If God is good, why does He allow evil and suffering to exist?

Many people take a handful of truths about God’s knowledge and power and conclude that He should prevent all evil and suffering. Interestingly, if He did that, you and I would not exist. We’d have to be God’s happy puppets or nothing at all. Let’s consider what God chose to do instead and how it shows His goodness:

1. In God’s goodness, He gave us freedom and responsibility for our actions. For this reason, we cannot blame God for the evils we choose to commit.

2. In God’s goodness, He didn’t set us up for failure. We were created to be ‘very good’ with a clear warning against welcoming evil.

3. In God’s goodness, He has perfect justice, and the fair consequence of disobeying the One who gave us life is suffering and death. God, being good, cannot contently sustain a happy space for creatures that produce evil.

4. In God’s goodness, He is also full of compassion and mercy. In His love, He sent His own Son (God in a human body) to suffer and die in place of people like you and me.

5. In God’s goodness, Jesus rose from the dead to defeat death. Anyone who trusts in Him will also rise again to a world without evil, suffering, or death.

Is God pleased with evil and suffering? No. He hates them more than any human does. However, much like a parent, He brought us into the world knowing we would have the freedom to do evil, knowing He would need to punish evil, but also aware of His own mercy. He, therefore, made us for our ultimate ‘good’. This very day, we all have the opportunity to know God as our Father and receive all the fruits of His goodness forever!

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