May 28, 2025 • 32 mins
When God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, Abraham faced a dilemma. On the one hand, he loved his son. On the other, God told him to do it. So he worked out away in his mind to fit these seemingly incongruent elements together. He concluded that after he offered his son, God would raise him back to life again. That's what we read about his thinking in Hebrews 11:17–19. But he left out a possibility—that God would stop him before he ever went through with the offering.
The problem of evil is very difficult for us as mortals to harmonize. There are several ways that people use to try to resolve the difficulties of this age-old, worldwide question. But many of these are invalid approaches to the problem of evil. We must do our best to think clearly although that can be hard to do. We must not come up with a "solution" that denies the nature of God, the word of God, or the reality of evil itself. This episode will introduce us to some of these incorrect approaches.
Read about this subject
- Scriptures: Isaiah 45:7; Isaiah 14; Romans 11:22
- God at a Distance, Kerry Duke
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I am Kerry Duke, host of My Godand My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredWord to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
The problem of evil is a difficultchallenge to Christian faith.
It can be a heavy burden for Christiansto bear, and it can also be an obstacle
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to people who are thinking aboutbecoming Christians, but they have
trouble reconciling all the sin andsuffering in the world with the concept
of an all-powerful, all-loving God.
That's why it's calledthe problem of evil.
It's a logical problem because we try toharmonize the fact of evil in the world
with the existence of a perfect God.
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It's a practical problem because we haveto endure great pain and heartache in
this life without understanding why.
Men have struggled with this issuefor thousands of years, and there
are different approaches men haveto tried to explain this problem.
Some choose the path of atheism.
They say that there's nosolution to the problem.
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They claim that there is no way tologically reconcile the existence of God
with the presence of evil in the world.
Their conclusion is that Goddoes not exist and cannot
exist for this very reason.
But we've already seen that atheism is avery simplistic approach to the problem.
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C.S. Lewis is a good example.
He was a famous religious writer who livedin England and died in 1963, but many
of his books are still quite popular.
But he wasn't always religious.
He was an atheist for years.
And what led him to change his mind?
Well, he tells us in his book, “MereChristianity.” He admitted that the
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reason that he did not believe in Godfor all those years was because of evil
in the world. He said he just couldnot accept belief in the all-powerful
God in the face of all the evil andsuffering in the world. But the more
he thought about his reasoning, themore he realized it wouldn’t work.
He came face to face with the questionthat every atheist needs to ask himself.
C.S. Lewis said to himself (02:15):
But where did I get this idea of “good and evil”?
He said,you don't think of a linebeing crooked unless you have
the concept of a straight line.
In other words, if there's no God,then there is no real evil and thus
there is no problem to begin with.
And in the end he said that atheismturned out to be in his own words,
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“too simple,” and he was right.
Atheism is simplistic.
As a matter of fact, it isillogical because it contradicts
itself on this very point.
On the opposite end of the spectrum,some say the answer to the problem of
evil is that evil doesn't really exist.
Atheism says there is no answerto the problem because God doesn't
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exist, but others say the answer tothe problem is that there is no evil.
I'm talking especially abouta religion, if you can call it
that, known as Christian science.
The name itself is misleading becauseit is neither Christian nor science.
This teaching claims that thephysical world is just an illusion.
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It doesn't exist.
That means that your body that experiencesall that pain doesn't really exist.
Sometimes we jokingly say thatpain is just in your head.
People in the Christian Sciencemovement really mean that.
So to them, there is no sickness.
There is no sin.
The only sin is the wrong kindof thinking, and the wrong kind
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of thinking is believing thatthe physical world does exist.
If you're laughing out loud or if you'resaying that's ridiculous, I understand.
And if you ask how people could getstarted down the road of believing
something like this, it might helpto understand a little bit about
the history of this movement.
It began in the 1800s in Americawhen people were looking for help to
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relieve the suffering in their life.
This was the time of travelingmedical wagons and shows.
Crowds would gather together to hearsalesmen talk about potions and elixirs
that would supposedly cure their ills.
Some people were desperateto find an escape from the
sorrows and the pain of life.
Now, during this era, a womannamed Mary Baker Eddy thought
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of a different approach.
She was the founder of theChristian Science Movement.
The irony is that Mary Baker Eddyhad a lot of problems herself as
far as her health was concernedand was known to use morphine.
It's amazing that people come up withall kinds of ideas to relieve their
pain, even if that means denyingreality and living in a dream world.
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But pain is no illusion.
Suffering is real, and when peoplecomplain about God allowing them
to suffer, they need to thinkabout Jesus, the Son of God.
His suffering was real and he choseto suffer voluntarily so that we
could go to a place without suffering.
So atheism says there's no God.
Christian Science says there's no evil.
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Then along came John Calvin in the1500s who said there is a God, there is
evil, but there is no problem becauseGod ordains evil as well as good.
Calvinism is a horrible doctrinebecause it says that God is
the author of good and evil.
That means that moral evil andnatural evil, which is physical
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and emotional pain, are from God.
Calvinism says don't worryabout the problem of evil.
Don't question why thingshappen or why God allows them.
They happen because it is God's will.
Now again, I'm emphasizing that thismeans that it is the will of God
according to Calvinism that sin happens.
God's bringing suffering upon mankind is adifferent matter that we're going to talk
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about more later, but Calvinism arguesthat God decreed that sin should occur
and there's nothing that can change that.
So don't question God.
Just accept that everything goodor bad is under his control.
Now, that's how Calvinists definethe sovereignty of God, and this
belief even uses the Bible as proof.
For instance, Calvinists point to verseslike Isaiah chapter 45 verse seven, where
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God said, “I make peace and create evil.”
That's the King James Version.
The New King James version rendersIsaiah chapter 45, verse seven, “I make
peace and create calamity.” Now, we'vealready seen that the word “evil” in the
King James Version is used in two ways.
It can mean evil in the senseof moral evil, which is sin.
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That's usually the way it's usedin the Bible, and that's the way
that we usually understand it.
But the word evil also canrefer to calamities of life.
That's how the word evil inthe King James Version is used.
For instance, in Job chapter two,verse 10, where Job said, “Shall
we receive good at the hand of Godand shall we not receive evil?”
