Believing in the existence of God seems to be more and more of a problem for people. Some reject the belief because they don’t believe in anything they can’t understand. Some reject the belief because they want to live without restraints or guilt. Others reject the existence of God because of the existence of evil in the world. They find it very difficult to believe in the concept of a “Loving God” when so many good people suffer from natural disasters, disease or injustice. It is important for believers to address the problem of evil and whether it was created by God.
For years at a certain college, there was a professor with a reputation for being tough on Christians. At the first class every semester he asked if anyone was a Christian and proceeded to degrade and mock their statement of faith. One semester, he asked the question and a young man raised his hand when asked if anyone was a Christian. The professor asked, “Did God make everything, young man?” “Yes he did, sir,” the young man replied.
The professor responded, “If God made everything, then God made evil, and if we can only create from within ourselves, then God is evil.” The student didn’t have a response and the professor was happy to have once again proved the Christian faith to be a myth. Then another man raised his hand and asked, “May I ask you something, sir?” “Yes, you may,” responded the professor. The young man stood up and said, “Sir is there such a thing as cold?” “Of course, there is, what kind of a question is that? Haven’t you ever been cold?”
The young man replied, “Actually, sir, cold does not exist. What we consider to be cold is really only the absence of heat. Absolute zero is when there is absolutely no heat, but cold does not really exist. We have only created that term to describe how we feel when heat is not there.” The young man continued, “Sir is there such a thing as dark?” Once again the professor responded “Of course there is.” And once again, the student replied “Actually, sir, darkness does not exist. Darkness is really only the absence of light. Darkness is only a term man developed to describe what happens when there is no light present.”
Finally, the young man asked, “Sir is there such a thing as evil?” the professor responded, “Of course. We have rapes, murders and violence everywhere in the world, those things are evil.” The student replied, “Actually sir evil does not exist. Evil is simply the absence of God. Evil is a term man developed to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. It isn’t like truth or love, which exist as virtues like heat and light. Evil is simply the state where God is not present, like cold without heat or darkness without light.” The professor had nothing to say.
St. John wrote in his first letter: “God is love, and, he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.” God can not have created evil because there is no evil in God. Evil came into existence because God’s creatures rejected God’s law of love. They did not want to serve God nor did they trust that God had their best intentions at heart.
Part of the struggle to understand why evil exists has to do with the fact that love must be free. God gives people the freedom to love or not to love. In giving them this freedom, God must accept the fact that some people will not love. Their refusal to love is a refusal to allow God into their lives. So evil exists because people choose to banish God from their lives. Throughout history enough people have banished God from their lives that great evil has occurred. A reading of world history could easily leave a person without hope. However, Christians believe that Jesus came into the world to overcome evil with His loving presence and His willingness to die to save us from sin and hopelessness.
Fortified with the love of Jesus, Christians can make a difference in the world with the way they live their lives. They can bring the light of Christ and the warmth of His love to a wounded world. This has happened many times in the past 2,000 years and must continue until Jesus returns in glory.
Taken from
http://www.fatherscott.com/weeklyreflection.php 
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