Why Does God Permit Evil?

Goal of the study: WHAT is the purpose of God permitting evil?
WHY would a God of love allow His creation to experience this much suffering?

Additional references: Studies in the Scriptures Vol. 1, Chap. 7

Things we see in the world today which make us ask, why does God permit evil?

Sickness, both physical and mental/emotional
Wars, death, murder, abuse
Injustice and suffering
Natural disasters
The wicked seemingly prosper

Mankind has asked this question for thousands of years.
There are at least four potential ways we can look at God and His involvement with our world:

1. God is NOT able to stop evil and does not care to.

2. God is NOT able to stop evil though He would stop it if He could.

3. God IS able to stop evil but He doesn’t want to.

4. God IS able to stop evil and will absolutely stop it.

The Bible teaches #4: God IS able to stop evil and will absolutely stop it—God has a plan.
Not only does He have a plan; He is working His plan and it is all about the eradication of sin and death from this world and replacing them with the institution of righteousness and life. His plan is laid out for us in Scripture, and we need to observe and understand it. This time of sin, evil and death is temporary and for a purpose.

The prophets knew God is powerful and hates evil:

Psalms 5:4–5 “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity.”
Isaiah 14:27 “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

Knowing these attributes, they still asked God these questions:

Job 10:3 “Is it right for You indeed to oppress, to reject the labor of Your hands, and to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked?”
Habakkuk 1:2 “How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, Violence! Yet You do not save.”
Psalm 44:23 “Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever.”

How can we find the truth regarding the permission of evil?

Through His word. We are promised that if we search the Scriptures, God will provide us the answers to our questions and spiritual desires of our hearts:

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD.”
Isaiah 34:16 “Seek from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these will be missing; none will lack its mate. For His mouth has commanded, and His spirit has gathered them.”
Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Solomon explained God permits evil so that mankind can experience sin and learn the lessons they need from it, to be “exercised.”

Ecclesiastes 1:13 (KJV) “…this sore travail hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.”
Ecclesiastes 3:10 (KJV) “I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of man to be exercised in it.”

While painful now, these lessons will be beneficial in the span of eternity.

Why does this learning process require so much pain and suffering?

The ultimate goal of God’s plan regarding the human race is to live on a perfect earth for eternity and willingly and enthusiastically obey their Creator—not because they are forced to, but to be the most complete and happy.

There are two main forces in the universe: good and evil. In the Garden of Eden was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:17 The act of disobedience of eating the fruit of that tree launched the process of gaining understanding of both good and evil.
God could have created mankind with the inability to do evil or experience sin; however, mankind would have been like a robot, rendering blind obedience to God without under-standing why they should follow God’s principles of righteousness. God created mankind
with free will, and this ability to understand and experience both good and evil, and subsequently make the right choices, will serve to be the most beneficial to mankind.
Job 34:4 “Let us choose for ourselves what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.”

For mankind to make a clear and correct choice, they must have a clear understanding of these TWO PRINCIPLES, of good and evil, and their fruitage or results.

Isn’t there an easier or less painful way to gain this knowledge of evil?

INTUITION: This is the direct understanding of all knowledge without the process of doing or experiencing it. It implies an automatic, complete and clear knowledge of all things. This is the way that God acquires His knowledge—God does NOT have to experience evil to know about and understand its results.
Isaiah 40:14 “With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and informed Him of the way of understanding?”
OBSERVATION: This is the method of gaining knowledge by noting and observing the results and fruitage of matters taking place in others’ lives and actions. This is the way that angels in heaven are gaining their knowledge of evil and sin.
1 Corinthians 4:9 “…we [speaking of the apostles] have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.”
INFORMATION: This is the method of gaining knowledge based on written or spoken record of the details of those matters and the potential dangers involved. This is the method God used in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:17 “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…”
BUT DID IT WORK? Was the information sufficient? No! This information was unable to prevent the sin.
EXPERIENCE: This way of acquiring the knowledge of evil is bitter and painful, but registers a stronger impression on the minds and memory. This way will prove later to be a blessing for all mankind. Hebrews 12:11 “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Let us try to illustrate what God is really doing in this period of the permission of evil with an example of fire. It is bright, colorful and attractive to look at. A little child is attracted to it, not knowing the great dangers involved. Now what would a loving and wise father do when seeing the child’s attraction and fascination with the fire? He would give the child an experience with the fire by bringing the child’s hand close enough to feel the heat but far enough not to be burnt. Thus, the child learns strong lessons of the dangers of the fire and is not likely to forget them. So it is with sin. It seems attractive and pleasurable from the outside. All the ways of sin today seem very pleasurable to fallen man. But the “tasting” of it leads to the “bitter taste” of suffering, sorrow and death!

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Thus it is seen in Romans 8:20, 21 that God’s “hope” in is that mankind will learn valuable lessons in this experience with the “heat” of sin. But God ensures that it is NOT to be a “burnt” experience, permanently destroying mankind. For we read of His mercy and grace as seen and recorded in:

Hosea 13:14 “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death…”

The other methods of gaining knowledge such as intuition, observation or information are not enough to gain all knowledge of good and evil.

Our lives are short, so when will we experience the benefits of learning about good and evil?

This is where we come to the great Bible truth of the Divine Plan of God which is relatively unknown to the vast majority of mankind – ALL mankind who have died and will die are to be made alive again! This opportunity for all men to live again in the resurrection was obtained through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus and his death on the cross. This will provide an opportunity to ask forgiveness and reform.

1 Corinthians 15:22 “As in Adam ALL die, so also in Christ ALL will be made alive.”
Acts 24:15 (KJV) “…there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”
John 5:28, 29 (KJV) “Marvel not at this…ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth…”

We have a beautiful lesson of permission of evil in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. Because of his pride, God humbled him for seven years.

Daniel 4:33 “…he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”

But after he went through this experience, he was restored and he, himself said…

Daniel 4:37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”
This is the exact process for the world of mankind. After they will be resurrected and restored, they will be able to fully see the complete plan of God and the purpose of all experiences and give all the glory and honor to God, the Creator.

The lessons and benefits to be gained from the understanding and bitter taste of experience will lead a hatred for evil and a love of righteousness. The purpose of the permission of evil is to show mankind an unforgettable firsthand experience with evil. It is for the purpose of teaching mankind the disastrous results of life lived without God as its center and to teach the consequences of
disobedience to God’s direction. The permission of evil will show mankind the sinfulness of sin so that we may never ever wish to go back to such a way of life ever again. Mankind was given free will in the beginning.

We were created to make choices.
God is not ever going to take away our free will.
God is going to organize the environment in which free will can operate.

“And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain;
for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4 (KJV)