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That's the meaning in the story of therich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16.
In Luke 16:25, Abraham told the richman, “You need to remember that in your
lifetime you received good things. Andlikewise, Lazarus evil things”—that
is, his calamities and afflictions.
In Isaiah chapter 45, God isassuring the Jews in Babylonian
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captivity that he will bring themback to their homeland in Jerusalem.
Throughout this section inIsaiah, God repeatedly reminds
them that he is the Creator.
He created the earth and the heavens,and if He made and sustains this
vast universe, then it's nothing forHim to intervene in human affairs
and see that His people return home.
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God says many times in Isaiah thereis no God equal to Him: “I am the Lord
and there is none else” [Isaiah 45,verse five and six]. Then in Isaiah
45, verse seven, the Lord said, “Iform the light and create darkness.”
Now what is the opposite of light?
Darkness.
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Well then He says, I” makepeace and create evil.” What
is the opposite of peace?
War, which is calamity and suffering.
God brought war upon different nations,including the Israelites, but the
nations that went to war—and this isthe key—fought of their own choice.
They made the decision to fight.
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Now, God created the opportunitiesor opened the doors knowing that the
governments of these countries wouldreact in a certain way, and in that
way, He made the calamity happen.
But they still made the choice.
Now, God does not desire ordecree that man should sin.
God cannot be tempted to do evil,and he certainly does not tempt
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man to sin [James one, verse 13].
God wants all men to be saved[First Timothy two, verse four].
Calvinism is an extremedoctrine to say the least.
Now there's much more to be saidabout this, and we do have recordings
and resources on this topic, but inthis lesson, I'm simply showing the
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different ways that men approach ortry to resolve the problem of evil.
And Calvinism is one of those approachesthat is not consistent with the Bible.
A much older approach to the problemof evil, which is still present
in some religions today, is thatgood and evil are both eternal.
In other words, while atheism says theanswer to the problem is that there's
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no God and Christian Science says thesolution is that there's no evil, and
then Calvinism says the answer is thatthere is no problem to begin with, this
ancient view that we're going to look atnow says that there is no alternative.
It says that evil never had a beginning.
It has always been and always will be.
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Good and evil have alwayscoexisted according to this belief.
I say that this is an ancient beliefbecause a Persian mystic named Zoroaster
in the sixth or maybe the seventh centuryB.C [it's really uncertain as to when he
lived] but this man said that there hasalways been an evil god and a good God.
They are co-eternal, he claimed.
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Then there was a false prophet namedMani who lived a couple of hundred
years after Jesus and the apostles.
He also said that good and evilnever had a beginning, and that
evil as well as good was eternal.
Now, this kind of belief is presentin some religions today, but I've
also heard Christians discussthe question as to whether the
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devil could possibly be eternal.
Is that possible?
We often ask where the devil came from.
I don't have time to discuss thisthoroughly, but let me say just a few
words about Satan since he's the onewho started this whole thing called sin.
The truth is that the Bible doesn'tsay much about where Satan came from.
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The Bible does say that some of theangels sinned and were cast down
to Tartarus in Second Peter 2:7.
Then in Jude six we read that some ofthe angels did not keep their first
estate, but left their own domain.
And then in Matthew 25 41, Jesustalked about the devil and his angels.
Now, if the devil has hisangels, that doesn't mean that
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he made them or created them.
It simply means that he is theleader of those other sinful angels.
Some believe that the sin of theseangels, including Satan, was pride.
That's based in part on First Timothychapter three, verse six, where the
Bible says that a bishop or elderin the church is not to be a novice,
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that is a newcomer to the faith, “lesthe being lifted up with pride fall
into the condemnation of the devil.”
The New King James Versionsays, lest he fall into the
same condemnation as the devil.
Now, the translators of the New KingJames Version added the word “same” and
put it in italics because they believedthat pride was the original sin of Satan.
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And that may be true, but at the sametime, that doesn't mean by itself
that Paul was talking about that here.
Verse seven goes on to warn aboutthe reproach and snare of the devil.
Well, that's not thesnare that he fell into.
That's the snare that he sets for us.
So we really can't make a direct andfirm case on the word “same” in the
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New King James Version in that verse.
Now many go to the Old Testament,especially to Isaiah chapter 14, where
God talks about the king of Babylon.
And in Isaiah chapter 14, verse12, where the Bible calls this king
Lucifer, that word in Hebrew simplymeans a day star or a morning star.
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The morning star is a symbol of light,though Satan is the prince of darkness.
So it wouldn't be fitting torefer to him as a morning star.
The truth is that the word Luciferin Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12, has
nothing to do with Satan, althoughthat is a very popular view.
If you just read the context ofIsaiah chapter 13 and 14, God is
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talking about Babylon in chapter 13.
And He is talking specifically to andabout the king of Babylon in chapter 14.
That includes verse 12.
He describes him in some waysthat are to us very symbolic.
Another passage is Ezekiel chapter 28.
Now again, the context is the key, andyet many people disregard the context.
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In Ezekiel chapters 26 through 28, Godis talking to and about the city of Tyre.
Tyre was a fabulously wealthycity In Old Testament times.
God said that he would judge them though.
In Ezekiel chapter 28, God istalking to the Prince of Tyre,
that is, the ruler of Tyre.
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And as He talks to him, it's obvious thatHe is using highly symbolic language.
He speaks with a note of irony, thatis, what I would call godly sarcasm.
In verse three, when He says that theprince of Tyre is wiser than Daniel,
now He can't mean that literally.
The Prince of Tyre was an ungodly,foolish man, but God is as the Bible
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says in Proverbs 26 verse five “answeringa fool according to his folly.” In
the mind of the ruler of Tyre, hewas wiser than Daniel or anyone else.
Now, God then begins to tell the prince ofTyre that He is the One who gave the city
the opportunity to acquire its wealth.
Had it not been for the grace of God, thecity of Tyre would never have attained
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the status that it had in the world.
But the city was ungrateful.
It abused its wealth.
It became very prideful.
So again, in very figurative language,which is common in the prophets of
the Old Testament, God describesthe sin of the ruler of Tyre.
He said that this ruler hadbeen in Eden, the Garden of God.
