Everyday it is possible to read a newspaper, or turn on TV or radio news and learn about evil going on in our world. Banks are robbed, cars are stolen, violent murders and rapes are committed. Somewhere in the world the aftershock of an earthquake is being felt. Cancer is killing millions of people each year, while other debilitating conditions continue to affect many with no cure to end their suffering. President Bush said that our country is fighting a war against evil. We all agree that evil is real and cannot be ignored; the problem comes when we try and rationalize the concept of God and evil coexisting.
Two types of evil exist in our world today. Natural evil occurs when earthquakes, hurricanes, and storms occur causing devastation in the world. Moral evil occurs when a person makes a choice as to how he will act in a certain situation. Everyday moral decisions are made. People decide whether to steal, give in to anger and harm another, falsify information, and behave in a way unacceptable to society.
The problem of evil is this; If God is loving, then he would want to end evil; and if he is all-powerful he would be able to do just that. Since evil exists, how can God be both omnipotent and loving? The Christian Science answer to this question is that evil is an illusion of the human mind. The Judaic/Christian faiths do not hold to this theory. The Bible is full of descriptions of good and evil in human life. Evil is pictured as dark and ugly. The ultimate example of evil for the Christian is the crucifixion of Jesus, a violent rejection of God's Messiah. St. Augustine's view is that the universe is good, (a creation of a good G ...