How can there be a good God when there is so much evil and suffering in the world?
When I was at High School I was good friends with a girl, her named was Pumla. We played hockey together in the B team, we weren’t very good, and we would sit next to each other in English and talk about everything which wasn’t what the teacher was discussing. Pumla was smart and hard-working. She was also raised by a single Mom and didn’t have a lot of support from family. In the year in which we turned 17 Pumla’s Mom was murdered in her home, leaving Pumla without anyone.
This experience, as you can imagine was heartbreaking. A local family took her in and Pumla stayed with me in the Boarding School. There was nothing any of us could say to try to fix the situation and not a lot we could do, except be good friends.
When I went to University Pumla and I went to the same College, and stayed in the same Residence. We have remained good friends through the years and have been a part of each other’s lives. The one thing which both of us have struggled through is, why, when we know God is good and powerful did He let this happen?
God didn’t create evil
He created the possibility for us to choose evil. When God made the world He created a place with a great amount of possibility for good and also terrible evil. And then He gave us the option to select what we want. The evil in the world isn’t God’s doing. He does not make people die, nor does He create bad situations for them.
We need a Savior
As humans, we all need a Saviour. We need a relationship with God. The glory of God can not be understood without seeing what the world looks like without God’s grace and goodness. You can not understand light without seeing or experiencing darkness. The absence of God and His ways in the world show us that we need a Saviour.
God is love and love means choice
There cannot be love without choice. Holding a gun to someone’s head and asking “Do you love me?” doesn’t prove anything. If you chose to love and follow someone when you don’t have to, this is evidence of love. The world that God created allows the possibility of the greatest love and greatest existence. However, in that same possibility, the opposite of love is also possible, resulting in evil and hatred.
I can not tell someone who has gone through immense amounts of pain and hardship that it is worth nothing, or that some theological argument regarding good and evil is going to take away what they experienced. Pain and hurt can never be rationalised away, and we can’t always understand everything that we go through as humans. I will say this, I’ve found in my life, that the thing that has helped the most when I have had difficulties to overcome has been the strength I have found in my faith and the support shown to me by my friends and church community.
God loves us, each and every one of us. No matter what has happened to us or what unfortunate circumstances we find ourselves in, we cannot use this to measure God’s love. If you are going through something difficult or have questions regarding the things that have happened in your life, don’t sit there alone. Reach out to God in prayer and meet with people who have real relationships with God. I truly believe he wants to help you with everything you are going through.