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Now, He's not saying that literally.
He's saying that the blessings andthe surroundings of the city of
Tyre were, symbolically speaking,like the paradise of Genesis three.
Not that all the conditions were the same.
He's using a symbolic illustration.
It's not any different than God's sayingin Isaiah chapter one, verse 10 that the
Jews in Isaiah's day had become like Sodomand Gomorrah [in a bad sense, of course].
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God also said in Ezekiel chapter28 that the Prince of Tyre was
perfect from the day He created himuntil iniquity was found in him.
Now, that may sound like Satan, butSatan is nowhere under discussion.
God is simply saying that He provided theopportunity for Tyre to rise as a city
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to a level of prominence that it had, buttheir pride was about to bring them down.
Another passage is Luke chapter 10,verse 18, where Jesus said, “I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”Many people think this refers to Jesus
seeing Satan fall and being cast outof heaven, but that is not the context.
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The context is that Jesus gave 70disciples power to cast out demons and
heal the sick and do other miracles.
If you go back and start reading in verseone, you'll see that that's the setting.
When the disciples came back, theyrejoice that, as they said, “even the
demons are subject to us through yourname.” They were talking about the
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fact that they were able to cast outdemons from people by the spirit of God.
That's when Jesus said thatHe was beholding Satan as
lightning fall from heaven.
He's talking about the fact thatas the disciples cast out these
demons that were under Satan'spower, Satan was losing his grip.
He was losing his power and influencebecause these messengers, these demons
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of his, were being cast out of people.
So He wasn't talking aboutSatan himself falling.
He's talking about Satan'sworkers or his messengers.
So this only leaves two possibilitiesabout where the devil came from.
Either he is eternal, like God,or God created him and at some
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point he sinned against God.
What we read in the Bible points tothe devil being a created being, an
angel who rebelled against the Creator.
It's not consistent with the Bibleto say that God created Satan
as an evil being, that God madehim sinful and made him to sin.
That goes against everything that we seein the Scriptures about the nature of God
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and also the nature of free will in sin.
But is it possible thatSatan has always existed?
Could it be that he is eternal like God?
The answer is no.
If Satan were eternal, that wouldmean that he would be equal to God
because he would not be dependentthen upon God for his existence.
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He would be self existent.
But if there's one thing that wesee from nature and the Bible,
it is that everything outside ofGod owes its existence to Him.
God is the only one who is eternal.
But there's another problem withsaying that Satan is eternal.
This is like the old Zoroastrianand Manichean views of good and
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evil because this would mean thatgood and evil are co-eternal.
And that brings on another question.
If good and evil are both eternal,then how would you ever know which
one is good and which one is evil?
Both are eternal according to that view.
That would mean that there would haveto be some standard of good and bad
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outside of this so-called eternal goodand eternal evil so that we could know
which one was good and which one was bad.
Do you see the problems thatemerge when you go down this
path that we're discussing?
Good has always existed becauseGod has always existed, but evil
did not and cannot come from God.
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That means that evil had to comefrom the beings that God created:
first, some of the angels thatsinned and second, mankind.
So some look at the problem ofevil and say there is no God.
Others say there is no evil.
Still others say there is no problem.
Then others say there isno other possible scenario.
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But there's anotherapproach to this problem.
It's the idea that there is no hell.
Some believe this alleviatessome of the burden of trying
to reconcile the suffering ofthis life with the power of God.
These people say thateternal punishment in hell is
incompatible with the love of God.
They say that if souls are inhell forever, then that means that
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they will always be evil soulsand they will always be suffering.
As a result, some preachers and somechurches tell us that hell does not exist.
Some people who say that there'sno hell believe that the souls of
the wicked will be annihilated.
They usually say that souls willbe punished for a time, but that
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time will be limited and thesuffering will come to an end.
Others believe that there is no suchthing as hell at all, or they believe
that even if some are punished in hell,God will eventually save everybody.
In other words, they believein universal salvation.
They believe that everyone will be saved.
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Now, some of them even take that tothe point of saying that the devil and
his angels will eventually be redeemed.
Now, how is this an answer or asolution to the problem of evil?
Well, it doesn't removethe suffering of this life.
It doesn't explain why God madethe world and allows man to sin,
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even if there is no hell and God isgoing to save everybody in heaven.
There is still a great amount of eviland suffering in this present time.
Those who deny thatthere's a hell admit this.
What they're saying is that if there'sno hell after this life and everybody
goes to heaven, then all the painand sin of this world will fade
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away into nothingness in eternity.
Now, there's an element oftruth in that comparison.
Not that we have to deny eternalpunishment to see it, but that
when we compare heaven to allthe suffering in this life, it
will seem as nothing in heaven.
Paul said “For I consider that thesufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared withthe glory which shall be revealed
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in us” [Romans eight, verse 28].
I
In fact, Paul said, “For our lightaffliction, which is but for a moment,
is working for us a far more exceedingand eternal weight of glory” [Second
Corinthians chapter four, verse 17].
But it's not necessary orScriptural to deny hell in
order to have this perspective.
Now this view is obviouslycontrary to what the Bible says.
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Jesus said that on the judgment dayHe will say to the lost “Depart from
me, you cursed, into the everlastingfire prepared for the devil and
his angels” [Matthew 25, verse 46].
That chapter ends with him saying, “Andthese shall go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous intolife eternal.” Paul said that Jesus
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will come “in flaming fire takingvengeance on them who do not know God
and on those who do not obey the gospelof our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
These shall be punished with everlastingdestruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power” [SecondThessalonians one verses eight and nine].
Some people cringe at verses like these.
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They cannot imagine a God whois perfect in love punishing
people in hell for all eternity.
In fact, this is the more seriouspart of the problem of evil to them.
Some of these people are atheists forthis very reason in their thinking.
It's one of their strongestarguments against God.
On the other hand, someof them are religious.
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They see the idea of a perfectly lovingGod and the doctrine of eternal torment
in hell as being absolutely incompatible.
Being religious, they don't want togive up the idea of God, so they reject
the doctrine of eternal punishment.
Now, the main problem with thesereligious people is that they define
love the way that they want to define it.
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That's the issue.
