If God Exists, Then Why is There So Much Evil in The World Today?

How can God Exist When There is So Much Evil in our World Today?

Peter Guirguis Apologetics, Suffering 15 Comments

I’m a former atheist. However, that wasn’t always the case.

I was born into a Christian family to a pair of loving parents who taught me the Bible and the ways of God.

But in high school, something bad happened to my family.

My dad made a bad real estate investment with his best friend.

Actually, my dad’s best friend ended up lying to him about parts of the real estate business deal. Things for my family took a turn for the worse.

We went from being financially blessed to being financially cursed in a 24 hour period.

My dad ended up being under a lot of stress and pressure. As a result, he got a disease known as delusional schizophrenia.

It’s a disease that can affect people when they’re under extraordinary stress.

At that point, I asked God to heal my dad as soon as possible, but God didn’t do it.

To me, it seemed like God was unresponsive.

I asked God to restore my family’s finances as soon as possible, but God didn’t do that either.

It seemed like God was nowhere to be found.

When I didn’t get what I prayed for, I thought that everything that I was taught about God and Christianity was wrong.

I abandoned my beliefs, and I became an atheist. I was an atheist for eight years.

But then I became a believer again.

Why Some People Stop Believing in God

Most atheists that I know have somewhat of a similar story to mine.

They believed in God at one point in their life, but then something personal happened to them that made them stop believing.

Today, there are many people who look at our world and say that there couldn’t be a God.

That’s because they see all the evil and sufferings in the world.

They think that surely if a loving God exists, then He would help out the hungry, the sick, and the needy.

Surely if God existed, then He would have helped out my family by restoring our finances and healing my dad when I prayed for these things.

But there’s something they’re overlooking.

In today’s video, I share with you part one of a video series on why God allows so much suffering in the world.

 

Key Takeaway

God is delaying His judgement of this world for one day in the future.

If God were to judge you and me, then we’d be found guilty of breaking His laws.

1.  Think about all the times that you’ve lied in your life. God says we shouldn’t lie, but we do it because it’s in our sinful nature. (Revelation 21:8)

2. Have you ever hated someone? I have. God says that if we hate someone then it’s the equivalent of murder. I’m not the judge; God is, and He sets the rules. (1 John 3:15)

3. Have you looked upon another person with lust? God says that’s the same as committing adultery, or having sex with someone outside of marriage. (Matthew 5:27-28)

I could go on, but the list is long. God says that if we break just one of His laws then it’s the same as breaking all of them.

That’s because the punishment is the same for breaking one or all of God’s laws. The punishment is spiritual death.

Spiritual death is when someone’s spirit goes to a terrible place called hell. It’s a place that was made for the devil and his demons.

God doesn’t want you and me to die in hell, He wants us to live with Him forever in heaven.

God sent Jesus to take my punishment and yours. He is our substitute.

All He asks is that you receive this substitution by believing that Jesus died, and rose from the dead for your sins.

Our Sins Have Made Us Rotten But Jesus Has Made Us Righteous

Believing that Jesus died and rose for your sins will cause you to repent, or make a U-turn from your sins.

[blockquote cite=”2 Corinthians 7:10″ type=”left”]For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death.[/blockquote]

What’s Next?

Imagine that you’re swimming on the deep side of the ocean where you can’t touch the ocean floor.

There are big waves that come crashing against you and your about to drown.  Ocean water begins to go into your mouth, and you can hardly breathe.

All of a sudden, a boat comes up beside you, and they throw to you a life jacket. You put it on quickly, and now you’re able to float to the top.

You can finally breathe, and you regain your composure.

Jesus is your life jacket. He is the only thing that will keep you from spiritual death.

Jesus is your life jacket

Then read your Bible and find out how to listen to God’s voice.

[author title=”About the Author”]

Comments 15

  1. Pingback: Sheep or Goat: Which One Are You? | When is Jesus Coming Back?

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  2. Pingback: Would You Want to Know If Heaven Is Real?

