THE PROBLEM OF

EVIL IN THE
WORLD
Journalist and best-selling author Lee Strobel
commissioned George Barna, the public-
opinion pollster, to conduct a nationwide
survey. The survey included the question "If
you could ask God only one question and you
knew he would give you an answer, what
would you ask?" The most common
response, offered by 17% of those who could
think of a question was "Why is there pain
and suffering in the world?“
http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/evil-log.htm
Victims of Tsunamis in the Indian Ocean
911
 Some words to describe it…
• Diseases
• Natural disasters
• Torture
• Murder
• Man’s cruelty
• Excruciating pain
• War
• Rape
• Terrorists
Theodicy deals with the tension
between God’s omnipotence
and His goodness.
The Hellenistic philosopher Epicurus,
who lived from 341 to 270 BC wrote this
trilemma:

Either god wants to abolish evil, and

cannot; or he can, but does not want to; or
he cannot, and does not want to. If he
wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he
can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If
he neither can, nor wants to, He is both
powerless and wicked. But if (as they say)
god can abolish evil, and god really wants
to do it, Why is there evil in the world?
1. Epicurus leaves out of his argument the issue of
free will. Free will makes this life a better place
than a planet of robots. Free will requires choice.
Choice can produce good results or evil.

2. To say that God should use His omnipotence to

eradicate evil would then mean He would eradicate
free will.

3. It would be like asking God to make a square circle

when asking Him to make a world where free will
existed but no evil, pain or suffering.

4. Instead God’s order allows for temporal evil to be

replaced with permanent blessing.