8/10/2019 1.Why Does God Allow Evil

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/1why-does-god-allow-evil 1/2

8November 2012 Don Bosco's Madonna

 WHY DOES GOD ALLOW

EVIL?by Vincent Travers OP

There is no way of explainingaway all the sufferings and

evil, the violence and hunger in theworld. We try lamely witharguments, religious and rational,but we don’t get very far. Sadly,terrible things make headline newsevery day, and often our reactionis: ‘I can’t believe there’s a God inheaven who would allow suchthings to happen. I can’t believeGod really cares; otherwise, hewould strike suicide bombers deadin their tracks, and save lives ofinnocent people.’ Yes, it’s a realpuzzle. Can God really love us ifhe allows evil things to happen not

 just to bad people but to good and

innocent people, and apparently hedoes nothing about it?

Actually, evil in the world is nota puzzle. A puzzle is somethingthat can be solved. It has a solutionto it. Not so evil. When faced withevil in the world we are faced withgreat mystery. In the face ofmystery, often, we can only stand

before it and bow our heads, inrespectful silence.

Evil-free worldOnly the other day I was having

a meal with friends andone of them, Tom, anunbeliever, made astatement in the middle

of a conversation aboutevil in the world: “I can’tunderstand anybodyworshipping a Godwho allowed all the evilwe see in the world.”

Something in his toneof voice warned me tokeep cool and say

nothing. But I knew Tom wasexpecting me to react. No soonerwere his words out, thaneveryone’s eyes went downtowards the soup. Tom continued:“I have an even more difficult timeunderstanding why anybodywould dedicate their whole life to

a God like that.”Now everyone’s eyes were onme. I knew he wasn’t trying to bedeliberately provocative. He wasgenuinely grappling with aproblem that had tortured him allhis life, and no one was able to givehim a believable answer. I said:“Tom, the problem you and otherslike you have, is that you reallydon’t believe that free will is a goodthing.”

“What do you mean by that?”“The way I see it is that God musthave thought about it for ‘ages’before he finally decided to give hiscreatures the freedom to make uptheir own minds. But once hedecided on it, then he was stuck

with the use, misuse, and abuse offreedom. We do not cope very wellwith freedom. We want Godcontinually to interfere in humandecisions to prevent people from

doing evil. We want anevil-free world.Fortunately, no onerespects freedom more

than God himself.”

Blaming GodWell, it’s no good

pretending that this isn’ta very difficult problem.

But we have to face upto the fact that God hatesall evil actions - whether

8/10/2019 1.Why Does God Allow Evil

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/1why-does-god-allow-evil 2/2

  9November 2012  Don Bosco's Madonna

it’s Hitler starting a war, or metelling a lie, or stealing somethingthat doesn’t belong to me. Evilspoils God’s world and causes

suffering and misery to people. Butif I think God ought to step in andinterfere and stop evil thingshappening, where is He going tobegin and where is He going toend? Why would he not begin withme (and you, too) just as much aswith some dangerous psychopath?And, besides, how do I expect Godto do it? There is no point inblaming God for doing nothingunless I’ve got some idea of howhe could do it. Do I really think itmight be a good idea if God wereto strike me dumb every time I wasgoing to tell a lie, or make my armgo all paralysed whenever I was inthe act of stealing something? I’mafraid that is the kind of thing hewould have to do short of bumpingme off altogether (which is whatmost of us would want Him to dowith the psychopath).

Divine interferenceSuppose I am exceeding the

speed limit, a danger to myself andothers; I am obviously doing

something very wrong? What canGod do about it? He could toss measide and take over the wheelhimself. I have to say, I’d be a bitsurprised and rather indignant, ifI suddenly found myself stretchedout and lying dazed on the backseat, wondering how on earth I gotthere. That is not a stupid example.

If God is going to interfere and stopme from driving dangerously, howelse can he do it? That is the kindof intervention we ought to expect,be it on a small or massive scale, toprevent evil happening in ourworld. But I imagine that the verypeople, who complain loudestabout God not interfering, would

be the first to complain even louderstill, if he did.

Free to choose

We have to be realistic about this.God won’t force me to do good norprevent me from doing evil; He’sleft me free to choose for myself.

If God really wants us as hischildren and not as puppets andslaves, he is bound to leave itfinally to us, whether we’ll havehim or not. If God wants us torespond to his love and giveourselves to him, then clearly hewants a free and not a forcedresponse. All religious experiencesremind us that God will never forcehis way into our lives unasked; wecan turn away if we insist. Parentscannot make their children lovethem. Neither can God.

God has left us free because heloves us and He knows that if weare going to love and serve Him inreturn, it’s because we want to, andnot because we have to. The factthat God does not interfere is,indeed, a compelling reason that hedoes care - and not the other wayaround.

Gift to GodThat response however, did not

sway Tom. Alas, it is not possibleto find God through reason alone.Faith is, first and foremost, a gift.Tom was seeking the truth, nottrying to win an argument. Hesaid, “I envy you. You have faith.Why is it that faith has eluded me?

I have prayed so hard for faith, butI never found it. Why can’t Ibelieve? How do I get faith?” Ilooked at him and all I could saywas, “Tom, I guess Faith is a gift ofGod, but God rewards and blessesall those who seek him with asincere mind and a humbleheart.”