Why is there so much evil in the world?

This is a great question, which lots of much cleverer people than me have struggled to answer. I think a helpful way to start thinking about it is to imagine how you could ever answer that if you didn’t believe in God. The only answer could be ‘that’s just the way it is’ – there would be no hope for anything better nor any explanation for why we all feel it ought to be better.

As a Christian I want to say first that the world was made without evil – perfect and good (look at Genesis 1) – and that the world will be made perfect again, all evil destroyed – that’s the hope that the gospel gives us (look at Revelation 21). So we’re right to feel that something’s wrong with the world the way it is – it’s not designed to be like this and it’s not always going to be like this.

So how did it go so wrong? The answer that the bible gives is sin. As a result of people disobeying and ignoring God (which is what sin is), things started to fall apart at every level – in the lives of individuals, in families, in society, and in the world as a whole. Genesis 3-11 illustrates this very vividly, with sin tearing people apart in all kinds of ways, getting worse and worse, all stemming from the first act of disobedience in the garden of Eden.

How will it be put right? Sin has to be dealt with. This happens in two ways. Some people will be judged and condemned for their sin, and banished from God’s presence, i.e. in hell (see 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9). The bible says this will happen to everyone who does not know God. But other people will be entirely forgiven from their sin, cleansed and put right. This happens because their sin has been paid for by Christ, when he died on the cross. Those are the only two ways for sin to be dealt with – by Christ on the cross, or by ourselves in hell. The offer of forgiveness is freely made to anyone who will trust Christ to be their Lord and savior.

We’ll never deal with all the evil in the world by political means, or by going to war, or by social action. All of these things can, at best, deal with the symptoms. But the root of the problem is in our sinful, disobedient hearts. And only God can deal with those. The good news of the gospel is that he does.