Donku :
The Problem of Evil
Choosing to do evil is an expression of our freedom to reject God and the good that He represents. If we were incapable of doing evil, then we would not have the genuine ability to reject God; we would be forced to choose Him. Therefore, the possibility of evil is a necessary consequence of having genuine free will.
A common objection is: “Why didn't God create a world in which we could freely choose to reject Him without rape, murder, or other extreme forms of suffering?” The problem with this objection is that, from a classical Christian perspective, evil does not have an independent existence or nature of its own. Evil is understood as a privation of the good—a corruption or absence of something that ought to be there. Therefore, eliminating particular forms of evil would not necessarily eliminate the possibility of evil itself. It would merely limit the ways in which our rejection of the good could be expressed.
Furthermore, even if God created a world in which people could choose either to accept or reject Him without committing acts such as murder or rape, the fundamental choice would remain. A person could still reject God, and that rejection would still separate them from the ultimate source of goodness. In this sense, sin is fundamentally a turning away from God and the good.
But what about apparently meaningless suffering, such as a baby developing cancer or animals suffering in the wilderness? Free will alone does not completely explain these forms of suffering. Christianity traditionally connects them to the Fall. Humanity was originally given a role of stewardship and governance over creation, but when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the harmony between humanity, God, and creation was disrupted. As a consequence, creation became subject to suffering, corruption, and death.
2026-09-22 18:52:00