When they say a loving God wouldnever punish people in hell, they're
talking about a different kindof love than we see in the Bible.
In fact, they're talkingabout a different kind of God.
The Bible says that God is a God ofjustice, not just a God of mercy and love.
Paul talks about the goodness andseverity of God in Romans 11, verse 22.
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God is good, but He is also severe.
He is just as good as He is severe,and He is just as severe as He is good.
Now, think of what it means to denydivine punishment after this life.
If there is no hell, then that means thatevery Adolf Hitler or Jack the Ripper can
lie, torture and murder innocent peopleand never be punished for it in this
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life, and then die like everybody else.
People who give up the idea of hellchange the very concept of God himself.
God is a just God, but He decidesthe proper punishment for sin.
We do not, and we cannot saywhat that punishment ought to be.
That's why it is preposterous formere human beings to tell God how He
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can and how He cannot punish sinners.
We are all sinners ourselves in the sensethat we have all sinned, and for that
reason, we are poor judges to say theleast of how sin ought to be punished.
So in the end, when people try to resolvethe problem of evil by denying what
the Bible says about hell, they end upchanging the definition of God himself.
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But that brings us to anotherquestion about the nature of God.
Did God know before He created theworld, that man would sin and bring
all this suffering into the world?
Could it be that God is perfect in power,perfect in love, but He did not foresee
the evil in the world when He created it?
Now, that is the answer that somepeople give to the problem of evil.
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They recognize God's love and his power.
They take evil and suffering in thislife seriously, but they just say that
God didn't know this would happen.
Could this be true?
No.
The Bible shows that God knew beforeHe ever created the world that man
would sin, and He knew that He wouldsend His son to die for our sins.
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In First Peter chapter one, verse 20,the Bible says that Jesus indeed was
“foreordained before the foundation ofthe world, but was manifest in these last
times for you.” God knows the future.
He always has and always will.
Our feeble finite minds cannotcomprehend this, but it's foolish
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to deny what God has said justbecause we don't understand it.
We can't comprehend the eternity of Godeither, but that is no reason to deny it.
There are other beliefs in Easternreligions like Buddhism and
Hinduism that try to lessen theproblem of evil and suffering.
Now, one of these views ispantheism, the belief that God is
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everything and everything is God.
If that's true, then thereis nothing really evil.
Evil is just an illusion.
The world and everything in it is just amanifestation or an extension of deity.
It's tragic that hundreds of millionsof people still believe this.
The Bible says that God created theheavens and the earth in the beginning.
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[Genesis Chapter one, verse one].
The Bible also warns against worshipingnature instead of worshiping the One
who made it [Romans one, verse 25].
Then there is the idea also in thesereligions called reincarnation, the
idea that the spirit or soul of aperson comes back after death in
another form or another body—a humanbeing, an animal, or some other form.
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This is actually a cycleof rewards and punishments.
If you do well, accordingto these religions, you will
come back in a better form.
If you do wrong, you willcome back in a lower state.
Now this cycle continues until aperson climbs higher and higher and
ultimately reaches the state of nirvana.
There is a lot of suffering in cultureswho believe this, and its relationship
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to the problem of evil is that itlessens the problem of human suffering
and evil because eventually people aresaid to reach the stage of nirvana.
But this is nothingmore than superstition.
The story of the rich man in Lazarusin Luke Chapter 16 shows that departed
spirits do not come back to the earth.
Ecclesiastes nine verse five andsix say that the dead do not see
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what we're doing on the earth.
They certainly don't comeback to it in another form.
But again, I emphasize that onereason these beliefs began in the
first place is because people werelooking for some relief to the
pain and suffering of this life.
Now, these are some of the theories,beliefs, and even superstitions that
seek to somehow resolve this perplexingquestion that we're looking at.
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There are also some practical,everyday selfish ways that people
respond to the problem of evil.
For instance, we say that lifeis unfair, and that's true.
How do we feel about thatand what do we do about it?
Do we try to fix thingsor make things right?
Well, obviously we shouldamend our bad ways.
That's the whole idea of repentance.
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But many people practiceanother kind of approach when
life has been unfair to them.
They tried to get even with life.
Now we think of Cain inGenesis chapter four.
He offered a sacrifice to Godthat the Lord didn't approve of.
And what was his response?
He was angry.
He felt that it was unfair that Godwould accept his brother's offering
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and reject his, so he got even and tookvengeance by killing his own brother.
Then when God told him about hispunishment, Cain said that his
punishment was greater than hecould bear [Genesis four, verse 13].
In other words, he's tellingGod that this is not fair.
Isn't it amazing how a person'sview of justice changes from how he
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sees others to how he sees himself?
People try to get evenwith life in a lot of ways.
If they grow up poor and havenothing, they think life owes them.
They think they have the rightto steal from other people.
They think the government shouldgive them entitlement not to
have to work like other people.
After all, they've been victimsand it's time to get even.
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Or it may be that they'redisadvantaged in some way.
To put it in a better way, they seethat others have things that they
don't have—money, intelligence,talent, or beauty—and their
thought is that this is not fair.
Life is not fair, so they decideto set things right and get even.
They live a life of envy and hate.
They try to destroy people who areor who have things that they don't
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by gossiping and even doing physicalharm to the people they resent.
Then others try to get even withlife because of a disease or accident
that robs them of a normal life.
“It's not fair for others toenjoy good health when I don't,”
they say to themselves, sothey try to make others pay.
They try to make others miserable.
And on a wider scale, communismis really no different.
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Marxism seeks to do away with socialclasses and put an end to class conflict.
Now Communism calls for theabolition of the family.
It calls for the abolitionof private property.
It teaches that there is no God, no soul,no heaven or hell, and by implication,
no real standard of right and wrong.
(31:05):
And yet Marxism makes the grandioseclaim that by forcibly putting
everyone on the same social level,the world will be a much better place.
How absurd and ungodly.
The Bible teaches us to be happy for thosewho are blessed [Romans 12, verse 15].
The Bible teaches us to becontent with what we have.
One of the most deceitful and destructivefeelings in the world is envy, but
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one of the most powerful things in theworld is the love that God shows us
and teaches us to have for one another.
These are just a few of the ways notto respond to the problem of evil.
