Is God Evil?

“If there is a God,
he must be evil”

It is natural to ask, especially at times of pain or suffering in our
own lives: “If there is a good God, why does he allow so much pain and
suffering?”

Other people are more aggressive in their approach. They say that the
Bible itself proves that God is evil, according to any standard of human
decency. But see below.

A useful dialogue to read on this subject. Click here
to read. I begin to address some of the theological issues in my teaching
for new believers. Click here to check
it out. Also read here.

This section is still very much under construction. Books could be written
on this important subject.

There are many sides to the problem. Firstly, God was not interested
in making robots. He gave Adam and Eve the choice between the Tree of Life
and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their bad choice corrupted
them and their offspring after them – since children come from their parents.
Most of the bad things that happen are the result of bad decisions of people,
and ignorance of natural or spiritual reality, which has allowed Satan
and his demons a legal right to get involved in making trouble and suffering
for us all.

God made Lucifer a good angel, but with the power to change himself
through pride into the one we now know as Satan. The destiny of everyone
is determined by rejecting certain possibilities we could embrace and embracing
others we could reject. Lucifer corrupted himself and became Satan. This
does not imply at all that God is the author of evil.

Some say that the Bible never teaches that mankind has in any sense
a free will. This just isn’t true. Moses said as a prophet of the Lord
to the people of Israel: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against
you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore,
choose life, that both you and your descendents may live.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19).

Joshua, who also spoke in the name of the Lord, said to the people after
they had conquered the peoples of the land (who incidentally had been totally
given over to satanic practices of the worst kind by that time), “Choose
this day whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15). These two passages alone
imply that God considers that we have the real ability to make choices.

Besides all this, experientially we all know that we can make
choices about many things. Christians do not by any means have to be determinists
– though we do believe that God has decided to do some things no matter
what we do. For example, Jesus will come back eventually. This will happen
when the gospel reaches all people.

People can make good choices and bad choices. Bad choices lead to suffering
and ultimately to ruin, while good choices lead ultimately to life and
better results, though there may be some suffering along the way. We cannot
blame God for the bad choices we and others make. We should thank Him that
so many times He intervenes to protect us from evil. We should also be
thankful that He trusts us enough to allow us to make significant and real
choices. However, with this trust comes an awesome responsibility.

Is the God of the Bible Immoral?

Some people attack the God of the Bible on the grounds that He ordered
the Israelites to wipe out entire nations of people upon entering the Promised
Land. They feel that such a God is not worthy of our respect at all. Many
bitter and blasphemous things have been expressed on this subject. But
there are certain things that need to be taken into account here.

1. God is the giver of life. Does He owe anybody anything?

2. Since God is the Creator, He also has the right to be Judge over
all. Who are you to say that God has no right to judge His creatures?
You may argue that God does not exist, but that is a different issue. Surely
if God has created, He also has the right to judge! We entrust certain
men in society who are far from perfect the right to judge and pass sentences
on criminals. Would not God have that right also?

3. Furthermore, is God obligated to judge according to your limited
perspective? Must He operate according to your code of morality?
Who are you?

4. Some accuse God of violating His own commands. They quote King James
Version of the 6th commandment as “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13)
and go on to point out how God kills people and ordered others to kill.
In modern, better translations the 6th commandment reads “You shall not
murder.” There is a big difference between executing the death penalty
or fighting in a war, and murder.Otherwise those who fought Hitler’s armies
to save the world from facism are just as guilty as mass murderers who
stalk the streets at night in search of victims.

God was not sending people out to murder. He was sending them out to
execute his wrath on his enemies who had been provoking His anger for centuries.
It was in the best interests of the whole world that they be wiped out.
Except for Rahab the prostitute whose faith saved her and her family, they
had passed the point of no return in their devotion to wickedness.

5. The nations God sent to destroy were involved in the worst kind of
evil. They slew their own children as offerings to their demon gods and
practiced terrible idolatry and wickedness. God waited hundreds of years
before it was time to wipe them out. God foresees all things and so told
Abram, “But in the fourth generation they [Abram’s descendants] shall return
here [in Canaan], for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
(Genesis 15:16) God always acts according to justice, and the sins of these
Amorites in Canaan had not yet reached the level where God deemed it approproate
to slaughter them all.

6. God knew the weakness of the Israelites. He knew how easily they
would be corrupted by the Amorites if they mingled with them and inter-married
with them. In fact, we know that exactly this happened after the death
of the elders who were with Joshua. The Israelites, who had not thoroughly
wiped out their enemies in Canaan but instead put them into forced labour
ended up going after their false gods and invoking the judgments of God
upon themselves.

Further Objections on this Point

a. But why does God say to treat evildoers differently now?
Isn’t that inconsistent?

We know that when Jesus came he taught his disciples to “love their
enemies, and do good to those who hate them”(Matthew 5:44). So there is
no justification for anyone to kill off other nations – even evil nations,
in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ introduced new possibilities
in the way God could deal with people of all nations, and through His own
people.

Before the Advent of the New Testament era, things were different. There
is no record of demons being cast out of people before the coming of Jesus.
That grace had not yet been given. Demonic bondage and evil is generally
transmitted from parents to children. There was no way for the Amorite
people to become acceptable to God once they had gone too deeply into satanic
perversion. They had become like a rotten cancer that had to be eliminated.
Even their babies and young children were demonized and programmed towards
evil. They could not be reformed.

But now, since Jesus came and gave us the Good News and spiritual authority
and power over the works of Satan, we have a better way of destroying Satan’s
work. Through prayer and faith in the name of Jesus, we can bind and drive
out the demon forces that bind even the worst of sinner. God gives us a
new way of overcoming evil with good based on the new possibilities that
Jesus made available to us as believers.

So instead of griping against God we should be thankful that we still
have life and that there is hope for our full salvation through Jesus Christ.

This article may be further developed as the need arises.

God bless you. Please take time to check out the good things that God
is doing for people. For examples, look in the testimonies section.

– Michael Fackerell

I invite you to build a faith community together with me. Join my social media channels and let’s connect, especially if you want freedom or fullness in Christ.

My Telegram has a ministry channel. On Tiktok I have many videos and new ones regularly.

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