Does the Existence of Evil Disprove God?

Psalm 75

¹We thank you, O God! We give thanks because you are near. People everywhere tell of your mighty miracles.

²God says, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked.

³When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm.

Interlude

⁴“I warned the proud, ‘Stop your boasting!’ I told the wicked, ‘Don’t raise your fists!

⁵Don’t lift your fists in defiance at the heavens or speak with rebellious arrogance.’”

⁶For no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness—can raise another person up.

⁷It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall.

⁸For the LORD holds a cup in his hand; it is full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours the wine out in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs.

⁹But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Israel.

¹⁰For God says, “I will cut off the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.”

(Psalm 75:1-10, NLT)

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The Daily DAVEotional

The biggest, most potent argument the atheist has against the existence of God is the presence of evil.

The atheist argument against the existence of God generally goes as follows:

• • If God exists, he is all-powerful and all-loving
  • An all-loving God would WANT to eradicate evil
  • An all-powerful God would BE ABLE to eradicate evil
  • Since evil is not eradicated then God must either not be all-loving or not be all-powerful
  • Therefore, an all-loving, all-powerful God doesn’t exist

This argument is logical and if the premises are true then the conclusion, which logically follows, must also be true.

But are the premises true?

Does it follow that because evil exists, then God must not be all-loving? Because evil exists, does that mean that God must not care about it?

Or does the fact that evil exists mean that God is unable to do anything about it? Does it mean that he’s not all-powerful but is instead an impotent deity? Or worse, an imaginary deity?

The problem with the argument above is really premise number four, and it’s exactly what Asaph, the psalmist, addresses in verse 2 of his psalm when he says:

God says, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked.

The fact that evil exists doesn’t mean that God is unable to deal with it, nor does it mean that God doesn’t WANT to deal with it. It only means that He hasn’t dealt with it YET. And in this psalm, we learn that God DOES have a time plan for dealing fully and completely with evil.

Why would God possibly delay in dealing fully and forcefully with evil?

One reason that God is waiting to fully and finally dealing with evil is PEOPLE.

If God were to bring about justice and completely eradicate evil now, Jesus would need to return and put an end to the current world system which promotes and perpetuates the evil we see and experience. And that would mean that all people would enter into immediate judgment. That means people would no longer have a chance to respond to the message of hope and forgiveness that is offered through Christ’s sacrificial death.

Peter, in his second letter, said it this way:

The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent. (2 Peter 3:9, NLT)

There may be other unknown reasons God has for waiting to bring about ultimate justice. We simply cannot know everything about what God has planned or why He has planned it that way. One thing we know from reading the book of Job is that God is all-wise and He is infinitely more knowledgeable than we are. The idea that we could indict Him for what we think is some cosmic injustice when we really know next to nothing about God or the way the universe works is somewhat laughable. And yet, we, in our human arrogance, think we know more about fairness and justice than God does!

The presence of evil doesn’t mean God is unaware of it or unable to deal with it. It simply means that His plan for eliminating it hasn’t been fulfilled or fully enacted yet. This is exactly what the Scriptures tell us.

Furthermore, the presence of evil is an issue even for the atheist. It may seem like evil is an ironclad apologetic that disproves the existence of God but if you believe God doesn’t exist, you still have evil. Removing God doesn’t have the effect of removing evil. It only removes God as a factor in understanding evil.

How exactly are we to make sense of evil acts without the presence of God? What I mean by that is how does not believing in God make it easier to understand and cope with the existence of evil?

I don’t think evil can be explained or understood if you take God out of the picture. If God is removed, how does one explain the existence of evil? Where did it come from and how can we explain its ongoing presence?

The truth is evil seems to be on the rise in our world. There doesn’t seem to be a coherent explanation and solution to the problem of evil that doesn’t include God.

God DOES care about evil.

God WILL eradicate evil.

But He will do it in His timing, according to His ultimate plan, part of which includes, in His cosmic goodness, the patient delay of justice so that we might repent of our own evil deeds and turn to God for forgiveness and redemption!

Reflection

If you are Christian, or a believer in God, how have you previously understood and made sense of the presence of evil?

If you are an atheist, how do you explain the existence of evil? What is your solution for eradicating evil?

What are some reasons you think God might be delayed in dealing with evil and bringing about justice?

When we talk about evil, how do we even know what evil is? Whether you are a theist or an atheist, what is the standard by which you measure actions and are able to label them as evil or not?