The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ~ Jeremiah 17:9

If there is a loving God, why is there evil?

Why do young children die? Why did God allow the holocaust? Why are there natural disasters that have killed and ruined so many lives? Why are there so many poor and starving people in third-world countries?

I'll get straight to the point: I am weary of nonbelievers blaming a God they deny for the evil in the world. In reality, they are criticizing those who believe in God—or what they label as religion. However, their accusations fall short as they unfairly point fingers and avoid addressing the issue themselves. Allow me to explain.

First of all, how can someone believe that all the evil in the world is because of religion?
Are there evil people in religion—definitely, but blaming religion is like blaming a gun for someone being shot and murdered. Religion doesn't kill—people kill.

How can someone blame religion for all the evil in the world? Is there no evil in politics and business? Do people not suffer from greed, selfishness, and hatred regardless of their religious beliefs? Can you name a time and place when people gathered in large groups and successfully lived in complete, loving peace? A family of four can barely live in peace, let alone a large group of people.

The Crux of the Matter

How can someone blame religion for all the evil in the world?
Is there no evil in us?

When the nonbeliever asks, "If there is a God, why is there evil?" they should also consider the opposite question: "If there is no God, why is there evil?" The answer to both questions is the same: it is humanity—we are the villain.

Humanity tends to blame God in an attempt to deny the evil within themselves. We all recognize the existence of an inner monster—the part of us we despise and struggle to understand, wondering why it drives us to do the evil things we do.

God's love gave us the gift of free choice, allowing us to dwell in His radiant light of love and truth or linger in the darkness beyond His will. He didn't create us to be His prisoners; His desire was for us to choose to be with Him out of love. Regrettably, we opted to inhabit the shadows where evil thrives. So, I guess you can childishly blame God for evil because he created us, and we are evil. Can you believe the nerve of God, giving us life and then giving us free choice? Or how about we blame the real villain, us, instead?

I know people are hesitant to admit the evil humanity is capable of, but it's undeniable. Within each of us lies a monster—if we could be honest with ourselves, we know it's true. While we can do good, we must also acknowledge the constant internal struggle against doing wrong. Without our God-given conscience, I would dread the depths of evil we might reach.

We are evil; we abuse, use, lie, steal, hurt, and kill each other. Look at the food we buy and eat—the world is poisoning us, all because of greed. But what is more evil: the one who feeds us the poison or the one who knowingly consumes it as we feed it to our children? There is a monster inside each of us—it's the inner self we loathe when we look in the mirror. This monster, our nature, rejects good, and God is good.

The problem is that most people come to realize the depth of their evilness when they measure themselves next to Jesus. But this happens only when you meet Jesus in the spiritual realm.

But that doesn't change the fact that we are not inherently good. Nonbelievers often blame religion for the world's evils, but what are they doing to promote good? Every day, we face the harsh realities of homelessness, starvation, sex trafficking, and gang-related murders. As we sit comfortably in our homes, we must ask ourselves what we are doing about it. Are we merely relieved that the evil hasn't touched us, believing that sending a check or volunteering on the weekend can justify our indifference?

Didn't humanity choose to forsake living under God's light, where peace and unity would prevail because we would be united in one mind—God's mind? Instead, we chose to dwell in a fallen world marked by sin and death? Sadly, due to our choices, we all endure the decay of this corrupted world, some more swiftly than others. Each day, if we dare to open our eyes, we're reminded of life's fragility and the passage of time.

Consider this: humanity not only rejected God in the past but continues to reject Him to this day. We craved independence and sought to live free from His guidance. Opting to coexist with our inner demons, we unleashed the evils within, breeding hatred, violence, and conflict. We chose to distance ourselves from God's kingdom, dwelling in this earthly realm akin to a prison, marked by decay evidenced in natural disasters, illness, and disease. And yet, after all this, we dare to blame God?

We're quick to point fingers at God because we're reluctant to face accountability and acknowledge the truth. Instead, we strive for independence, battling against the monsters within us, as well as the monsters of natural disasters, sickness, and disease. It's a futile fight—we can't overcome natural disasters or eradicate diseases like cancer. And even if we could, we're powerless against death itself.

If humanity truly seeks love, why do we persist in living independently, a choice that has birthed so much evil? Instead, why don't we surrender to God's will and embrace unity? God's desire for us is to dwell in harmony, filled with His love—how could this be considered evil? We require God to bind us together and provide what we cannot achieve alone. So why don't we? It's the pervasive presence of evil within us all. If we acknowledge God's assertion that we are inherently evil, then we must accept the truth of His words, relinquish our autonomy, and yield to His divine will. However, this is exactly what we don't want to do.