Lord willing, in the weeks to come, wewill look to God and let the Bible tell
us how to think and feel about the problemof evil and suffering in the world.
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
(31:51):
Stay connected with our podcast on ourwebsite and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever fine podcasts are distributed.
Tennessee Bible College, providingChristian education since 1975
in Cookeville, Tennessee, offersundergraduate and graduate programs.
Study at your level.
Aim higher and get in touch with us today.
Hi, I am Kerry Duke, host of My Godand My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredWord to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
The problem of evil is a difficultchallenge to Christian faith.
It can be a heavy burden for Christiansto bear, and it can also be an obstacle
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to people who are thinking aboutbecoming Christians, but they have
trouble reconciling all the sin andsuffering in the world with the concept
of an all-powerful, all-loving God.
That's why it's calledthe problem of evil.
It's a logical problem because we try toharmonize the fact of evil in the world
with the existence of a perfect God.
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It's a practical problem because we haveto endure great pain and heartache in
this life without understanding why.
Men have struggled with this issuefor thousands of years, and there
are different approaches men haveto tried to explain this problem.
Some choose the path of atheism.
They say that there's nosolution to the problem.
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They claim that there is no way tologically reconcile the existence of God
with the presence of evil in the world.
Their conclusion is that Goddoes not exist and cannot
exist for this very reason.
But we've already seen that atheism is avery simplistic approach to the problem.
(01:26):
C.S. Lewis is a good example.
He was a famous religious writer who livedin England and died in 1963, but many
of his books are still quite popular.
But he wasn't always religious.
He was an atheist for years.
And what led him to change his mind?
Well, he tells us in his book, “MereChristianity.” He admitted that the
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reason that he did not believe in Godfor all those years was because of evil
in the world. He said he just couldnot accept belief in the all-powerful
God in the face of all the evil andsuffering in the world. But the more
he thought about his reasoning, themore he realized it wouldn’t work.
He came face to face with the questionthat every atheist needs to ask himself.
C.S. Lewis said to himself (02:15):
But where did I get this idea of “good and evil”?
He said,you don't think of a linebeing crooked unless you have
the concept of a straight line.
In other words, if there's no God,then there is no real evil and thus
there is no problem to begin with.
And in the end he said that atheismturned out to be in his own words,
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“too simple,” and he was right.
Atheism is simplistic.
As a matter of fact, it isillogical because it contradicts
itself on this very point.
On the opposite end of the spectrum,some say the answer to the problem of
evil is that evil doesn't really exist.
Atheism says there is no answerto the problem because God doesn't
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exist, but others say the answer tothe problem is that there is no evil.
I'm talking especially abouta religion, if you can call it
that, known as Christian science.
The name itself is misleading becauseit is neither Christian nor science.
This teaching claims that thephysical world is just an illusion.
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It doesn't exist.
That means that your body that experiencesall that pain doesn't really exist.
Sometimes we jokingly say thatpain is just in your head.
People in the Christian Sciencemovement really mean that.
So to them, there is no sickness.
There is no sin.
The only sin is the wrong kindof thinking, and the wrong kind
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of thinking is believing thatthe physical world does exist.
If you're laughing out loud or if you'resaying that's ridiculous, I understand.
And if you ask how people could getstarted down the road of believing
something like this, it might helpto understand a little bit about
the history of this movement.
It began in the 1800s in Americawhen people were looking for help to
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relieve the suffering in their life.
This was the time of travelingmedical wagons and shows.
Crowds would gather together to hearsalesmen talk about potions and elixirs
that would supposedly cure their ills.
Some people were desperateto find an escape from the
sorrows and the pain of life.
Now, during this era, a womannamed Mary Baker Eddy thought
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of a different approach.
She was the founder of theChristian Science Movement.
The irony is that Mary Baker Eddyhad a lot of problems herself as
far as her health was concernedand was known to use morphine.
It's amazing that people come up withall kinds of ideas to relieve their
pain, even if that means denyingreality and living in a dream world.
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But pain is no illusion.
Suffering is real, and when peoplecomplain about God allowing them
to suffer, they need to thinkabout Jesus, the Son of God.
His suffering was real and he choseto suffer voluntarily so that we
could go to a place without suffering.
So atheism says there's no God.
Christian Science says there's no evil.
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Then along came John Calvin in the1500s who said there is a God, there is
evil, but there is no problem becauseGod ordains evil as well as good.
Calvinism is a horrible doctrinebecause it says that God is
the author of good and evil.
That means that moral evil andnatural evil, which is physical
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and emotional pain, are from God.
Calvinism says don't worryabout the problem of evil.
Don't question why thingshappen or why God allows them.
They happen because it is God's will.
Now again, I'm emphasizing that thismeans that it is the will of God
according to Calvinism that sin happens.
God's bringing suffering upon mankind is adifferent matter that we're going to talk
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about more later, but Calvinism arguesthat God decreed that sin should occur
and there's nothing that can change that.
So don't question God.
Just accept that everything goodor bad is under his control.
Now, that's how Calvinists definethe sovereignty of God, and this
belief even uses the Bible as proof.
For instance, Calvinists point to verseslike Isaiah chapter 45 verse seven, where
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God said, “I make peace and create evil.”
That's the King James Version.
The New King James version rendersIsaiah chapter 45, verse seven, “I make
peace and create calamity.” Now, we'vealready seen that the word “evil” in the
King James Version is used in two ways.
It can mean evil in the senseof moral evil, which is sin.
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That's usually the way it's usedin the Bible, and that's the way
that we usually understand it.
But the word evil also canrefer to calamities of life.
That's how the word evil inthe King James Version is used.
For instance, in Job chapter two,verse 10, where Job said, “Shall
we receive good at the hand of Godand shall we not receive evil?”
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That's the meaning in the story of therich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16.
In Luke 16:25, Abraham told the richman, “You need to remember that in your
lifetime you received good things. Andlikewise, Lazarus evil things”—that
is, his calamities and afflictions.
In Isaiah chapter 45, God isassuring the Jews in Babylonian
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captivity that he will bring themback to their homeland in Jerusalem.
Throughout this section inIsaiah, God repeatedly reminds
them that he is the Creator.
