If God exists, why does evil exist?

The Man Who Saw Evil and Supposed There Was No God

He was a man who had seen evil up close: sickness, injustice, death, and tears that would not stop. And he said to himself: if there were a good and all-powerful God, He would have prevented all this; so either He is not good, or He is not able, or He is not there. His question was not merely an intellectual argument, but a wound in the heart: for how could a loving God coexist with the pain he had seen? So it seemed to him that the existence of evil was proof of the absence of God. But one day he read a word that did not ignore his wound, but declared that God Himself had entered pain and borne it: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). And he paused: if God Himself is a man of sorrows, then perhaps He is not absent from pain, but has entered it.

The Bible's answer to the problem of evil is not a cold sentence, but a truth that honours the wound and exposes the faulty assumption: evil is not from God, who is light and made everything very good, but entered through the misuse of freedom; and God is sovereign over it, permitting it for a season for a purpose He will turn to good; indeed God Himself entered pain, bore our sorrows, and will wipe away every tear. As for the supposition that a good and powerful God would prevent evil now, it is overturned by the fact that ending it immediately would mean the immediate judgment of all, and that a day of judgment is coming on which He will set every wrong right. And deepest of all: to call evil «evil» assumes a standard of good that points to God, rather than denying Him.

What the Atheist Assumes in the Problem of Evil

Let the dilemma be stated fairly. Many atheists press the classic argument: if God were good He would want to prevent evil, and if He were able He could; but evil exists; so either He is not good, or not able, or not there. And often this is not merely a logical argument, but a deep wound: a person has suffered, or seen others suffer, so that it seemed to him that the existence of a loving God contradicts the pain he has seen.

And we acknowledge that behind this question is a real pain, which we do not belittle nor cool with a dry answer. Evil is real, and pain is real, and the one who has seen suffering up close is not to be blamed for asking. But the matter is not whether evil is real — that is agreed; indeed the Bible takes evil more seriously than the atheist does — but whether the dilemma requires that there be no God. For the argument assumes two things the Bible does not grant: that God, if He existed, would prevent all evil at once, and that the existence of evil contradicts His existence. And the Bible reveals that God has a purpose in enduring evil for a season, and that His delay is neither weakness nor indifference, but patience and mercy. Indeed the Bible offers what no other outlook offers: a God who did not stand by as a spectator of pain, but entered it Himself. So the dilemma, examined closely, does not deny God, but assumes Him.

Evil Is Not From God, but Entered Through the Misuse of Freedom

The first thing that settles the matter is that evil is not from God nor of His making. For the Bible declares that God is light with no darkness in Him: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). And that every good gift is from Him: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). And that He made everything very good: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31).

So if God is light, and everything He made was very good, where did evil come from? Evil entered not as a thing God created, but as a corruption that entered His good creation when the creature misused the freedom given to it. When the creature turned from the good, evil came in, and with it death entered the world: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin" (Romans 5:12). So evil is not a substance God created, but a deviation from the good He created. Light is a reality God made, and darkness is the absence of light; good is a reality He made, and evil is a deviation from it. So God is not the author of evil; He is the One against whom evil rebels. And He gave freedom because love without freedom is not love; but freedom itself opened the door to its misuse. So evil is the price of a misused freedom, not the craftsmanship of a good God.

God Is Sovereign Over Evil, Permitting It for a Season for a Purpose

And evil, though it is not from God, is not outside His sovereignty nor a proof of His absence; rather God is sovereign over it, permitting it for a season for purposes He turns to good. The clearest example is the story of Joseph, against whom his brothers meant evil, but God meant it for good: "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good" (Genesis 50:20). The evil the brothers did remained evil, but God turned it into the salvation of a nation from famine.

And the Bible declares that God works all things — even the painful — together for good to those who love Him: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). So evil is not a runaway force that overcomes God, but is under His sovereignty, permitted for a season, then turned to a good purpose. And this does not mean evil became good, but that God is able to bring good out of evil, as He brought salvation out of the brothers' injustice. So the existence of evil, then, does not indicate that God is absent or powerless, but that He endures it for a season within a purpose wider than we see. We see part of the picture, and God sees the whole; and the one who trusts His wisdom understands that permitting evil for a season is not weakness, but patience within a purpose yet to be revealed.

God Himself Entered Pain: He Did Not Stand By as a Spectator

Here is the heart of the Christian answer, and what no other outlook offers: that God did not stay distant from pain, but entered it Himself. He did not content Himself with explaining suffering from on high, but became man and bore the worst of evil. Isaiah declared that He is «a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief»: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). So the One accused of being far from pain entered it until He became a man of sorrows.

