“There’s no way God exists in a world full of suffering.”
There’s no doubt that it’s difficult to reconcile the existence of a loving, all-powerful God with the reality of suffering and evil. Why wouldn’t God stop the Holocaust? Why doesn’t He heal children who have cancer? Why do natural disasters kill innocent people?
If God was really all-powerful and loving, wouldn’t He stop these things from happening?
This is the question that eats at the heart of many Christians, holding them back from a close relationship with God. Fortunately, there’s an answer to be had, and it lies in two words.
Free will.
God didn’t allow the temptation of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden just so that the first humans could bring about the fall of creation. In the tree, He gave them a gift: choice.
Adam and Eve were free to choose God’s rule or their own. And despite the consequences, they chose their own rule.
God gives every creation that same free will—we can choose to live by His commands, which are meant to make the world as lovely and livable as possible. Or we can choose to live selfishly.
Consider this. Imagine a world where God stopped all sin. The moment you think about taking your sibling’s pencil, the thought disappears. Someone tries to jaywalk, only to be stopped by an invisible wall. A married man finds his eyes on another woman, and simply disappears.
Further, imagine that God changes your very mind in this world, forcing you to love and adore Him.
You wouldn’t be very free, would you? You’d be a slave.
God doesn’t make slaves, and so because we have free will and live in a fallen world as a result of our choices, bad things happen. God still loves us, and because of that love, He doesn’t try to control us.