Is Evil Planned by God?

Originally posted on January 29, 2006 – by Andre Piet

Over the past few days, I’ve participated in a discussion on the Ronduit forum. The central question was the one stated above. Below is a selection of some of my responses and answers.

…I mention three possible explanations for someone who knows in advance that a creation will go wrong and still brings it into existence. In such a case, we are dealing with either a MASOCHIST (1), a MADMAN (2), or a MASTER PLANNER (3) who creates a necessary evil for a greater good.

I choose option 3, and indeed, that makes for a much better night’s sleep. There is no more comforting knowledge than that with God NOTHING ever goes wrong! God is truly the MASTER PLANNER. He has given evil a place in His plan for the salvation of all His creatures, and thereby to His greater honor and glory. Not a day goes by without me glorifying and thanking Him with all my heart for that!

IF evil entered the world unintentionally, then we have a SERIOUS PROBLEM. Because if something could go wrong in the PAST (i.e., something happened that God had not planned), what guarantee do we have that things won’t go wrong again in the future??

If evil had not been NECESSARY for the realization of God’s plan, then the good God would not have given it a place. God designed the dark backdrop of sin, evil, pain, and suffering so that the jewels of His love, grace, and goodness would shine all the more brightly.

Can God create a stone so heavy that He can no longer lift it? God’s omnipotence does NOT mean that He can do everything. For example, Scripture says that it is impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18). God also cannot forget us. Etc. God’s omnipotence means that whatever His love intends to accomplish is never hindered by His ability. Knowledge of good is not available separately. It exists only by virtue of the knowledge of evil—just as day exists only by virtue of night, or as male exists only by virtue of female.

You can TELL someone that you love them very much. But if the other person has never forfeited their rights, if there has never been adversity, never illness or pain, never estrangement, never… you name it – then the opportunity has never arisen to actually PROVE that love.

“God is love,” John writes. But read further in that same chapter. How do we KNOW that God is love? How and where has God provided the ultimate PROOF of His love? Exactly. Against the backdrop of dreadful enmity, sin, death, pain, and suffering.

Delen: