Christian you Have no “Problem of Evil”

The so-called “Problem of Evil” is one of the most persistent objections to Christianity: If God is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing, why does evil and suffering exist? Atheists and skeptics have wielded this question like a club for centuries. Yet for biblically grounded Christians, there is no logical contradiction—only a heartbreaking explanation rooted in human responsibility, divine justice, and breathtaking mercy.

This isn’t a dodge. The truth is, evil entered the world through us. We brought it in, we keep it going every single day, and the real wonder isn’t that suffering exists. The real wonder is that God hasn’t wiped us off the face of the planet yet. Instead, in incredible mercy, He offers us rescue through Jesus Christ.

The Setup: A Very Good Creation

The Bible opens with a perfect world. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, NASB95). God made everything step by step and kept calling it good. When He finished with Adam and Eve—people made in His own image—He looked at all of it and said it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31, NASB95). He made light and separated it from darkness. He formed the sky and the seas. He brought forth land, plants, trees, and every kind of fruit. Then came the sun, moon, and stars. Sea creatures, birds, livestock, wild animals—He made them all and kept declaring each part “good.” Then came the high point. On the sixth day God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth…” (Genesis 1:26, NASB95). He formed Adam from the dust, breathed His own life into him, and later created Eve from Adam’s side. Male and female, He made them in His image—spiritual, moral, relational beings with the ability to reflect God’s character. When He looked at everything He had made, including us, Scripture says, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31, NASB95).

Life in Eden was everything our hearts long for and more. Picture it: a lush, beautiful garden planted by God Himself. Rivers flowed through it, watering the land. Every kind of tree grew there—beautiful to look at and good for food. Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. There was perfect intimacy with their Creator, no shame, no hiding, no barriers. They had meaningful work—tending the garden, naming the animals, exercising caring rule over creation. They enjoyed perfect harmony with each other and with the animals. No sickness. No natural disasters. No death. No fear. Just joy, peace, abundance, and unbroken fellowship with God.

There was only one simple command: “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17, NASB95). That single boundary wasn’t harsh or arbitrary. It was an act of love. God wasn’t trying to keep something good from them—He was protecting them. Real love requires real freedom. If Adam and Eve had no choice, their obedience would have been robotic, not relational. God wanted willing trust, not forced compliance. He gave them the dignity of choice: they could keep walking with Him in dependence and gratitude or they could reach out and try to become their own gods. The setup was perfect. The future was bright. Everything really was very good.

Humanity Failed

Genesis 3 tells the story in heartbreaking detail. The serpent—Satan in disguise—slithered into the garden and started asking questions: “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1, NASB95). He twisted God’s words, planted doubt about God’s goodness, and then flat-out lied: “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5, NASB95). Eve saw that the fruit looked good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for wisdom. She took it, ate, and gave some to her husband who was with her—and he ate too. In that single, deliberate act of rebellion, sin entered God’s perfect world like a virus.

The Bible is crystal clear about what happened next: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—” (Romans 5:12, NASB95).

This is the doctrine of Original Sin. Adam wasn’t just acting as a private individual. He was the federal head, the representative of the entire human race. When he fell, we fell with him. We inherit both the guilt and the corrupted nature that came from that first sin. We’re born bent toward rebellion, selfish at the core, and spiritually dead in our trespasses. It doesn’t mean every person is as wicked as they possibly could be, but every part of us—our minds, emotions, desires, and wills—is affected by sin.

The immediate consequences were devastating. Their eyes were opened, but not in the way they hoped. Shame flooded in. They sewed fig leaves to cover themselves and hid from God. When God confronted them, they blame-shifted—Adam blamed Eve (and God), Eve blamed the serpent. Paradise was lost.Moral evil poured out of the now-corrupted human heart. Jesus described it perfectly centuries later: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matthew 15:19, NASB95). Just look around. Wars, abuse, betrayal, greed, racism, exploitation, gossip, hatred—these don’t come from outside us. They bubble up from within. You don’t need a theology degree to see it. Open any history book or today’s news headlines. G.K. Chesterton was right: original sin is the one Christian doctrine that’s empirically verifiable every single day.