He created the earth and the heavens,and if He made and sustains this
vast universe, then it's nothing forHim to intervene in human affairs
and see that His people return home.
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God says many times in Isaiah thereis no God equal to Him: “I am the Lord
and there is none else” [Isaiah 45,verse five and six]. Then in Isaiah
45, verse seven, the Lord said, “Iform the light and create darkness.”
Now what is the opposite of light?
Darkness.
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Well then He says, I” makepeace and create evil.” What
is the opposite of peace?
War, which is calamity and suffering.
God brought war upon different nations,including the Israelites, but the
nations that went to war—and this isthe key—fought of their own choice.
They made the decision to fight.
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Now, God created the opportunitiesor opened the doors knowing that the
governments of these countries wouldreact in a certain way, and in that
way, He made the calamity happen.
But they still made the choice.
Now, God does not desire ordecree that man should sin.
God cannot be tempted to do evil,and he certainly does not tempt
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man to sin [James one, verse 13].
God wants all men to be saved[First Timothy two, verse four].
Calvinism is an extremedoctrine to say the least.
Now there's much more to be saidabout this, and we do have recordings
and resources on this topic, but inthis lesson, I'm simply showing the
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different ways that men approach ortry to resolve the problem of evil.
And Calvinism is one of those approachesthat is not consistent with the Bible.
A much older approach to the problemof evil, which is still present
in some religions today, is thatgood and evil are both eternal.
In other words, while atheism says theanswer to the problem is that there's
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no God and Christian Science says thesolution is that there's no evil, and
then Calvinism says the answer is thatthere is no problem to begin with, this
ancient view that we're going to look atnow says that there is no alternative.
It says that evil never had a beginning.
It has always been and always will be.
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Good and evil have alwayscoexisted according to this belief.
I say that this is an ancient beliefbecause a Persian mystic named Zoroaster
in the sixth or maybe the seventh centuryB.C [it's really uncertain as to when he
lived] but this man said that there hasalways been an evil god and a good God.
They are co-eternal, he claimed.
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Then there was a false prophet namedMani who lived a couple of hundred
years after Jesus and the apostles.
He also said that good and evilnever had a beginning, and that
evil as well as good was eternal.
Now, this kind of belief is presentin some religions today, but I've
also heard Christians discussthe question as to whether the
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devil could possibly be eternal.
Is that possible?
We often ask where the devil came from.
I don't have time to discuss thisthoroughly, but let me say just a few
words about Satan since he's the onewho started this whole thing called sin.
The truth is that the Bible doesn'tsay much about where Satan came from.
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The Bible does say that some of theangels sinned and were cast down
to Tartarus in Second Peter 2:7.
Then in Jude six we read that some ofthe angels did not keep their first
estate, but left their own domain.
And then in Matthew 25 41, Jesustalked about the devil and his angels.
Now, if the devil has hisangels, that doesn't mean that
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he made them or created them.
It simply means that he is theleader of those other sinful angels.
Some believe that the sin of theseangels, including Satan, was pride.
That's based in part on First Timothychapter three, verse six, where the
Bible says that a bishop or elderin the church is not to be a novice,
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that is a newcomer to the faith, “lesthe being lifted up with pride fall
into the condemnation of the devil.”
The New King James Versionsays, lest he fall into the
same condemnation as the devil.
Now, the translators of the New KingJames Version added the word “same” and
put it in italics because they believedthat pride was the original sin of Satan.
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And that may be true, but at the sametime, that doesn't mean by itself
that Paul was talking about that here.
Verse seven goes on to warn aboutthe reproach and snare of the devil.
Well, that's not thesnare that he fell into.
That's the snare that he sets for us.
So we really can't make a direct andfirm case on the word “same” in the
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New King James Version in that verse.
Now many go to the Old Testament,especially to Isaiah chapter 14, where
God talks about the king of Babylon.
And in Isaiah chapter 14, verse12, where the Bible calls this king
Lucifer, that word in Hebrew simplymeans a day star or a morning star.
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The morning star is a symbol of light,though Satan is the prince of darkness.
So it wouldn't be fitting torefer to him as a morning star.
The truth is that the word Luciferin Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12, has
nothing to do with Satan, althoughthat is a very popular view.
If you just read the context ofIsaiah chapter 13 and 14, God is
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talking about Babylon in chapter 13.
And He is talking specifically to andabout the king of Babylon in chapter 14.
That includes verse 12.
He describes him in some waysthat are to us very symbolic.
Another passage is Ezekiel chapter 28.
Now again, the context is the key, andyet many people disregard the context.
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In Ezekiel chapters 26 through 28, Godis talking to and about the city of Tyre.
Tyre was a fabulously wealthycity In Old Testament times.
God said that he would judge them though.
In Ezekiel chapter 28, God istalking to the Prince of Tyre,
that is, the ruler of Tyre.
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And as He talks to him, it's obvious thatHe is using highly symbolic language.
He speaks with a note of irony, thatis, what I would call godly sarcasm.
In verse three, when He says that theprince of Tyre is wiser than Daniel,
now He can't mean that literally.
The Prince of Tyre was an ungodly,foolish man, but God is as the Bible
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says in Proverbs 26 verse five “answeringa fool according to his folly.” In
the mind of the ruler of Tyre, hewas wiser than Daniel or anyone else.
Now, God then begins to tell the prince ofTyre that He is the One who gave the city
the opportunity to acquire its wealth.
Had it not been for the grace of God, thecity of Tyre would never have attained
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the status that it had in the world.
But the city was ungrateful.
It abused its wealth.
It became very prideful.
So again, in very figurative language,which is common in the prophets of
the Old Testament, God describesthe sin of the ruler of Tyre.
He said that this ruler hadbeen in Eden, the Garden of God.
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Now, He's not saying that literally.
He's saying that the blessings andthe surroundings of the city of
Tyre were, symbolically speaking,like the paradise of Genesis three.
Not that all the conditions were the same.
He's using a symbolic illustration.
It's not any different than God's sayingin Isaiah chapter one, verse 10 that the
Jews in Isaiah's day had become like Sodomand Gomorrah [in a bad sense, of course].
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God also said in Ezekiel chapter28 that the Prince of Tyre was
perfect from the day He created himuntil iniquity was found in him.
