Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him god?
–Epicurus
See, it works like this. God created the universe and everything in it and, as its creator, he has the authority to make the rules. Most of all creation rides on its own set of rules – but mankind – we’re different. We can choose, we can think, and we can make our own decisions. Love that’s forced isn’t really love, is it? If I could flip a switch in the back of your head and make you love God regardless of your own impulses, then that’s not really love at all – you’re a machine. God created trees as machines, and livestock as machines, and even insects as machines, but us he created with the ability to choose to obey him or disobey him – to love him or reject him. At the outset we chose to reject him, despite his warning that there would be severe repercussions to come. What came from this fall from grace? Cancer and sickness, thorns and toil, pain and suffering. Is this the angry response of an angry unjust God or the result of justice being granted to the unjust? Man chooses to disregard the law and steal candy from a baby and his punishment is small – he steals from his work and he could get fired – he steals from the government and he’s looking at a long prison term, but if he steals from the president’s office and you’ll never see him again. All this and the crime is the same – why? What changed? The office changed. The authority from which the crime was committed changed. Our president can certainly do some damage to our lives here, but what if it is our creator who we’ve offended? The same one who spoke and the universe leapt into existence – who governs the laws of physics and nature, who controls wind and rain? What if, by our actions, God chooses to punish us here on earth for our actions against Him and we lose those whom we love? Or, what if He chooses to grant us safe passage on this rock until we die, despite our hatred and anger toward him through denying his existence or mocking his followers, only to secure for us the promised end of eternal punishment – the same one you say has no reign over you because you are so sure he doesn’t exist.
The point of all of this is to show us that our live on this rock has meaning and that we have a purpose – that it’s not just random actions and pulsing synapses before we take a dirt nap of meaninglessness. The point of creation is to point us to the creator so that we can stand in awe of what he has done, understand that he’s not only this grand creator, but that he is personal, that he not only cares about our lives and about our thoughts, dreams, and desires, but that he cares so much that he sent his only son to take your place for you on the judgment seat. He willingly took the punishment you deserve for your lifetime of rejecting him so that you can walk free. That’s the real gospel – it’s not the “do more, try harder” rhetoric of the world religions – it’s the “it is finished” yelled from a bloody cross as God who took the form of man to live a life similar to yours, with the same temptations, hurts, tears, and desires, but never once sinned – he took the punishment you and I deserve so that we can walk free. We repent of our sins, turn to Him and ask Him to forgive us for rejecting Him and to thank Him for taking our place.
Like I said before – you are no machine- you can choose to accept or reject this. He won’t force you to do anything, but know that the only alternative is that you hope beyond all hope that you’re right because if you are wrong – then you’ll have a long time to consider how many times people like me have reached out to you and you dismissed us as fools. All I know is that my conscience is clear.
Lastly, if God exists as he is described in the Bible, what right do you have, who are essentially his enemy, to dictate how he should respond to you? More than that, why should he listen to you at all? He rejects the proud and arrogant fool who tells him how to behave and how to act, but he listens to the humble who understands his plight and asks for direction and forgiveness. Unless you’re perfect, that is. You are perfect, right?