Evil is still in the world. People still suffer, and not only the most obviously deserving people. God’s children also suffer; indeed, they sometimes bear greater pain than the unregenerate people around them. Why should God allow this ongoing affliction of those whom He has redeemed?

Discussions about the problem of evil quickly become abstract and theoretical. Skeptics raise questions about how a God who is supposed to be all-wise, all-powerful, and all-loving could permit evil to exist. Religious thinkers offer certain stock responses. Perhaps God permits evil in order to achieve greater good. Perhaps He permits evil as a necessary consequence of creating beings with free wills. Perhaps He must permit evil so as to allow for and maintain a natural order.

Few of us find these answers completely satisfying, partly because evil affects us so personally. For real people, the problem of evil is no mere philosophical construct. At some level, almost all of us live with pain. We get sick. We are subjected to disfigurement and disease. We lose our jobs, our money, and our homes. We suffer empathetically with our loved ones, and when they die we feel the loss of bereavement. We endure rejections and betrayals. We encounter oppression. Evil people commit crimes against us and we find that the pain of loss is compounded by the helpless indignity of victimization.

These evils are of different kinds. Some are natural evils or calamities like fires, floods, and epidemics. Others are moral evils, inhumane acts like robberies, rapes, and murders. Whether natural or moral, however, evil always hurts when it crushes down upon us.

Among moralistic people a common response is that evil is the direct result of sin. The underlying principle seems sound enough: virtue merits reward while vice deserves punishment. Consequently, the moralist concludes that those who are enduring affliction must be paying for moral failure, while those who enjoy ease and prosperity must be reaping the rewards of righteousness. This moralistic principle gives people a ready explanation for evil in the world, and it is the kind of explanation that makes for sensational preaching and writing. At various times people have announced the following events as divine judgments:

• The economic crash of October, 1987
• The Indian Ocean tsunami (2004)
• Hurricane Katrina (2005)
• The financial crisis of 2007-2008
• The Orlando nightclub shooting (June 11, 2016)
• The Las Vegas shooting (October 1, 2017)

The moralistic principle says that we can draw a direct line from calamity to sin, so that all calamities become demonstrations of God’s judgment. The simplicity of this principle is at least part of the reason for its popularity. The other part is the fact that it allows the righteous (or self-righteous) to claim a position of moral superiority, blaming the wicked for every misfortune and disaster. In spite of this principle’s simplicity, however, the Bible confronts it with two insurmountable objections.

Read More