Now, that may sound like Satan, butSatan is nowhere under discussion.
God is simply saying that He provided theopportunity for Tyre to rise as a city
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to a level of prominence that it had, buttheir pride was about to bring them down.
Another passage is Luke chapter 10,verse 18, where Jesus said, “I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”Many people think this refers to Jesus
seeing Satan fall and being cast outof heaven, but that is not the context.
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The context is that Jesus gave 70disciples power to cast out demons and
heal the sick and do other miracles.
If you go back and start reading in verseone, you'll see that that's the setting.
When the disciples came back, theyrejoice that, as they said, “even the
demons are subject to us through yourname.” They were talking about the
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fact that they were able to cast outdemons from people by the spirit of God.
That's when Jesus said thatHe was beholding Satan as
lightning fall from heaven.
He's talking about the fact thatas the disciples cast out these
demons that were under Satan'spower, Satan was losing his grip.
He was losing his power and influencebecause these messengers, these demons
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of his, were being cast out of people.
So He wasn't talking aboutSatan himself falling.
He's talking about Satan'sworkers or his messengers.
So this only leaves two possibilitiesabout where the devil came from.
Either he is eternal, like God,or God created him and at some
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point he sinned against God.
What we read in the Bible points tothe devil being a created being, an
angel who rebelled against the Creator.
It's not consistent with the Bibleto say that God created Satan
as an evil being, that God madehim sinful and made him to sin.
That goes against everything that we seein the Scriptures about the nature of God
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and also the nature of free will in sin.
But is it possible thatSatan has always existed?
Could it be that he is eternal like God?
The answer is no.
If Satan were eternal, that wouldmean that he would be equal to God
because he would not be dependentthen upon God for his existence.
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He would be self existent.
But if there's one thing that wesee from nature and the Bible,
it is that everything outside ofGod owes its existence to Him.
God is the only one who is eternal.
But there's another problem withsaying that Satan is eternal.
This is like the old Zoroastrianand Manichean views of good and
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evil because this would mean thatgood and evil are co-eternal.
And that brings on another question.
If good and evil are both eternal,then how would you ever know which
one is good and which one is evil?
Both are eternal according to that view.
That would mean that there would haveto be some standard of good and bad
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outside of this so-called eternal goodand eternal evil so that we could know
which one was good and which one was bad.
Do you see the problems thatemerge when you go down this
path that we're discussing?
Good has always existed becauseGod has always existed, but evil
did not and cannot come from God.
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That means that evil had to comefrom the beings that God created:
first, some of the angels thatsinned and second, mankind.
So some look at the problem ofevil and say there is no God.
Others say there is no evil.
Still others say there is no problem.
Then others say there isno other possible scenario.
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But there's anotherapproach to this problem.
It's the idea that there is no hell.
Some believe this alleviatessome of the burden of trying
to reconcile the suffering ofthis life with the power of God.
These people say thateternal punishment in hell is
incompatible with the love of God.
They say that if souls are inhell forever, then that means that
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they will always be evil soulsand they will always be suffering.
As a result, some preachers and somechurches tell us that hell does not exist.
Some people who say that there'sno hell believe that the souls of
the wicked will be annihilated.
They usually say that souls willbe punished for a time, but that
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time will be limited and thesuffering will come to an end.
Others believe that there is no suchthing as hell at all, or they believe
that even if some are punished in hell,God will eventually save everybody.
In other words, they believein universal salvation.
They believe that everyone will be saved.
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Now, some of them even take that tothe point of saying that the devil and
his angels will eventually be redeemed.
Now, how is this an answer or asolution to the problem of evil?
Well, it doesn't removethe suffering of this life.
It doesn't explain why God madethe world and allows man to sin,
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even if there is no hell and God isgoing to save everybody in heaven.
There is still a great amount of eviland suffering in this present time.
Those who deny thatthere's a hell admit this.
What they're saying is that if there'sno hell after this life and everybody
goes to heaven, then all the painand sin of this world will fade
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away into nothingness in eternity.
Now, there's an element oftruth in that comparison.
Not that we have to deny eternalpunishment to see it, but that
when we compare heaven to allthe suffering in this life, it
will seem as nothing in heaven.
Paul said “For I consider that thesufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared withthe glory which shall be revealed
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in us” [Romans eight, verse 28].
I
In fact, Paul said, “For our lightaffliction, which is but for a moment,
is working for us a far more exceedingand eternal weight of glory” [Second
Corinthians chapter four, verse 17].
But it's not necessary orScriptural to deny hell in
order to have this perspective.
Now this view is obviouslycontrary to what the Bible says.
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Jesus said that on the judgment dayHe will say to the lost “Depart from
me, you cursed, into the everlastingfire prepared for the devil and
his angels” [Matthew 25, verse 46].
That chapter ends with him saying, “Andthese shall go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous intolife eternal.” Paul said that Jesus
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will come “in flaming fire takingvengeance on them who do not know God
and on those who do not obey the gospelof our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
These shall be punished with everlastingdestruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power” [SecondThessalonians one verses eight and nine].
Some people cringe at verses like these.
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They cannot imagine a God whois perfect in love punishing
people in hell for all eternity.
In fact, this is the more seriouspart of the problem of evil to them.
Some of these people are atheists forthis very reason in their thinking.
It's one of their strongestarguments against God.
On the other hand, someof them are religious.
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They see the idea of a perfectly lovingGod and the doctrine of eternal torment
in hell as being absolutely incompatible.
Being religious, they don't want togive up the idea of God, so they reject
the doctrine of eternal punishment.
Now, the main problem with thesereligious people is that they define
love the way that they want to define it.
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That's the issue.
When they say a loving God wouldnever punish people in hell, they're
talking about a different kindof love than we see in the Bible.
In fact, they're talkingabout a different kind of God.
The Bible says that God is a God ofjustice, not just a God of mercy and love.
Paul talks about the goodness andseverity of God in Romans 11, verse 22.
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God is good, but He is also severe.
He is just as good as He is severe,and He is just as severe as He is good.
Now, think of what it means to denydivine punishment after this life.
