30 Reasons People Choose Atheism 3

Reason 3 - The Problem of Evil

“The existence of suffering, evil, and injustice in the world poses a challenge to the idea of an all-powerful, benevolent deity. Atheists argue that a loving God would not allow atrocities like wars, genocides, or illnesses. The disconnect between religious teachings of a just God and the harsh realities of life reinforces atheistic perspectives.”

            Not believing in the existence of God is going to skew the reasoning of an atheist. Take the existence of evil in the world. Christian’s believe there was a rebellion in heaven which caused the ouster of Lucifer from the heavenly realm. His ejection from heaven saw 1/3^rd of the angels go with him. Lucifer became Satan & the apostate angels became demons to do Satan’s bidding. THIS is where we believe evil came from, for this is the account that scripture relays to us. God gave his creation a FREE-WILL to do as they please AND believe as they please. This is essentially because He wants those who are willing to follow, rather than making them follow Him in a regimented way. 

            Now God is omniscient, meaning He knows all that can be known. He knows when people are going to do something sinful and there are no doubt times that He may thwart the effort of the sinful deed succeeding. It is the Christians belief that because God created all things, it stands to reason that He either causes or allows everything that takes in this world. Why would He allow evil? He set things up this way to allow for free will. To stop all evil from taking place simply isn’t the way God constructed His system of belief to work. If there were no evil then there would be no sin and if there were no sin then Jesus wouldn’t have had to die. Perhaps you disbelieve in the existence of Jesus. Flavius Josephus, a noted Jewish historian from the time of Jesus, actually mentions him by name stating that in his opinion He was more than just a man. Now Josephus was not a believer. He simply chronicled historic events from his Jewish perspective. So for me, I tend to lean towards C.S. Lewis’*assessment; that Jesus was either a heretic, a lunatic, or who He said He was, the Son of God.

To allow no evil would be God dictating how we act. In essence that type of world would be a utopian world without free will. Is that really what you want? There really has to be some standard to follow, doesn’t there? Otherwise, how would we know how to act? Man does have the ability to disbelieve in the existence of God, so then if there is no God, where did evil come from? 

I have no idea why God put His redemption plan together this way, but rather than question it, I accept it and live within it’s construct. One day all evil will be removed from the earth, but until that time, we must pray for the safety of mankind and for revival. Just remember, you don’t HAVE to believe all this, but you can. Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Resource: An article titled 30 Reasons People Choose Atheism on a blog called Housley - written by Lisa O.; www.gotquestions.org

* C.S. Lewis (b. 1898 d. 1963) was a former atheist who became a lay theologian. He was in his later years a master apologist for the Christian faith.