There’s a reason why we all wrestle with this issue at one time or another. It’s because everyone experiences evil to some extent, and certainly everyone experiences suffering at some point in life. Keep that in mind for a minute.

It was standing room only as people lined the back of the packed room. Students were even sitting in the aisles. This was the scene during one of the three talks I gave at Hume Lake Christian Camps last year.

I spoke to more than 300 students on that Wednesday morning, as they filled Memorial Chapel seeking an answer to one of the most difficult questions a Christian is faced with: What about evil and suffering? My first talk that morning was on the problem of evil.

There’s a reason why we all wrestle with this issue at one time or another. It’s because everyone experiences evil to some extent, and certainly everyone experiences suffering at some point in life. Keep that in mind for a minute.

The so-called “problem” is usually presented as three premises followed by a conclusion. Its intent is to show an internal contradiction between the nature of God and the story of reality. Also known as “the rock of atheism,” the problem of evil argument goes like this:

An omnibenevolent God would want to eliminate evil. An omnipotent God would be able to eliminate evil. But evil exists. Therefore, God is either too sinister to care about people or too weak to oppose evil. God most probably does not exist at all.

To the group, I wanted to make two simple points clear, and I’d like to do the same with you. First, I’m approaching this not as a trained apologist or theologian. I’m approaching it as a human being who lives in the same world as you. I have to answer this problem for myself! The reason I asked you to keep the thought that we all wrestle with evil and suffering in your mind for a minute is my second simple point: The problem of evil is a human problem. It’s not just for the theist to answer—everyone has to answer it. Even the atheist.

I’d take it a step further and say that the atheist who gets rid of God with this objection doesn’t actually solve the problem. He merely eliminates one of the possible solutions. You see, he still has to answer the question, “What do I make of all this evil?”

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