Shayla: If God is really a loving God why does He permit all the evil done in this world?

Meforshim:

Take a moment to consider the following statistics:

• A Woman is battered every 15 seconds.
• 1.3 Adult women are raped every minute.
• 45 Americans were killed in alcohol related traffic crashes each day in 1994.
• Approximately 6 children are reported abused and neglected in America every 60 seconds.
• There was a murder every 24 minutes in 1985, and the rate has only increased since.
• There is a robbery every 51 seconds.
• There is a violent crime of some kind every 18 seconds.
• There is an aggravated assault every 29 seconds.
• There are 20 employees murdered and 18,000 assaulted on the job every week.
• A recent CIA report estimates 2 million women and children are sexually trafficked from all over the world, including the U.S. each year into prostitution and pornography. They are sold to brothels where they are beaten and raped.

And we won’t even go into all the natural disasters, disease and Third World hunger. Why? Why must the innocent suffer? Why so much death, disease and destruction? This is a question that has plagued man for centuries, both believers and unbelievers alike. They have both asked this question.

A. God gave mankind a free will.

In the Book of Genesis, we learn that God gave mankind a free will. That is, this God who created man in His own Image to bring Him Glory and Pleasure gave to every man, woman and child the power to choose for him\herself independent of God.

B. We have inherited a sinful nature.

The Book of Gen. also tells us that Adam and Eve fell in the Garden and that ever since man has been born with a sin nature to rebel against the Living God.

Just as you may have been the happy recipient of a big nose, a long nose, certain hair/eye color, certain height, you receive a "Sin Nature" through birth. Once Adam and Eve sinned every person born into the world inherited a "Sin Nature", that is to "rebel against God”, and so it has been ever since.

• Romans 5:19 HCSB For just as through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

This is the Case of "ORIGINAL SIN".

Then there is "WILLFUL SIN"- where we deliberately choose to sin against God.

• James 1:13-15 HCSB No one undergoing a trial should say, "I am being tempted by God." For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn't tempt anyone. 14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

I am not going to get any further into the Doctrine of Sin than that. I only wish to remind us that man by "Nature" is rebellious against God and that Man is "Willful"; that is man has the power to choose, to freely make a cognitive choice of his own volition and according to his own desires.

C. Free will is necessary for true love to exist.

For just a moment, pretend that you are God and in your imagination you are going to recreate a perfect world. Keep in mind, however, that for every thing that you do there is a ramification, a certain consequence.

OK let’s start by wiping out "all murder". POOF! No more murder! Now let’s get rid of "all rape". POOF! No more rape! Oh, you can’t stop there, why don’t you stop all robberies? POOF! No more robberies! While you’re at it why don’t you eliminate world hunger? POOF! No more hunger! People are helping to plant crops again and are giving food in abundance! People are being fed again. Great! Fantastic! Continue to wipe out every known evil till you are finished.

Oh wait a minute! Something is wrong. No one is following you anymore. No one believes in you anymore and no one loves you anymore. “What do you mean” you may ask? “Didn’t we just finish wiping out and eliminating all the evil in the world? What do you mean that no one loves me anymore!”

For everything you do, there are ramifications, certain consequences – remember?

1. When you wiped out all murder, you wiped out the "choice" of certain people to "commit" murder.

2. When you ridded the earth of rape, you ridded the "choice" of certain people to "choose" to rape.

3. When you stopped all robberies, you stopped the "choice" of certain people to "choose" to rob.

4. When you stopped world hunger you took away certain people’s "choice" to NOT help those in need, or man’s choice not to work in the fields in such a way to preserve its crop.

Forced love is not love at all. Without free will, without the ability to choose, love cannot exist. God knew that many would choose wrongly but evidently felt that the reward of true love was worth the consequences.

D. God created the earth we live on, man created the world we live in.

So you see, when "choice" was taken away, man could no longer choose to do "evil", however, he could also no longer choose to do "good". If man cannot "choose" to hate, man cannot "choose" to love either. Thus, mankind cannot "choose" to love a "loving" God who loved them first.

But God is a loving God, isn’t He? God "chose" to create the earth we live on. Man "chose" to create the world we live in! The earth is by “design"; the world is by "choice".

E. God has been offering to help for millennia.

A preacher and an atheistic barber were once walking through the city slums. Said the barber to the preacher: "This is why I cannot believe in a God of love. If God was as kind and loving as you say, He would not permit all this poverty, disease, and squalor. He would not allow these poor bums to be addicted to dope and other character-destroying habits. No, I cannot believe in a God who permits these things."

The minister was silent until they met a man who was especially unkempt and filthy. His hair was hanging down his neck and he had a half-inch of stubble on his face. Said the minister, "You can’t be a very good barber or you wouldn’t permit a man like that to continue living in this neighborhood without a haircut and a shave."

Indignantly, the barber answered: "Why blame me for that man’s condition? I can’t help it that he is like that. He has never come in my shop. I could fix him up and make him look like a gentleman!"

Giving the barber a penetrating look, the minister said, "Then don’t blame God for allowing the people to continue in their evil ways, when He is constantly inviting them to come and be saved.”

• Romans 5:8 HCSB But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!
• 1 John 4:8 HCSB The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Yes…God is Love, but His love does not dwell in the heart of every person in this world.