Natural evil came too. God cursed the ground because of Adam: “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you… by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:17-19, NASB95). Pain in childbirth, relational conflict, toil, aging, and death entered the picture. The apostle Paul later explained that “the creation was subjected to futility” and is still groaning under bondage to decay, waiting for the day it will be set free (Romans 8:20-22, NASB95).

We brought evil into the world. Not God. Us. And we have been perpetuating it ever since. Cain murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy. Violence filled the earth before the Flood. Generation after generation, the pattern repeats—selfishness, power grabs, broken relationships, and systemic injustice. We see it in our own homes, our workplaces, our social media, and worst of all, in our own hearts. Every time we choose bitterness over forgiveness, lust over purity, pride over humility, we water the same poisonous tree our first parents planted.

The contrast is brutal. Before the Fall: perfect peace, harmony, life, and joy. After the Fall: shame, fear, pain, toil, exile from Eden, and the long shadow of death over everything. The diagnosis fits reality like a glove. This is exactly the world we should expect if the Bible is true.

God’s Response: Justice and Mercy

Right there in the garden, God could have ended the whole story. One word from His mouth and Adam, Eve, and the serpent could have been gone forever. He would have been perfectly just to do it. They had rebelled against the Creator who gave them everything. They deserved instant judgment.

But that’s not what happened.

Instead, God came looking for them. Even in their shame and hiding, He pursued Adam with questions: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9, NASB95). He listened to Adams excuses. Then He pronounced the consequences—consequences that were serious but measured. To the serpent came the promise of ultimate defeat: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15, NASB95). That first gospel promise pointed all the way to Jesus crushing Satan at the cross.

To Eve: multiplied pain in childbirth and a struggle in her relationship with her husband. To Adam: cursed ground, painful toil, thorns, sweat, and eventual return to dust. These were real judgments. Sin always brings death and hardship. But even in the pronouncement of judgment, mercy was already breaking through.

God didn’t leave them naked and ashamed. He “made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21, NASB95). That act required the death of animals—the first sacrifice, the first shedding of blood to cover sin. It was a beautiful picture of what was to come in the whole story of redemption. God could have wiped humanity off the face of the earth right then. But He didn’t. He let the human race continue so that His plan of rescue could unfold. And throughout the rest of the Bible we see this same pattern over and over: justice rightly deserved, but mercy freely given.

Think about the Flood. By Genesis 6, “the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5, NASB95). God was grieved, yet He didn’t destroy everything immediately. He warned the world for 120 years through Noah while the ark was being built. Then He saved Noah’s family and restarted the human race. After the waters receded, God even made a covenant, promising never again to destroy the earth with a flood and putting the rainbow in the sky as a sign.

Later we see Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed for their sin of sexual perversion and lacing hospitality, but not before God listened to Abraham’s pleading and rescued Lot’s family. Israel rebelled again and again—idolatry, injustice, forgetting God—yet He kept sending prophets, kept preserving a remnant, kept promising a coming Messiah.

This is the heart of our God. He is holy and just, so evil cannot go unpunished forever. But He is also “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Exodus 34:6, NASB95). The apostle Peter puts it beautifully: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, NASB95).

From the very beginning, God had a plan. Before the foundation of the world, He determined to save sinners through the Lamb who would be slain—Jesus Christ (Revelation 13:8). The Fall didn’t catch God by surprise. He allowed this broken story so He could display both His justice and His amazing grace in ways we never could have imagined.

We Keep Sinning—And He Still Waits

Let’s be honest. Evil isn’t some mystery “out there.” It’s in us. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NASB95). I see it in my own heart. I see it in our families, our communities, our world. We’re not victims of a cruel universe. We’re rebels who broke God’s good world and keep breaking it.And yet God still holds the universe together (Colossians 1:17). He still sends sun and rain on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). And most amazingly, He sent His own Son.The cross is where I find the deepest answer to evil. Jesus didn’t stay far away—He stepped into the pain, took our sin, and bore the wrath we deserved. Justice was done. Mercy was offered. The resurrection smashed death. Evil wasn’t ignored; it was defeated.

