Why God Doesn’t Stop Evil People
“Why is there so much evil in the world? Why doesn’t God stop evil people, especially the ones who abuse children?”
It was a bright Saturday morning, and my evangelism team and I were out spreading the love of God, mingling with the men and women who had shown up for our church’s weekly food bank.
The young mother I was chatting with had a lot of questions.
“Why doesn’t God just wipe out the bad people?” she argued. “If He’s all-powerful, then that should be a simple task for Him, right? Besides, those people deserve it!”
I sensed that the issue might be of a personal nature to her and that I should tread carefully. I prayed silently that the Lord would give me the words to say and fill me with His wisdom and compassion.
“I’m so glad you asked,” I said. “Those are such important questions. The answer isn’t simple, but I’ll do my best to explain what the Bible teaches about these things.”
“First off, the Bible tells us that God will stop evil. There will be a day in the future when every person who has ever lived will have to stand before His throne and give an account of themselves (Romans 14:10-12). God will then carry out perfect justice. He will set all things right. He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and pain and mourning will be no more (Revelation 21:4).“
“Second, even now, God keeps evil in check (2 Thessalonians 2:7). God doesn’t allow sinful people to go through with every one of their wicked schemes. For example, in the New Testament, we read about how an angel of the Lord struck Herod dead (Acts 12:23). Undoubtedly, there are situations today, too, where God says, ‘Enough is enough’ and terminates the life of an evil person. Sometimes serial killers, rapists, child abusers, and other vile criminals do, in fact, die abruptly and unexpectedly.”
“God rarely reveals to us when He prevents evil, and so we don’t give it much thought. All we see when we look around is lots of iniquity. But even though there’s an awful lot of evil in the world, the world isn’t as evil as it could conceivably be. God restrains evil all the time.”
“Third, we humans are often quick to complain that God ‘isn’t doing anything’ when we can’t discern what He’s doing. The fact is that even on this side of judgment day, God is diligently at work behind the scenes, redeeming evil in remarkable ways. Consider, for example, the countless stories of men and women who have experienced God’s goodness and power in a special way through personal affliction. The Lord has reasons for allowing evil to exist, and it’s always for a holy purpose.”
“Another thing: What if the reason God doesn’t stop evil people—why He doesn’t immediately take the person out—is that He doesn’t want the evildoer to go to hell? What if He’s keeping him or her alive because of His mercy? The Lord is ‘not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance,’ says 2 Peter 3:9.“
“What if God is giving them another chance to repent, transform their life, and become a testimony to His glory?”
“If you’ve heard the story of the apostle Paul in the New Testament, you may remember how wicked he was before he got saved and became the Lord’s most influential evangelist for the Gospel (1 Timothy 1:15). What if God had annihilated Paul while he was still a Jesus-hater? What a loss—not only for Paul but for us all!”
“Fourth, if God were to blot out all evil, He would have to remove humans’ ability to choose wrongly. This means He would have to take away the free will He has given us, and as a result, we would become mindless robots. We would then also be incapable of choosing what’s right, which would eliminate our ability to love God and people freely. Is that what we want?”
“Fifth, if God were to stop evil people, where would He draw the line for when to intervene? How much bad is enough bad? How many sins, how many times, and what types of sins? How would this be determined?”
“Let’s remember that, to God, ALL sin is a breaking of His holy law and, therefore, a crime! Should He snuff us ALL out?”
“Because every human has sinned, every human is deserving of death (Romans 3:23; 6:23). I may not be a child-abuser, but my unrighteous anger, pride, selfishness, and the scores of other sins I commit regularly are still repulsive to a holy God.”
“I hear your concerns,” I said to the young mother. “Fortunately, we can have confidence that there will come a day when God will balance the scales of justice. While we look forward to that day, we must continue to trust that God is completely loving, wise, and powerful even if He chooses not to eradicate all evil right now.”
“One critical, last point: You and I need to make sure that when we stand before God one day, we won’t have to suffer punishment for not obeying Him as we should have! We must make sure our slate has been wiped clean! This is where our main focus needs to be! And we had better act—while there’s still time!“
These were my responses to the young woman’s questions about why God doesn’t stop evil people. I wrapped up by explaining how she could receive forgiveness for her sins against the Lord.
L.B.
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