisely because of the logic I proposed a minute ago. He reasoned, “If there were truly a loving God, that God would never have created evil. Since evil exists, there is no God, loving or otherwise.” One of his students raised his hand. “Not true.” he said. “For you see, ‘evil’ does not exist.” “What are you saying?” the professor responded. “We see examples of evil every day.”
“What about cold?” the student asked. “Does a thing called ‘cold’ really exist?” He went on, “No, there is no such ‘thing’ as ‘cold’. There is only the presence of less and less heat. Even “absolute zero” is really not ‘cold’. It is just the absence of all heat.” The student continued, “So I submit to you that there is a loving God who created only that which is good. That which is known as ‘evil’ is really only the presence of less and less good. Absolute ‘evil’ would be the total absence of good.” (My note: sounds like Satan and Hell to me.)
By the way, the student’s name was Albert Einstein. So, “evil” is not a created “thing”. Rather, “evil” is the absence of a created “thing”, which we call “good” or “holy”. It is the misuse of perfectly created good things. Evil could not be defined, or even exist, if there were no good and holy things to begin with.
Sometimes I think God allows evil things to take place so that we more readily recognize and appreciate good things when they happen. The bottom line is, with the free will that God has granted us, we humans can choose to do good deeds, or we can choose to do deeds devoid of goodness (deemed “evil”).
But make no mistake about it, either way it is our choice. Not even Satan can “make” you do something you choose not to do. There are those in this world, even some who profess to be Christians, who believe and teach that it does not matter what you say or do in this life, whether it is good or evil. God will let everyone into Heaven when they die. “After all,” they say, “wouldn’t that be perfect forgiveness and perfect love?”
At first glance, you might think that is true. But that would then contradict and violate several of God’s other characteristics. Namely, His holiness, justice and righteousness. We are told in God’s Word that He cannot and will not tolerate evil entering and living in the holy place where He lives. That is why we must be made holy and perfect through, and in, Jesus Christ before we are allowed entrance into God’s Kingdom of Heaven.
In the meantime, to accommodate our human existence, God created this world, which requires two main things. They are: