How can God allow such evil to exist in the world? This is an old, old question, to which I have some new understanding about. This is not about free will vs. predestination. That is a different discussion all together. This is simply about each person's choices in life. Do we choose to seek God or to go our own way?
I know women who were abused as children. It is one of the most detestable offenses I can imagine. A child is so vulnerable and impressionable. The damage done within their minds during those early years may never be corrected or healed. Recently, as I listened to a friend relate some of her hurts, I felt an overwhelming desire to apologize. Of course, I had nothing to do with the series of events that scarred her, but I felt a responsibility anyway. That feeling stuck with me for days and I had to contemplate why that was. The conclusion I came to surprised me. It's all about free will.
At the beginning of time, when God made the decision to give mankind free will, He knew, more than any of us will ever know, the weight of that decision. In order to give us the freedom to either choose Him or reject Him, He had to also give us the freedom to commit the most horrendous acts. Our choices can go either way. We can either choose to do great acts of kindness or great acts of violence.
To make this concept more personal, it occurred to me that God valued His relationship with me so much that He was willing to allow evil to exist. That is why I felt the urge to apologize to my friend who had been abused throughout her childhood. It is partly because of my own free will that those terrible things happened to her.
God did not create a race of robots. No one wants a love that must be forced or coerced. It is only love if it is given freely. It is clear throughout the Scriptures, that God desires a relationship with each of us, not just mindless obedience. True obedience flows from a heart filled with love. And we love Him because He first loved us. It all goes back to the beginning. When I came to understand the depth of evil within my own heart, the extreme selfishness that I am capable of if I choose to follow those impulses, and then understood that God knew my heart before I did and yet He loves me anyway, I could not help but love Him in return. But I know that not everyone wants to confront the evil within them. Some people go through elaborate methods to deceive themselves into thinking they are good. The most dangerous forms of evil are committed by men who believe they are doing good. This is why God describes those people as lost and He is the light of the world. Only He can shine His light into a person's heart and reveal their true nature to them.