Even more than that, we keep trying to push God out of the picture completely while still copying the things that only make sense if He exists. We want His blessings—purpose, meaning, morality, beauty, justice—without submitting to Him. We replace worship of the Creator with worship of self. We trade crying out to God for help with self-affirmation practices that try to manufacture inner peace on our own terms. We meditate, journal positive mantras, practice “self-love,” and chase endless self-improvement, all while refusing to acknowledge the God whose image we still bear.

A few months ago I was at a campus ministry event at our university. An MTU faculty member was speaking to the students about mental health and gratitude. She said something that still sticks with me: since many of the students don’t believe in God, she encourages them to practice gratitude by simply “thanking the universe.” Not the God who made the universe and gives them every good gift—but the universe itself. It was a perfect picture of what we do. We sense we should be thankful. We feel the need for something bigger than ourselves. But we twist it, redirect it, and try to have the benefits of a relationship with God without actually relating to Him. We remove the Creator and thank creation. We reject the Source and still try to drink from the stream.

This pattern is everywhere. We champion human dignity while denying we’re made in God’s image. We demand justice while rejecting the holy Lawgiver. We long for love and community but redefine them on our own terms. And every time we do, we multiply the brokenness. We add to the very evil and suffering we complain about.

And yet God still waits. He still holds the universe together moment by moment (“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together,” Colossians 1:17, NASB95). He still sends sun and rain on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45, NASB95). He gives us common grace—beauty in sunsets, laughter with friends, the restraint of evil through laws and conscience—even while we shake our fists or ignore Him. And most amazingly, He sent His own Son into this mess.

The cross is where I find the deepest answer to evil. Jesus didn’t stay far away—He stepped into the pain, took our sin, and bore the wrath we deserved. Justice was done. Mercy was offered. The resurrection smashed death. Evil wasn’t ignored; it was defeated.

So Why Don’t We Have a Problem of Evil?

Because the Bible gives us a consistent story:

• Evil is not from God. It’s the ruin of good that we caused.
• God is completely sovereign over it and can use even evil for good (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28).
• He’s given the full solution in Jesus.
• One day it will all be gone: “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4, NASB95).

Until that day, suffering reminds us we need God. It shapes us. It gives the church a chance to shine. Until that glorious day, the presence of evil and suffering is not evidence against God—it actually becomes the stage on which His glory shines brightest. Suffering reminds us how desperately we need Him. It humbles us, strips away our illusions of self-sufficiency, and shapes our character. Most powerfully, it gives the church a real chance to shine.

In a world full of darkness, the church gets to be light. When disaster strikes, we’re the ones bringing meals, rebuilding homes, and sitting with the grieving. When injustice rages, we’re called to speak truth, defend the vulnerable, and pursue real justice grounded in God’s character. When people feel hopeless and alone, we get to offer the only lasting hope—the gospel of a Savior who entered suffering and defeated it.

The early church didn’t grow because life was easy; it grew in the face of persecution, plague, and poverty because Christians loved radically, cared for the sick (even their enemies), and faced death with joy. The same is true today. Every hospital visit, every foster care placement, every act of forgiveness in a broken marriage, every quiet faithfulness in the middle of chronic pain becomes a living testimony that Jesus is real and His kingdom is different. The brokenness of this world doesn’t disprove Christianity—it actually highlights why we need it. The darker the night, the brighter even a small light appears.

Friends, if you’re wrestling with evil in the world or in your own life, Christianity doesn’t give cheap answers. It tells the truth: we are part of the problem. But God offers Himself as the solution.

Turn from sin. Trust Jesus’ death and resurrection for you. Receive the forgiveness He bought with His blood. Come into the family of the church, where we fight evil together with love, truth, and gospel hope.

For those of us who already believe: this truth keeps us humble. We grieve sin, but we marvel at grace. We work against evil in every way we can—not because we’ll fix everything this side of heaven, but because King Jesus is coming and we get to represent Him now.

The Fall explains the broken world we live in.
The Cross explains the God who loves us anyway.
The coming Kingdom gives us unshakable hope.

God could have destroyed us all. Instead, He saves us. That’s not a problem. That’s Grace.

Grace and peace,
Brandon Charbonneau