We want good, yet we see evil all around us. We cry in our hearts for justice. A serial rapist destroys many lives for his own selfish twisted gratification. Every war has innocent casualties. Even those whom we refer to as soldiers are in many cases innocent casualties of a wicked philosophy or an oppressed people wanting change. Diseases like cancer ravage the body and force many young people into an early grave, causing the sick and all those who are close to suffer. The unspeakable suffering young parents go through when they see their child suffer from an incurable disease, the devastation wrought by natural disasters, and all those who are born into painfully impoverished conditions of famine and pestilence are enough to question the existence of God. The age old criticisms of a loving and powerful God seem valid in light of such atrocities. Would a parent who loves a child willfully allow that child to suffer when something could be done to prevent it? What kind of mother would sit on her front porch and casually observe a speeding car hit and kill her toddler? If decent parents do everything in their ability to protect their children, then why does not God do the same for His children?

     For a moment, it almost seems more logical to accept naturalistic evolution—that all of what appears to be evil is actually just part of the random chaos that make up the universe. It is just the way things are. There is no meaning. There is no God that allows destruction or a devil that inflicts pain. All that appears to be evil is just the survival of the fittest and the history of the evolution of life in a chaotic universe. We should not ask “why?”

     And yet it is almost impossible to not consider “why?” There is a demand for justice deep within our souls. There is a desire for a better way and a better life. There is hope within most of us of a better life beyond this physical life on earth. If we are just the products of billions of years of energy moving from chaos to order, then why does evil offend us? How can we consider something as morally evil if there is only a physical universe that exists?

     We do not normally call it a moral evil if a wolf eats a rabbit in the wild. It is just what wolves have to do to survive. They are not even morally responsible for eating a person, even though such a wolf if caught would be put to death to prevent it from trying again to satisfy a newly acquired taste for human flesh. So why is there outcry if a strong human kills a weak human, or a smart human uses his wits to suppress and get rich off of less intelligent humans? It is because we all recognize (or did at some point in our lives) the distinctions between good and evil. It is because we perceive that humans are morally responsible. There is a difference between the way eastern and western philosophers define good and evil, but these concepts exist in both hemispheres of the earth, and have as long as history has been recorded. It is interesting that the Buddha taught that through emptying oneself of thoughts of desire one could eliminate the illusion of suffering.

     In trying to deny God’s existence because of the apparent discrepancy between a benevolent Creator and the existence of evil, we end up affirming something else—the existence of morality. Not that morality is a physical entity to be observed. It is a knowledge within us.

     I have accepted the idea that I may never be able to completely understand the paradox of a loving, powerful God and the existence of evil. I’ve read much and written some on this subject. Most of these writings give a few standard answers that attempt to explain why God allows evil and suffering. Most of these answers have something to do with human freedom of the necessity of the contrast of good in evil in order to understand good. I believe these answers have merit. However, what makes more sense than anything to me is that God must exist because of the universal desire for justice and fairness. Even those who are unjust in their dealings with others humans have a sense of justice and get upset when someone hurts or robs them of health or happiness. The knowledge of morality that we all have is what helps me to believe in God, even if I don’t understand his ways. Some call this the moral law—that there must be a Lawgiver since there is a universal moral law. Some refer to this as natural law. Others find evidence of it in a study of comparative religions. Without getting too deep in philosophical inquiry, I think most of us agree that there is such a thing as right and wrong—good and evil. It is good for a child to be healthy, happy, and well-behaved. It is a terrible evil for a child to be physically and sexually abused. Atheism or the impersonal god of pantheism does not offer a satisfactory answer to me regarding the question of why evil exists.

     Many people reject God because of the seemingly incompatibility of God and evil. Perhaps when asking this question we are missing a more fundamental basic question:  “Why do we label certain things as good and certain things as evil?” Other questions along this line of reasoning are: “Why do we desire a better world?” or “Why do most of us hope for a better existence after this life?” Perhaps the most basic of all questions is “Why do we ask ‘why?’?”

     I believe that the answer to all of these questions is simply, God. God gave us the capacity to reason and think about morality. God put a moral compass within us. We often do not follow it, but we know when we haven’t and this sometimes leads us to God. We know when others have departed from following their moral compass and we get upset. Sometimes this leads us to God; sometimes it makes us bitter and we reject or deny Him. But we all know that the injustice is real.

     What I’ve said in this paper does not answer the question of why God allows evil. It does not defend a loving, powerful God from the accusations of those who deny his existence because of the existence of evil. However, it does begin to make a case for the existence of a higher, moral, intelligent power for without it, without an objective standard by which we can define good and evil, there is no such thing as evil. And yet most of us, if we are honest, would readily admit that we know evil all too well.

     If we are rejecting God because of the existence of evil and suffering, perhaps we should open our minds enough to allow the possibility that this Being has a higher purpose in mind—one that is bigger than our minds are capable of grasping.