  3. Good day to all, I do apologize if I’m sound negative I try not to be I lived a life one I can not be very proud of I know about the Bible and about GOD and about Jesus that he was the son of GOD and that he died on the cross to save us. But my life did not reflect that then I met a girl, she and her brother in law help me to start living a better life on much closer to what GOD wants. Now this was the point where my life chances I lost my job, my income and everything I had and it just carry on and getting so bad that the life I’m living now is very bad one full of shame, hunger and homelessness so is this what it take to be a Christian despite that the bible tell us that GOD wants us to live a happy life one with hope sorry but I can’t bring the two together despite the fact that I went on knee and beg GOD for forgiveness and accept Jesus has come to safe me but I only got silence and more setbacks so can someone please try to give me some advice I’m in a desert and do not know if I made the right choice, please help

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      Dear brother Johnny, thank you very much for sharing with us your story. I’m so sorry to hear that you have fallen on difficult circumstances. I hope that they will turn around for good very soon.

      One thing that struck me in your comment is that you said that God wants us to live a happy life. In my opinion, I cannot find this supported anywhere in the Scriptures. If there is something that I’m missing, would you be so kind as to share how it is that you are reaching that conclusion?

      Thank you so much.

      1. God is evil, because god let children to be born disabled and very ill like children with cancer and so on. It is obviously god is a sadist, read the bible and the other books carefully. The book of job, remember? Satan is the servant of god and execute only god’s orders. Men are created only to worship god. No do not think god is love, he hates us all, he has created us to hate us. There’s no good and frankly no “evil” also, there’s only pain, a lot of it!

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          Lamashtu, God letting children be born disabled isn’t God’s fault. It’s because there is sin in the human race that there are all sorts of diseases and children are born with birth defects.

          It sounds to me like maybe you have been going through some kind of personal circumstance and which has left you with a broken heart. If that’s the case, feel free to share in a comment or you can send me a private message using the “contact” link on the website.

  4. I am beginning to understand little by little why God allows suffering. First, suffering comes about because of people’s actions, directly or indirectly. Which means that in order for God to stop suffering then He would be getting in the way right and left of people making their choices …and so I had to ask myself – Would I want God to stop my freedom of choice? No…and most of us wouldn’t. Then even if God answered our demands to stop evil and suffering and began stopping people from making choices…wouldnt you and I say, But God, what I am going to do wont hurt anyone! So please let ME choose! SO it comes right down to that no one would want God to take away their freedom to choose where they are going to go and what they are going to do.

    Also, I am realizing that God gave the world to us to take care of…so why are we blaming or denying Him for the problems?

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  5. I figure that most of us don’t know or understand or even think about what future consequences our choices will create…so for this reason most would not not want God to get in the way of our freedom to choose.

  6. I think what hurts people most is finding a sense of peace, comfort, and understanding for more of the ‘absurd’ situations that happen to the innocent and undeserved.

    Peter, I’m sure you mean well… and I know you don’t have all the answers my friend, but I have to be honest… to explain all that away with the mere mistakes or wrong doing of man (sin) just doesn’t make sense to me.

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      Sure Ben, I can appreciate where you are coming from. Let me ask you this question that we studied in philosophy class in college: do you believe that humans are inherently good or are they inherently evil?

  7. If I was reading a novel and just could not understand the plot, as it seemed absurd… wouldn’t it behoove me to get to know the author and his intentions? This would make all the difference in the world.

    Just like Hitchcock… when you hear his name attached to a title you could easily figure out what the aim of the story will be… to scare you! We know that because through the yrs, especially those who took the time, followed his career and got to know his stories… know that being scared is what its all about.

    Same with God. You won’t understand His intentions and why He allowed certain things to happen if you just stand back and assume based on your own thinking. You have to get to know God and His way of thinking before you truly understand.

    For instance, making choices is very important to God. Freely making choices. If he restricted your ability to make choices… tied your hands so to speak, so you could never choose to do bad things… then you could also never say you have integrity. Because integrity only comes by choice.

    A little boy did something bad so his mom told him to go sit in the corner… and the boy responded, Ok, I’ll go sit there, but in my heart I’ll be standing up!

    God could restrict your movements, but that would not mean you were a good person. God wants people that choose the right way, and not forced to do it.

  8. Our world needs prayer! I can see the evil. Its no longer lurking, it bold and apparent! People have become complaisant and lazy. We have not stood up and called out the wrongs of this world. At least not enough of us! We have allowed government to control our thoughts and responses, we have let satin walk right in while we have been looking on. We gave had minimal voice rejecting the laws being placed today, all of which are against God! And we are compliant and remain silent while God is being removed and Bibles are being reworded! Yes reworded! Even the slightest so it will not be noticed! I notice!

    We need prayer! We need to be as interesting as the deceiver who captivates and steels the life from the people with lies! With out God, there is no life sustainable as we all parish!

    Christians united now!

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