Why Does Evil Exist If God Is Good?
The question
If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why does evil and suffering exist?
Scripture · Romans 8:28
We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
A short answer
This is probably the oldest objection to faith, and it deserves a real answer, not a bumper sticker.
The Church doesn't pretend evil isn't real. It is. Suffering is real. Injustice is real. The question is whether God's existence can coexist with that reality, and the answer is yes, but it takes a minute to unpack.
God created us free. Not free in a watered-down, "choose your favorite flavor" kind of way, but genuinely, radically free. That freedom is what makes love possible. You can't program love. But real freedom also means people can choose cruelty, selfishness, and destruction. A lot of evil in the world traces back to human choices, not divine indifference.
Then there's natural suffering: illness, earthquakes, loss. That's harder. The Church doesn't offer a tidy explanation, and honestly, be suspicious of anyone who does. What it does offer is a God who enters into suffering rather than watching from a distance. The Incarnation and the Cross are God's answer to the problem of pain. He didn't explain it from the outside. He lived it.
Aquinas pointed out that God permits evil only insofar as he can draw a greater good from it. That's not a cold calculation. It's a promise. Romans 8:28 isn't saying suffering is fine. It's saying suffering doesn't get the last word.
You don't have to resolve the mystery to trust the God who walks through it with you.
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