If there is no hell, then that means thatevery Adolf Hitler or Jack the Ripper can
lie, torture and murder innocent peopleand never be punished for it in this
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life, and then die like everybody else.
People who give up the idea of hellchange the very concept of God himself.
God is a just God, but He decidesthe proper punishment for sin.
We do not, and we cannot saywhat that punishment ought to be.
That's why it is preposterous formere human beings to tell God how He
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can and how He cannot punish sinners.
We are all sinners ourselves in the sensethat we have all sinned, and for that
reason, we are poor judges to say theleast of how sin ought to be punished.
So in the end, when people try to resolvethe problem of evil by denying what
the Bible says about hell, they end upchanging the definition of God himself.
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But that brings us to anotherquestion about the nature of God.
Did God know before He created theworld, that man would sin and bring
all this suffering into the world?
Could it be that God is perfect in power,perfect in love, but He did not foresee
the evil in the world when He created it?
Now, that is the answer that somepeople give to the problem of evil.
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They recognize God's love and his power.
They take evil and suffering in thislife seriously, but they just say that
God didn't know this would happen.
Could this be true?
No.
The Bible shows that God knew beforeHe ever created the world that man
would sin, and He knew that He wouldsend His son to die for our sins.
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In First Peter chapter one, verse 20,the Bible says that Jesus indeed was
“foreordained before the foundation ofthe world, but was manifest in these last
times for you.” God knows the future.
He always has and always will.
Our feeble finite minds cannotcomprehend this, but it's foolish
(26:17):
to deny what God has said justbecause we don't understand it.
We can't comprehend the eternity of Godeither, but that is no reason to deny it.
There are other beliefs in Easternreligions like Buddhism and
Hinduism that try to lessen theproblem of evil and suffering.
Now, one of these views ispantheism, the belief that God is
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everything and everything is God.
If that's true, then thereis nothing really evil.
Evil is just an illusion.
The world and everything in it is just amanifestation or an extension of deity.
It's tragic that hundreds of millionsof people still believe this.
The Bible says that God created theheavens and the earth in the beginning.
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[Genesis Chapter one, verse one].
The Bible also warns against worshipingnature instead of worshiping the One
who made it [Romans one, verse 25].
Then there is the idea also in thesereligions called reincarnation, the
idea that the spirit or soul of aperson comes back after death in
another form or another body—a humanbeing, an animal, or some other form.
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This is actually a cycleof rewards and punishments.
If you do well, accordingto these religions, you will
come back in a better form.
If you do wrong, you willcome back in a lower state.
Now this cycle continues until aperson climbs higher and higher and
ultimately reaches the state of nirvana.
There is a lot of suffering in cultureswho believe this, and its relationship
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to the problem of evil is that itlessens the problem of human suffering
and evil because eventually people aresaid to reach the stage of nirvana.
But this is nothingmore than superstition.
The story of the rich man in Lazarusin Luke Chapter 16 shows that departed
spirits do not come back to the earth.
Ecclesiastes nine verse five andsix say that the dead do not see
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what we're doing on the earth.
They certainly don't comeback to it in another form.
But again, I emphasize that onereason these beliefs began in the
first place is because people werelooking for some relief to the
pain and suffering of this life.
Now, these are some of the theories,beliefs, and even superstitions that
seek to somehow resolve this perplexingquestion that we're looking at.
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There are also some practical,everyday selfish ways that people
respond to the problem of evil.
For instance, we say that lifeis unfair, and that's true.
How do we feel about thatand what do we do about it?
Do we try to fix thingsor make things right?
Well, obviously we shouldamend our bad ways.
That's the whole idea of repentance.
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But many people practiceanother kind of approach when
life has been unfair to them.
They tried to get even with life.
Now we think of Cain inGenesis chapter four.
He offered a sacrifice to Godthat the Lord didn't approve of.
And what was his response?
He was angry.
He felt that it was unfair that Godwould accept his brother's offering
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and reject his, so he got even and tookvengeance by killing his own brother.
Then when God told him about hispunishment, Cain said that his
punishment was greater than hecould bear [Genesis four, verse 13].
In other words, he's tellingGod that this is not fair.
Isn't it amazing how a person'sview of justice changes from how he
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sees others to how he sees himself?
People try to get evenwith life in a lot of ways.
If they grow up poor and havenothing, they think life owes them.
They think they have the rightto steal from other people.
They think the government shouldgive them entitlement not to
have to work like other people.
After all, they've been victimsand it's time to get even.
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Or it may be that they'redisadvantaged in some way.
To put it in a better way, they seethat others have things that they
don't have—money, intelligence,talent, or beauty—and their
thought is that this is not fair.
Life is not fair, so they decideto set things right and get even.
They live a life of envy and hate.
They try to destroy people who areor who have things that they don't
(30:23):
by gossiping and even doing physicalharm to the people they resent.
Then others try to get even withlife because of a disease or accident
that robs them of a normal life.
“It's not fair for others toenjoy good health when I don't,”
they say to themselves, sothey try to make others pay.
They try to make others miserable.
And on a wider scale, communismis really no different.
(30:44):
Marxism seeks to do away with socialclasses and put an end to class conflict.
Now Communism calls for theabolition of the family.
It calls for the abolitionof private property.
It teaches that there is no God, no soul,no heaven or hell, and by implication,
no real standard of right and wrong.
(31:05):
And yet Marxism makes the grandioseclaim that by forcibly putting
everyone on the same social level,the world will be a much better place.
How absurd and ungodly.
The Bible teaches us to be happy for thosewho are blessed [Romans 12, verse 15].
The Bible teaches us to becontent with what we have.
One of the most deceitful and destructivefeelings in the world is envy, but
(31:29):
one of the most powerful things in theworld is the love that God shows us
and teaches us to have for one another.
These are just a few of the ways notto respond to the problem of evil.
Lord willing, in the weeks to come, wewill look to God and let the Bible tell
us how to think and feel about the problemof evil and suffering in the world.
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
(31:51):
Stay connected with our podcast on ourwebsite and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever fine podcasts are distributed.
Tennessee Bible College, providingChristian education since 1975
in Cookeville, Tennessee, offersundergraduate and graduate programs.
Study at your level.
Aim higher and get in touch with us today.
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