If God is Real Why is There So Much Evil in the World?
The Paradox
For many generations Christians have been proclaiming that God is love, God is righteous, God is all-powerful, and God is the creator, the source of the whole universe. For just as long others have responded, "If there is such a loving, righteous, and powerful God, why is there so much evil in the world?"
The Source of Evil
The Bible tells us that God's creation was pure with no evil in it. It was in perfect harmony and order. God set as head over all the creatures an angel whom He created perfect in beauty. One day this angel, looking at his own beauty, became proud and rebelled against God. In this rebellion he became a second source in the universe, the source of evil.
Two Trees
God disdained to stoop to wipe out Satan, the rebellious angel, by Himself. Rather He created a third being, man, with a free will. God placed man before two trees signifying two sources. The one tree represented God as life. The other, disguised as the knowledge of good and evil, represented Satan as the source of sin and of death. God presented man with this choice because He desired that man would willingly choose Him and cooperate with Him in executing judgment on Satan.
Man's Fall
Satan influenced man through deception to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil even though God had warned man that death was the consequence of this choice. Man not only transgressed God's commandment, something of Satan's evil nature got into man. Thus within man are two different natures. Man has a good nature created by god which causes him to want to be and do good. Man also has a sinful, lustful nature which causes him to do evil things that in many cases he does not want to do.
The Continuation of the Fall
Following man's initial fall through which sin entered into the world, mankind continued to fall further away from God. The Bible records how man left God's presence, invented and indulged in all kinds of sin, and finally rejected knowing about God altogether. Men began to worship other men and all the created things rather than the true God. You probably think that modern man has come a long way from that primitive idol worship but mankind in general has come no nearer to knowing God. Man's desperate pursuit of knowledge today is just as Godless and just as impotent to correct the evil in the world as was the idolatrous, religions of earlier ages.
Thus there is so much evil, injustice, and suffering in the world not because God ordained that it must be that way but because man has rejected and is still rejecting God, the source of all that is good and perfect.
But Why Let Evil Continue?
Still you may insist, "Even though God was not the source of the evil around us, if He is so loving why did He not do something about it? Why does He let evil continue on and on?" The answer is related to God's love for man.
What God Did
Man's sin separated him from God. No one could come to God but God Himself became a man, Jesus Christ. He lived a human life on this earth 33˝ years absolutely without sin. Then He went to the cross to die, not for His own sins, for He had none, but for the sins of the world. He paid the penalty for sin on man's behalf.
What You Can Do
You do not need to do anything to pay the penalty for sin. If you believe in the Lord and what He has done God will forgive you. The good news of the gospel is that all you need to do is receive God's gift of salvation. If you reject God's gift then one day you will face God's judgment and have to pay the penalty yourself.
What About the World?
Just as God does not overlook the smallest sin at the individual level, so He also will not tolerate this evil world indefinitely. One day He will come in wrath and judgment upon the world. At that time He will destroy the destroyers of the earth and establish an eternal kingdom in righteousness and peace. The reason God has delayed His judgment is that in His love and mercy He is still giving men the opportunity to choose Him. The scripture says:
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2 Peter 3:9-10
Save Yourself
If you wish to receive the salvation which God so freely offers, simply confess your sins to the Lord Jesus Christ—especially the sin of having rejected Him all these years. Then sincerely from your heart tell the Lord, "Lord Jesus, I believe in You and Your death for me. Lord Jesus I open the deepest part of my being to you. Come into me to be my life."