And the Lord Jesus Christ wept at the grave of His friend, so He was no stranger to grief: "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). And He bore our griefs and sorrows, indeed He bore our sins in His own body on the tree: "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). And He partook of flesh and blood that through death He might destroy the power of death: "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death" (Hebrews 2:14). So the God of the Bible is not a spectator of human pain, but a participant in it, who bore the worst of evil on the cross and turned it into the means of salvation. So the atheist accuses God of being far from pain, and the Bible declares that He entered it more deeply than any human: for He bore not His own pain only, but the sins of the world. So the One you suppose to be absent from your wound is the One who was wounded for you.

Natural Evil: A Creation Groaning Under a Curse

As for natural evil — sickness, disasters, death — the Bible explains it as the groaning of a creation placed under a curse because of sin, not an original order that God made this way. For when sin entered, the earth was cursed for man's sake: "cursed is the ground for thy sake" (Genesis 3:17). So the very good creation was broken, and in it came thorns, pain, and death.

And the Bible declares that the whole creation groans, awaiting deliverance: "Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption... For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Romans 8:21-22). So the groaning and travail is the picture of a broken creation awaiting a new birth. So natural evil is neither original nor permanent, but an intruder and temporary: it entered by sin, and will be lifted by redemption. So the world we see is not the world as God made it «very good,» nor as it will be when it is freed from corruption; but a world broken in the middle, between a good creation that fell and a creation that will be renewed. So the groaning of nature is not proof of God's absence, but that creation awaits the hand of God to free it from the brokenness that sin brought in.

The Objection: «A Good and Powerful God Would Prevent Evil Now»

Here the objection returns in its strongest form: if God were good and powerful, He would prevent evil now, not postpone it. And the answer turns on patience and timing. For ending all evil at once would require the immediate judgment of everyone who does evil — and that includes everyone, not just others. If God abolished evil this very moment, He would abolish every doer of evil, and no one would survive. So His delay is not indifference, but a mercy that gives space for people to repent.

And the Bible declares that this delay is patience and mercy, not weakness or absence: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise... but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). So the delay is mercy. But evil will not remain unaccounted for; there is an appointed day on which God will judge the world in righteousness: "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:31). And on that day every tear will be wiped away, and every wrong set right: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (Revelation 21:4). So evil is not ignored, but patiently endured for the sake of mercy, and will at last be judged. So the one who asks God to end evil now asks — unintentionally — that the season of mercy be ended, the very mercy in which he himself might yet be saved.

To Call Evil «Evil» Assumes God, Rather Than Denying Him

And the deepest point that closes the dilemma is that the objection itself assumes God. For when you say something is «evil,» you appeal to a real standard of good, above personal opinion. For if there were no real, absolute good, there would be no real evil, but merely things we dislike. So to say that suffering is «evil» — not merely «unpleasant» — assumes that there is a way things ought to be, and a standard by which to judge.

And where does this standard come from? Matter alone produces no «ought» and no «evil»; a universe without God has events, not judgments. So for evil to be truly evil, there must be a real, absolute good, and a standard above human beings; and this standard is God Himself, whom the dilemma tries to deny. So the atheist, when he argues from evil against God, borrows from God the very standard by which he calls evil evil. For if it were true that there is no God, evil would have no meaning beyond «what I dislike,» and the argument would collapse, since a moral dilemma cannot be built on personal taste. So the paradox is that the problem of evil, when pressed honestly, does not deny God, but assumes Him: for evil is not truly evil unless there is a God who is the standard of good. So the wound that drives you to deny God is itself a testimony to the God who placed in you the knowledge that this evil ought not to be.

A World Without the Possibility of Evil Is a World Without Love

Much of the worst evil is what humans do to one another: injustice, cruelty, murder. So it may be asked: why did God not make humans incapable of evil at all? And the answer is that a world stripped of the possibility of evil is a world stripped of the possibility of love. For true love requires freedom; love forced by compulsion is not love. Had God made humans compelled toward the good, they would be like machines that obey without choice, not beings who love by their own will. And love without choice is not love, but programming.

So the freedom by which we can love God and one another is the very freedom that can be misused into evil. So the one who asks for a world with true love but no possibility of evil asks for two contradictory things: freedom without freedom. So God gave freedom because it is the condition of love, and accepted that it would open the door to misuse, because a world that loves freely is more precious than a world that obeys without choice. This is why much of evil is not God's fault, but the misuse by humans of the freedom He gave them for the sake of love. So the one who blames God for human evil is like one who blames the giver of freedom for the misuse of the one who misused it. And God has promised to call every misuse to account, for He does not leave injustice without justice; but He would not strip away the freedom by which alone love is possible.

The Cross: When God Turned the Worst Evil Into the Greatest Good

And there is a difference between God permitting evil and God being defeated by it; and the clearest proof of this is the cross. For on the cross, the greatest evil in history was committed: the killing of the righteous, innocent Son, hung unjustly on a tree. And yet God turned this very evil into the greatest good: the salvation of the world. So the cross was not a defeat of God before evil, but a victory: for He took the worst thing evil ever did, and made it the means by which He redeemed mankind.

