A Christian Perspective on Sin, Suffering, and Spiritual Warfare

I just finished a book titled God’s Crime Scene by J. Warner Wallace. I enjoyed and devoured every chapter. Wallace is a cold-case detective who uses his investigative skills to examine the theories of how our universe came into existence. A converted atheist, Wallace’s investigation led him to believe in a God-created universe. 

I want to mention one especially intriguing chapter, The Evidence of Evil. Wallace always begins his chapters with a case he worked that relates to each chapter. In this particular chapter, he tells of a case that has been unsolved since 1980, when an 8-year-old girl was kidnapped from her home and murdered. This, and other acts of evil, are what Wallace explores in this chapter.

Wallace explores the existence of evil in light of a Divine Creator. He considers, “If the Creator of the universe is powerful enough to create everything from nothing, this Creator is most certainly powerful enough to eliminate all imperfection, including moral imperfection.” Wallace, God’s Crime Scene, 2015. 

This is a thought I’ve entertained myself with, especially since the passing of my son-in-law. I’ve felt that my daughter being left as a widow and my granddaughters left without a father is an act of Satan’s evil interference with a Godly family, much like Satan interfered with Job (Job 1:6-22). God created and ordained the home in the Garden of Eden. Satan and the workers of evil have sought to destroy the home ever since. 

Unless you’re from a galaxy far, far away, you know there is evil and moral imperfection in the world – the opening case should be an example. Both evil and moral imperfection can be seen in the disregard for human life (whether born or unborn) and unethical societal acts. It can also be witnessed in the suffering of God’s people. So, why does evil exist? How could such a Divine, Loving Creator allow evil to happen? How can He let the works of evil have their rule and reign?

Epicurus had this to say (taken from Wallace’s book, God’s Crime Scene, 2015):

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”

As a Christian, I believe that God is GOD and that He is indeed omnipotent. I know Him as a Loving Creator and do not consider Him malevolent. Because I believe God is omnipotent (that is, having unlimited power and ability), I believe God can destroy evil and is willing to destroy it. I believe this because of the Bible’s account of evil’s destruction and the promises in Revelation that tell me of the destruction of evil that is yet to come. This leaves the question, “Whence cometh evil?” 

Wallace asks, “Can the presence of evil be reconciled with the existence of an all-powerful, all-loving Creator?” Yes, it can within a Christian worldview.

First, you must have an accurate view of eternity. 

Consider, for a moment, the concept of time. We all run our lives by a clock, judging what we have “time” to do, where we have “time” to go, and how we spend our “time”. What if time were irrelevant? What if time were no longer a concept to worry over? This is eternity. 

I believe in a literal heaven and hell. I believe the Bible when it says that there is a “great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence,” Luke 16:26. 

I believe that we all will spend an eternity either in heaven or in hell. Living without evil and hardship in the world is a reality for me because I believe my existence beyond the grave – my eternity – will be spent in heaven with my Savior. 

Second, you must have a reverence for free agency.

Think about all the freedoms you now have. You are free to love and to hate. You are free to believe in God or not. You are free to rebel, to reason, to act. For this cause, evil must be part of the freedom we enjoy. Otherwise, we would be as robots – enslaved to do and to be without these freedoms because we would have one but not the other. 

Third, you must have an appropriate definition of love.

Love is more than the opposite of hate. It’s more than physical attraction or lustful desires. Sometimes love is discipline. As a parent, I can relate. I often needed to curb my children’s actions when their actions caused problems for themselves or others. The discipline would sometimes come in the form of a physical correction. I felt the physical correction was necessary for my children’s discipline. I loved my children enough to correct them when I felt their actions would cause them or someone else harm. 

I’ve felt this correction from God as my actions went contrary to His Word or His Will. God’s Word tells us, “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” (Hebrews 12:5-6)

God loves us enough to correct and discipline us, just as a parent loves his/her children enough to correct and discipline them. 

Fourth, you must understand the role of evil in the world.

Parents who love their children and discipline or correct them are building their children’s character and, ultimately, preventing further evil from rising in them. They teach them what is morally right and wrong in the world – what is ethically acceptable and what is not.

Think of it in reverse. What happens when children are NEVER corrected for their actions? They grow into adults who ignore their moral responsibility to the world. Some may become criminals, such as the person who murdered the 8-year-old. Others may have difficulty following rules, exhibit poor self-control, and may even have potential issues in relationships and future employment. 

Most successes come when people experience hardship or face some evil to overcome. There are countless stories of people who have overcome evil and hardships to become something more and better than they were. 

Fifth, you must understand how evil draws us.

The tragedy of my son-in-law’s passing away has drawn my family closer, as tragedies often do. This tragedy has changed my direction in life and has caused me to think differently about my future. God has used this evil and hardship to refocus my attention. Wallace says, “Some forms of perceived evil may simply be evidence of a loving effort to point us in the right direction,” from God’s Crime Scene, 2015. 

Sixth, you must accept evil as a consequence.

Every time I corrected my children, it was because of something they did—a consequence of their actions. Evil is a consequence of the actions of Adam and Eve when they sinned against Almighty God and disobeyed His command. Our actions result in consequences… either good or evil. 

Lastly, you must realize your limited understanding of God’s reasoning.

My children have thanked me years later for the correction I gave them as a child. At the time, they had a limited understanding of my correction. But now, they appreciate that I loved them enough to discipline them.

I don’t understand why God allowed my daughter to be a widow or my granddaughters to be without a father. I don’t know how God could allow someone to kidnap and murder an eight-year-old, either. But I don’t have to understand. I only have to believe God is in control and knows what’s best. 

Why would God allow evil? Because of our sins, but also because, without evil, we would have no idea what “good” truly is. We would have no comparison. Because of evil, we know good is the absence of evil, just as darkness is the absence of light.