The Problem of Evil And It's Only Logical Solution

In my attempts to work out the problem of evil, God has continued to amaze me and reveal Himself to me more and more with each and every day. In my last post, I attempted to disprove the conclusion of the problem of evil by saying that the god it describes is a limited god, and that if you begin the problem with ALL of who God says that He is you are faced with the plausibility that God can be all of those things and evil can still exist. And yet, here is where I have failed in my conclusions. I have left out a key characteristic. It is indeed the key to understanding everything, and that is that God is RELATIONAL. And do you know why this is so important? Because it is the very purpose for our lives: To know God and to be with Him. If you take this into consideration it changes everything. Whenever we envision the best possible world that God could have created, we envision a world without evil in it. It is a utopia. And yet, ask yourself this: Where is God in this world? Is He there with you, walking and talking as He was with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Or is this world you envision nothing more than an impersonal God’s television? Is it perfection and goodness outside of God’s presence? Because I am here to tell you that perfection and goodness can not be achieved in a world without God’s presence, and we ourselves can not do good outside of God Himself. God is the very source for which anything good can flow from us. He is the very source for our moral absolutes. Why shouldn’t we steal? Because our parents told us so? Because the government prohibits us? Because if we are caught it results in bad consequences? Because it is our cultural expectation? Because we don’t feel like we should? Because the Bible tells us so? No. We shall not steal because God gives. We shall not lie because God is truth. We shall not commit adultery because God is faithful. We shall not murder because God is the creator of life. We shall not do these things because it does not reflect the character of God, and being made in the image of God we were created to reflect those very qualities which He himself possesses.

And yet what is evil but the result of a separation from God? And what is evil but our response to a relationship with God, who is the very source of everything that we declare good? Evil itself is not a tangible thing. It is a reflection of a broken relationship with God, just as good is a reflection of a whole relationship with God. Evil is the very tie that binds us all together on this earth in which we unifyingly shout “Why does this exist? How could this have happened?” It is the one thing that all people throughout all of history can agree upon as being absolute, and it is our reality.
What solution then does Christianity have to offer the problem of evil? Hope. The very thing which the problem of evil is void of. Jesus Christ. Immanuel---God WITH us. A relational God who has made Himself human, come to earth, suffered, died, and RAISED HIMSELF FROM THE DEAD, thus confirming His power and dominion over life and death, confirming that His purposes have and will be accomplished, confirming that we have a hope and a future in that God will eradicate evil once and for all and create a new heaven and new earth in which we will be restored to Him, confirming that He Himself is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but by me.” He Himself is the very source of life, He is the truth that you seek, and He is the very way which is paved for you to eternally know God and be with Him. He has not come to condemn you, but to free you from the condemnation that you already face in not knowing Him.

But how can God create hell and condemn anyone to it, you ask? What loving God would do such a thing? I ask you, what is hell but the absence of God? Why do you think it is depicted as fire and brimstone and eternal punishment? Because you are no longer connected to the very source of all that is good. If you hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you choose not to believe it and to live apart from Him during your life on earth, then you are left with hell, which is exactly what you wanted in the first place. If you do not desire to know God, then you do not have to be with Him. And that is exactly how a loving relationship functions even here on earth. A loving God would not force anyone who does not desire Him to be with Him.

The problem of evil itself is devoid of hope outside the God of the Bible. It does not take His purposes into account. It assumes Him to have declared this to be the best possible world in which we could live, and yet it is clear by all rationality that it is not. It assumes that the world which God first created, the world without evil, is the best possible world only because there was no evil…not because God Himself was there and mankind knew Him. And now evil exists because it is necessary for God to restore our relationship to Him. That is the whole reason why He has gone through all the trouble to tolerate it.

And how do we know that this is the truth? How do we know that among all of the world’s religions this is the one true religion? We know because those who believe are no longer driven by fear of punishment but by love. What is the one common bond that all religions, including atheism and agnosticism, share? A moral system based upon fear. The fear of death and of hell. A morality system in which you must prove your worth. A morality system in which you must work your way into heaven in order to be accepted by God. In which you must make offerings and sacrifices. In which you must repeat lives until you have become pure. In which you must pray five times a day. Even in Darwinism, a morality in which you live your life in order to avoid death for as long as possible. Fear drives your every whim, your every “good” behavior. And yet I am telling you this. You do not somehow become worthy even if you accept Jesus Christ by faith. A Christian is no more loved or valued by God than an atheist nor a Muslim nor a Hindu nor the mentally ill nor the homeless and weak or the strong and powerful. Jesus did not give his life for you to declare your worth but to CONFIRM your worth, the very worth that is innate within you because you are a Creation of God, the very worth that was given you from the moment you were born, the worth that no one can take away from you no matter how hard they try. You have nothing to prove. This is why we testify not just to love your neighbor as yourself, but to love your enemies. The Creator of the universe has already accepted you. He already knows you fully and completely. He already knows the evil that lies in your heart, He knows the evil that you have done. He accepts you and knows you fully. The question is do you accept Him and want to know Him fully? Because a way has already been made for you to do so. This is the God of the Bible we "annoying, intolerant, and judgemental" Christians speak of. This is the message of Jesus Christ that all of mankind’s attempts can neither quiet nor contain. Do what you will with it, but rest assured that it is the TRUTH. And know that even in knowing God, there is still a deceiver at work on earth. There is still a war raging on in which Satan seeks to destroy all life, to twist every good thing, to tempt us and lead us away from God, to separate us from the presence of God so that we will worship him and only him in hell.

And yet..."Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39)