And the apostles declared this: that what wicked men did with their lawless hands was within God's prior purpose to save by it: "him... ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up" (Acts 2:23-24). So evil remained evil — lawless hands killed the innocent — but God turned it into salvation, and then undid it by the resurrection. So this is the pattern by which God works with evil: He does not make it, nor is He defeated by it, but permits it for a season, then turns it into a good surpassing what its doers intended. So if God took the greatest evil — the killing of His Son — and made it the greatest good — the salvation of the world — can He not turn the evil of your life into a good you cannot now see? So the cross is a guarantee that God is not defeated by evil, but sovereign over it, turning it for those who trust Him into an eternal good. So the One who made the darkest day in history into the door of salvation is able to make a good out of your wound, if you come to Him.

Closing — The God Who Entered Pain Calls You

If you have seen evil and supposed there is no God, the Bible does not ignore your wound, but reveals to you a God who takes evil more seriously than you do: a God who did not make evil, but entered it and bore it, and will judge it at last, and wipe away every tear. You are not called to deny your pain, but to know that God entered a deeper pain for you. For the One you suppose to be absent from your wound became a man of sorrows, and bore the sins of the world on the cross, when the Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Come, then — not to carry your wound alone, but to the God who entered pain for you. Seek Him sincerely, for the One who wept at the grave of His friend understands your tears. And know that a day is coming on which every tear will be wiped away, and every wrong set right. So the evil that wounded you is not the end; for there is a God who entered it to overcome it, and who calls you to come to Him and find in Him not a cold explanation, but a Saviour who bore your sorrows.

A Special Prayer

If you have come to see that God did not make evil but entered it and bore it, and that He called you to Himself through His Son who died and rose, you may come to Him now, even while you still carry a wound. What saves you is not the words of a prayer, but faith that the Lord Jesus Christ died for you and rose again. So pray from your heart to the living God who hears:

"O great and holy and loving God, the one true God: I saw evil and supposed Thou wast absent, and I see now that Thou didst not make it, but didst enter it and bear it for me. I confess that I am a sinner, and that I need Thee. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the man of sorrows, died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. I trust in Him alone as my Saviour. Carry my wound, forgive me, receive me, grant me eternal life, and one day wipe away every tear from my eyes. I pray in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."

After You Have Prayed

If you prayed this prayer from a sincere heart, then you have come to the God who entered your pain to save you, and you have become a child of His forever. Here are steps to steady you:

First — read the Word of God every day. Know that the King James Version (KJV) is the truest and purest copy of the Word of God in all the world, His true and pure Word, and you will find it on this website (alinjil.com); and in Arabic, read the trustworthy Van Dyck translation. Begin with the Gospel of John, not in haste, but with meditation and prayer, for God speaks to you through His Word.

Second — pray to God directly every day in words from your own heart, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, bringing Him your sorrows, for He understands them.

Third — ponder how Christ entered pain and bore our griefs, that you may know God is no stranger to your wound.

Fourth — seek a church that honours the Word of God and proclaims salvation in Christ, join the fellowship of believers, and be baptized in obedience to the Lord.

Fifth — bear witness to others with gentleness and love that God entered pain and bore it, and that He will wipe away every tear, especially to those whom evil has wounded so that they supposed there is no God.

And keep reading the Word of God in the King James Version, the truest and purest Word of God in the world, and in the Van Dyck in Arabic — both found on this website — that you may grow in the knowledge of the One who entered your pain to save you.

A Personal Word to You, Dear Reader

Thank you for taking the time to read this message about the problem of evil, the God who entered pain, and the salvation He offers through the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have received Christ as your own personal Saviour, you have come to the One who bore your sorrows, and you have become a child of God forever. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (Revelation 21:4).

We encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of John for yourself, to continue in the Word of God in the King James Version — the truest and purest Word of God in the world — and in the Van Dyck in Arabic, both found on this website (alinjil.com), and to share this good news with everyone whom evil has wounded so that they supposed there is no God. May God richly bless you as you come to know the One who entered your pain to save you, and who will wipe away every tear from your eyes.

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

The great gift that the Holy Scriptures offer to every reader who engages honestly with their content is not a set of easy answers to hard questions but a framework within which the deepest questions of human experience find their most complete and most satisfying resolution. The framework is God Himself — His character, His purposes, His acts in history, and above all the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question addressed in this article, when examined within that framework, is seen not as a challenge to faith but as an invitation to a deeper understanding of the God who created the mind that asks the questions.

This article has sought to address its subject honestly and from the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, without evasion and without minimising the genuine difficulty of the questions involved. The reader who finds the biblical answers compelling is invited to pursue them further — in the Holy Scriptures themselves, in prayer addressed directly to God, and in genuine engagement with a community of believers who take both the questions and the answers seriously. The reader who remains uncertain is invited to continue the search with the same honesty with which it began. God honours the sincere seeker: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

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