Answering Life ’ s Ultimate Questions : Part Four
By Jeff Keaton
Question Five : What is wrong with this world ? Why is there so much evil ? “ And the Lord God commanded the man , ‘ You are free to eat from any tree in the garden ; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , for when you eat from it you will certainly die .’” Genesis 2:16-17
I plopped down in my seat on a flight home from Atlanta , and the gentleman next to me said , “ Where are you coming from ?” I told him , and he immediately asked , “ What were you doing there ?” I said , “ I gave a speech last night .” He then asked , “ On what subject ?” I responded , “ Biblical worldview .” Everything changed at that moment , and he followed with , “ I was raised Southern Baptist , but I abandoned Christianity decades ago . I ’ m an atheist .” He continued , saying , “ I abandoned Christianity because I could never understand how a good God could allow so much evil .”
In the first three articles of this series , we looked at the answers Genesis provides for who holds ultimate authority in this world , how we got here , what it means to be human , and God ’ s design of gender . In the final article of this series , we look at why there is so much evil in the world and the hope we have in Christ .
I decided to engage with him on this very legitimate question by stating that since he was an atheist , we could remove any belief that God exists from our discussion . I then asked him , “ Since in your mind God doesn ’ t exist , how do you explain the existence of evil ?” I continued , “ Aren ’ t you a Darwinian evolutionist ?” He said , “ Yes , I am .” I said , “ Don ’ t you believe that we are evolving and getting better and better ?” He said , “ Yes , that ’ s what I believe .” I then looked at him and asked , “ Sir , are we really getting better and better ?” He responded , “ Actually , I think we ’ re getting worse .” We had a wonderful conversation from then on , and as I was about to leave the plane , he asked if I had a business card . He said , “ I may want to talk to you some more .”
All worldviews have to give an answer to the question of evil , not just the Christian worldview . Evil is everywhere . There is no legitimate question as to whether or not evil exists ; there is only a question of why and what should be done to eradicate it .
From a biblical worldview perspective , we know that for reasons known only to God , He allowed the possibility of evil in His universe . He created two human beings who were good in every way ( Gen . 1:27 ) until they chose to rebel against their Creator ( Gen . 3:1-19 ). Their rebellion allowed sin to enter our world , and from that day forward , there has been this immense struggle between good and evil .
Men and women are born with sin in their nature and are thus bent to do wrong from their earliest days . Children naturally lie , act selfishly , and rebel against authority . None of these things have to be taught to them . On the other hand , children must be instructed and disciplined in order to develop habits of honesty , obedience , and unselfishness . Left to themselves , children become like wild animals that eventually cannot be controlled .
Sin is pervasive and the root of all evil in the universe . Our Founding Fathers in America were so convinced of the power of evil in the human heart that they established
10 THE RENEWANATION REVIEW