What Do I Say To Someone Who Asks “Why Does God Allow Evil?”

The question of evil is possibly one of the most common barriers to people coming into a relationship with God. Questions like; “How can God let that happen?”, “How can a good God allow evil?” or, “If God cared wouldn’t He stop evil from happening?”

I used to be one of those people that wanted to try and defend God. The more I got to know God, the more I realised He doesn’t need me to defend Him.

You don’t need to have all the answers, you just need to ask the right questions!

I had to get good at asking the right questions to get understanding and then help point people towards Jesus. It also meant that I had to be approachable and kind; it doesn’t help anyone to get upset, or to get offended.

So how do you respond to someone asking a question about God allowing evil? You respond with a question and then engage well in having a conversation.

Here are three examples of what you could ask

1. Why do you feel this way?
   This means taking time to understand, why they’ve asked the question in the first place. As an example, if your mother had died, and you genuinely felt God was not only responsible for killing her but also happy about it, would you want to follow a God like that? I know I wouldn’t! This may seem like an extreme example, but the reality is, there are many people that think this way.

2. What has happened?
   This helps to establish where the pain point is and goes a little deeper to find out more about the story. Listen carefully to the answer, as often, you will find something that doesn’t line up with God’s truth.

3. What is your solution?
   Engaging in conversation and staying curious is so important, and it’s not about you having to give all the answers, in fact, it’s important that you don’t. People need time and space to think through what they believe. If we give all the solutions, it can cut out those revelation moments that we all need to be able to grasp concepts for ourselves. Try asking their own question back to them and ask them what they feel the solution could be. It can be helpful to see if they have considered this.

Once you’ve taken time to understand why the question was asked, you can then filter what you’ve heard, and draw on God’s truth for a response. Don’t have ‘all the answers’ and take care not to give responses that you don’t know for yourself! It’s ok if you’re having questions about God yourself, look at it as an opportunity for you to grow in your own faith, just be careful not to reflect your own doubts onto the person or the situation.

God’s love is never forced; if it was, it wouldn’t be love, it would be controlling. That means we all have a choice. When you decide to follow God, He promises to guide and lead you — He wants you to succeed and do well, He has great plans for every person. If people don’t want to follow God’s plans, He gives us a choice and lets us walk away from those plans; those decisions can, and do, affect others. It’s important you get to know God well and get to know His nature and character so that instead of blaming God, you run to Him for answers. Be real, if it’s something you struggle with also, this is a great time to discover the truth together.

Here are three areas to help you line up with God’s truth

God is good — 1 John 1:5; This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

God is the solution — Romans 5:3–6; We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

God is faithful — 1 Corinthians 10:13; The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Here are three main ways you might want to respond; can I suggest you employ option three 😊

1. Run - It can be easy to want to run from questions or situations that you don’t understand or that you find hard to answer. Can I encourage you not to run, but to use this as an opportunity to get to know God better and to help some people along the way.

2. Confront - Hold your tongue. Confrontation usually ends in arguments or people getting hurt.

3. Engage and stay curious - It may feel uncomfortable, you mind may be racing between running or confronting but can I encourage you to stay in the space of engaging and staying curious. Conversations like this don’t need to happen in one moment of time. Often it can be helpful to discuss something and then take a break so there is space to digest. You can come back at another time and pickup the conversation again.

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