by Allan McGregor

Created on: December 20, 2007

"If God is so powerful, why does evil exist?" Along with its twin challenge, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I suspect this moral conundrum may be the single greatest sponsor of atheism in our world; not only today but in every age. Because, while most educated atheists will concede that they cannot conclusively prove there is no God through scientific argument alone, many instead resort to the apparent metaphysical wisdom of the argument that the existence of evil in the universe demonstrates that either our notional God may be all-loving but cannot be all-powerful, otherwise he would not permit evil; or, if he is all-powerful, he cannot be all-loving, otherwise he would use his omnipotence to prevent it.

It sounds impressive reasoning and indeed, to anyone who knows little or nothing of God or his Word, it can appear quite compelling. But it is fallacious because the Bible actually provides the answer. The problem is just that the answer the Bible provides is not acceptable to many. A lot of the Bible is like that; providing answers that people cannot accept. Many of those answers are found in what theologians commonly term 'difficult scriptures'. However, this is often a deceptive term because the reason most people consider difficult scriptures 'difficult' is not because they are difficult to understand but because they find them difficult to believe.

The reason the answer, in this instance, is unacceptable is that it contradicts a common but erroneous theological premise that is often portrayed as biblical; namely, that the sovereignty of the Judeo-Christian God manifests in his being capable of doing absolutely anything. In fact, he is not.

I believe someone once enumerated at least thirty-two things that God cannot do. For example: God cannot lie, die, deny himself, or act unrighteously. Nor can he renege on his word, default on his promise, or break his covenant, and so on.

Indeed, the Psalmist specifically reveals that God "magnifies his word above his own name" (Psalm 138:2). In other words, God's word is his bond. It's unbreakable, non-negotiable and fixed once given.

In contrast, if said to you, "I will meet you under the clock in Glasgow Central Station at two p.m., next Tuesday", you might reasonably expect me to be there. If I failed to turn up, however, you would be justified in wondering why. Now, of course, I might have been unavoidably detained by an accident, or delayed by a traffic jam; it's even conceivable that I might have died.

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