HOW COULD a GOOD GOD ALLOW so MUCH EVIL, PAIN, and SUFFERING ?
Various Texts
by Malcolm Short
Suffering Introduced
Genesis 3:7 NIV
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 1:31 NIV
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Genesis 1:29 NIV
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”
Genesis 2:18 NIV
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:15-17 NIV
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:25 (NIV)
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Suffering Endured
Isaiah 45:7 NIV
“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.”
Psalm 18:30 (NIV)
30 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
Genesis 6:5-6 NIV
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
Suffering Overcome
Romans 3:5-6 NIV
But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?
Genesis 3:15 NIV
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:22-24 NIV
“And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
John 3:17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Suffering Eliminated
Ephesians 1:4-6 NIV
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Romans 6:23 ESV
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 16:25 NIV
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
Romans 5:1-5 NIV
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.