Good vs. Evil

You know that age old question, "If God is so good and loving, then why is there evil in the world?" Or how about the more personal form of this question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

God is the Supreme Being, the highest power. He is love, as well as pure and holy. He is spirit and truth. He is infinite, everywhere, and eternal. He is just and merciful. He is all-wise and all-knowing. He is good. Below Him are all lesser things - all things spiritually and physically created by Him. But God is not evil, nor did He create evil, so where did evil come from and why doesn't God stop it? Well, put simply...

Since God is good, all things that are not good, are not God.

Well, now you are thinking something like, "that doesn't make sense, because if God is everywhere and good, then evil shouldn't exist". Good point - so let me address that. God is everywhere in the fact that He is bigger than the universe. In reletive proportions, if the individual cells that are in your body could talk, they'd say that you are everywhere. I'm not suggesting that the all created things make up God, like our cells make up our physical bodies, but you get the point of the size ratio. Likewise, are you able to focus on what each cell in your body is doing, know where it is and if it's in danger? No. But if it were a comparable analogy to God - God would be able to.

God is spirit and not physical, therefore the physical world that He created is naturally separated from Him. But evil didn't exist until God created beings with the ability to rebell against Him. Creation has free-will and the power to make things, they can choose to reject God, and they can accidentally or purposefully sin. God doesn't want robots, He wants a loving relationship with His creation out of their own free choice. God doesn't move, so when we do, think, or say something that is not God-like, we're moving away from God and doing (making) evil. Natural disasters work in the same way, because this earth can be manipulated by spiritual beings. Spiritual beings that act opposed to God's will, make evil. We make evil by doing our will or the will of spiritual enemies of God instead of doing God's will - and doing that brings on evil consequences, simply because that action isn't God-like, so it isn't good. So the answer to "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is that there is no such thing as good people - there's only careful people or careless people - every human has at one point or another sinned and fallen short of pure goodness. Some people even make sinning a hobby, addiction, or life-long profession. Most people strive to "do" good as much as possible, in order to "be" good. But only God is good - and we can line our thinking, emotions, and behavior up with God as much as we want, but that still doesn't make us good - because sin is out there, we can't continually only do good 24 / 7 / 365 / 80+ years out of our own ability - it isn't humanly possible. So created beings make bad things happen by not doing things God's way.

The real question is, "why do good things happen to bad people?" God is just, and His justice is balanced by His mercy and patience. God is always active in the world and He brings both sunshine and rain to both the good-doers and the bad-doers alike, because He loves everyone and because no one, whether they do good or bad, is good or deserves good things to happen to them. So here's when you ask,"then why go to all the effort to do what is good?" and the reply is that God has set a day of Judgment when all the people of the earth will judged according to what they have done, said, and thought while on this earth.

Now you're probably thinking, "hey - that's not fair... if we can't possibly be totally good on our own - if we are incapable of thinking, feeling, speaking and acting 100% good, 100% of the time, then how can we be judged?" Good question. The answer is that we can be judged because God sent His only Son Jesus into the world, to live a life of example for us, to experience all the pain, sorrow, and suffering of human life contains, and to lay His life down for all of humanity's sin - to pay the death penalty for it. Then, after Jesus rose from the grave and after He ascended back up to the Father's right hand in heaven, God sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in the spirits of all who simply believe in Jesus and what He had done for us. This process is salvation, and we become identified in Christ - we rest in the work He did, and take on His righteousness, and then God can come near to us. We live by the Holy Spirit inside us Who not only guides us into all truth and knowledge of Jesus, but also enables us to "become" good. This process is called sanctification, when we become so much like Jesus that we look like Him in all we are. We are given God's Word and the Holy Spirit as tools and power for us to reflect Jesus' thoughts, will, emotions, desires, speech, and actions in ourselves. We are given Jesus' eternal blood sacrifice to cover and forgive our mistakes and accidental / habitual sin while we are learning to overcome.

To the knowledge that we know of Jesus - that is what we are held accountable for. If we accept Jesus and follow Him, we will be transformed into His image - and will become good - because of Him. If we choose to deny Jesus, then all our sin is left on us to bear alone. Since a majority of the world has rejected Christ, is rejecting Christ, or will reject Christ - there will always be evil running ramped on this earth, until the day when Jesus comes back.

Why doesn't God stop evil?.... He has and is. He gave His Son to us and then the Holy Spirit so that Jesus can stay with each believer always to continue to do His work in us and through us. Believers are the agents God uses in this world to stop evil. Believers are meant to be the light of God in a dark world. If evil still is, it's because believers aren't doing thier job of growing up in Christ and cooperating with Him in His work on this earth. Those of us who have accepted Christ Jesus and are being led by the Holy Spirit have the authority in Christ to resist evil (James 4:7), pray for protection against evil (Matthew 6:13), and fight evil (Ephesians 6:11-18) - we just have to learn how, and continue in it. We need to learn to apply God's Word to our lives, not only in spiritual areas, but in all areas, so that we will see the darkness flee from us wherever we go. We need to enforce the kingdom of God on the earth so that people can be freed from evil to come to God. When we know who we are in Christ, and carry His light with us, evil will not have a place to stay near us. Some believers are so used to being victims of evil for so long, that they don't realize that they are given the Spirit of God to take back what the enemy has stolen. I personally apologize to God, and those who are not in Christ who have been around me since I've come to Christ and been growing up in Him - I'm sorry for when I have slacked off and didn't take up my role and place in Christ as I've been called to. I commit to do better!

And ultimately, God is sovereign. He is in complete control and He works out everything evil, that we who love Him go through, for our good. He allows evil on a grand scale, so that we can be refined and matured. Character, integrity, and trust in God are things taught to us through struggle, trial, and suffering. To miss out on the tragedies is less painful, but also far less rewarding - and doing so causes us to not value as much the good we are also given in life. So even though created beings make evil, God uses it for His glory and for our good! Praise God Most High! Thank You Father for seeing all that I can't, and caring enough to prepare and train me now for what's ahead in Your purpose for me!