by Perry Hall<\/p>\nI have been studying and teaching “The Problem of Evil and Theodicy.” The main question usually asked is, “If God is good, why does God allow evil in this world?” The question needs to change.
\nChange is needed because I am not sure that question is plainly asked and answered in the Bible. Theology and philosophy attempt to satisfy and give plausible answers. Considering we are having Bible classes and not philosophy seminars means we follow a different syllabus.\n
If not that question, then what? The Bible is filled with living out another question: “What is God doing about the evil in the world?” Study the question of theodicy from that perspective and we see how righteous our God is.<\/p>\n
The last enemy to be conquered is death (I Corinthians 15). So the ultimate answer to, “What is God doing about the evil in the world?” is found in Jesus and the resurrection of both our spirits here (Romans 6), and our bodies later (I Thessalonians 4-5). Hope is the antidote to despair.<\/p>\n
Fairness demands we ask the right questions and accept the questions being asked and the answers that are given. I wouldn’t ask a mechanic to use his tools to diagnose my blood pressure.<\/p>\n
Asking what we want to know is understandable. But if we demand an answer to a question that is not being asked, we will be left frustrated. I’m not convinced the Bible addresses clearly the question we want to be answered: “If God is good, then why does God allow evil in the world?” However, I am confident that the Bible demonstrates what God is doing about the evil in this world. That answer is Jesus.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Perry Hall I have been studying and teaching “The Problem of Evil and Theodicy.” The main question usually asked is, “If God is good, why does God allow evil in this world?” The question needs to change. Change is needed because I am not sure that question is plainly asked and answered in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[37,183,90,182],"class_list":["post-56456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apologetics","tag-evil","tag-god","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43125,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-evil-in-this-world-makes-me-want-to-be-a-buddhist\/","url_meta":{"origin":56456,"position":0},"title":"The evil in this world makes me want to be a Buddhist","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your response to the person asking questions about theodicy. I don't feel you did a good job answering: Inasmuch as I can understand God \"letting\" a bad person hang themselves, it makes no sense that innocent, good, sincere people should suffer as a result. A young couple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44687,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-truly-seek-god-in-a-world-full-of-evil-and-darkness\/","url_meta":{"origin":56456,"position":1},"title":"How can I truly seek God in a world full of evil and darkness?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can I truly seek God in a world full of evil and darkness? What will happen when I find Him? What will I feel? Answer: This world has always been full of evil. Today is no different than the past. \"Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37714,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-have-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil-and-not-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":56456,"position":2},"title":"How can God have the knowledge of good and evil and not sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I really liked the answer given regarding God keeping man from living forever since they now would choose to sin of which I found on your website. But I have two more questions: If the tree of life stops us from living forever in the flesh, what of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2067,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-experience-god-in-a-present-way-or-only-in-the-past-tense\/","url_meta":{"origin":56456,"position":3},"title":"Do we experience God in a present way or only in the past tense?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Is the church not to experience God in a \"present way,\" or does it only need to be in a past tense manner through the Bible? Thanks. Answer: I had difficulty with your question because it was worded vaguely. The meaning changes depending on how you define\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21705,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-knows-someone-will-become-evil-then-why-would-he-allow-them-to-be-born\/","url_meta":{"origin":56456,"position":4},"title":"If God knows someone will become evil, then why would he allow them to be born?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Someone asked me, \"If God knows someone will become evil, such as Hitler, then why would He allow them to be created?\" I went to Abraham offering up Isaac as a sacrifice and how God said, \"for now I know...\"\u00a0 Maybe God chooses not to know if we will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92271,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/nine-types-of-atheism\/","url_meta":{"origin":56456,"position":5},"title":"Nine Types of Atheism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Emotional Atheism: Many have experienced personal harm in their lives. They are dealing with the \"problem of evil\", not from a philosophical perspective, but from daily pain. For example, the loss of a child, parent, or spouse. Hypocritical Religious Atheism: This paradox in terminology comes from their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}