Why does God allow

Why does God allow...?

It's an interesting argument that atheists and agnostics have:  Why does God allow evil to exist?

The fallacy of this question is that we as humans assume that being good and making choices that don't harm others is "the norm", while evil "what bad people do".  Not exactly the case.

Every single instance of our lives involves choice.  Whether we choose to do good or choose to do bad is something that happens on every instance of the scale.  There are small good choices, like getting up, going to work, not running over pedestrians, etc.  There are small bad choices, like smoking.  And then there are really big good choices, like giving all our money to charity.  Likewise, there are really bad choices, like starting or continuing wars.

But God tells us in Matthew 5

43“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighborh and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you: Love your enemiesi and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

It's not up to us to decide who is right and who is wrong.  It is up to us to decide for ourselves if WE are going to do either right or wrong.  Even from the very beginning Adam and Eve had the choice.  They chose to do wrong.  It doesn't matter that "they didn't know the consequences".  God asked them to choose Him, and to believe in Him.  After all, he created this beautiful garden for them.  They would be safe and fed and have tons of entertainment and things to do if they could just follow one simple rule.  However, God would have been unfair if he had not given them the choice to choose to continue to do right or to do wrong.  Even though He created us and provides for us, He is not going to make us choose Him.

This same idea applies today.  God does not make us choose "right" or "leave us to choose wrong".  Every person has the choice to make for themselves.  There are some cases where people might not know what's right - thinking of those kids who are recruited into guerrilla armies in the jungles of Africa, for instance - but someone decided that those kids needed to be recruited, instead of being the one to stand up and try to steer those kids in the right direction.  And, at some point, those kids grew old enough to know "ok, people don't like when I point a gun and shoot at them, so maybe there is another way."

I'm not saying that because I don't believe those kids need help, because I do.  But, the fact of the matter is, common sense tells you that if you can't do it in public, or if it hurts someone, then maybe you shouldn't do it and somewhere, your conscience should kick in.

In short, evil exists because man allows it to continue.  We choose not to do right, and yet God continues to stand by waiting for us to choose Him.  Sure, he has the power to eradicate evil, but if even one of us continues to decide to choose it, then He is not going to stop us until He is ready.