by Jamil Hall

Created on: April 22, 2008

It has been said that there is no evil, save that of humanity. And I'm inclined to agree. Every single person on the face of this planet has or will do something that contravenes basic moral or legal rules, either intentionally or not. We are not perfect.
Hell, I know I'm not.

But the fact that remains is that evil still remains in the world. The question here is why is that allowed? Why would a just and righteous God permit or allow evil to prey upon his creations?

The short answer is: because a just and righteous God would love us. And thus God would allow us to make our own mistakes, and suffer because through pain and suffering we become transcendant in our struggle to overcome it. God gave us the perfect world in Eden. We knew know pain, no suffering, there was no need for morality.
Who do you think God would hold higher, the man who never had to suffer a single wound his entire life and kept a smile on his face, or the orphan who was tested and beaten and disgraced at every turn but still kept hope before their eyes? The Gospels speak of a fellowship that lifts high those who suffer, and brings down those who live only for themselves.
We can never claim to know the divine thoughts of God, but my heart tells me that we are not tested in vain. We are not mere amusement for a callous deity. We are loved, and that love means that our suffering through evil has meaning and purpose. To be worthy of God's love and presence, we must show that we can be steadfast in our lives.

There doesn't need to be a definition of evil, or God, to answer this question.
There doesn't need to be a mass consensus to make it agreed.
You just have to know it in your heart.
That's the point of faith.

If we suffer from evil, then it is so that we can derive strength from it, draw every drop of experience from it so that when we meet it again, we can emerge safe and secure.
A just and righteous God carries us at all times. But if there was no evil in the world, we would suffocate. We would smother from over-protectiveness, and we would never live at all.

Would that be the action of a just and righteous God?

Learn more about this author, Jamil Hall.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.