Does the existence of evil make God’s existence less likely—or does the very concept of evil actually point toward Him?

If God is good, if God is all-powerful, and if He exists, why is there so much evil?

There are actually two different questions hidden inside that one question.

The first is philosophical: Does the existence of evil make God’s existence less likely—or does it actually point toward Him?

We all recognize that some things are genuinely evil—not merely inconvenient or unpleasant, but truly wrong. Genocide isn’t just something we dislike. Torturing children isn’t simply a matter of opinion. We instinctively recognize these things as objectively evil.

But evil is a strange thing. It isn’t something that exists by itself. It is a corruption—a deviation from the way things ought to be.

Disease is a corruption of health.

Rust is the corruption of iron.

Rot is the corruption of a healthy tree.

In the same way, moral evil is a corruption of what is good.

Evil is a parasite. A parasite cannot exist without something to feed on.

But notice what that means.

If we say something is objectively evil, we are also saying there is an objective way things are supposed to be. Evil only makes sense if there is an objective good from which it departs.

And objective good cannot simply be our personal opinions or cultural preferences. If good changes from one person to another, then evil does too. Nothing would ever be truly wrong—only personally disliked.

So the existence of objective evil points to the existence of objective good.

And objective good points beyond humanity to a source outside ourselves.

That still leaves another question.

Even if objective good points toward God, why would a good God allow evil to exist?

The answer depends on recognizing that the Bible speaks about two different kinds of evil: moral evil and natural evil.

Moral evil is associated with human choice.

God created human beings with the freedom to make genuine moral choices. For a choice to be truly free, there must be more than one moral option available.

Love is meaningful because hatred or indifference are possible.

Forgiveness is meaningful because wrongs can be committed.

Courage is meaningful because fear is real.

Generosity is meaningful because selfishness is possible.

These virtues only have meaning because their opposites are genuinely possible.

If love cannot be rejected, it is not really love. If goodness cannot be refused, it is not really goodness. A programmed being can perform actions, but it cannot freely love.

Moral evil is not evidence that God failed or that He does not exist. It is evidence that He created beings capable of making genuine moral choices.

Natural evil is different. It is not the result of an individual’s moral choice. It refers to suffering that comes through a creation that has been fractured by humanity’s rebellion against God.

Humanity’s rebellion had consequences.

Creation itself was affected.

Earthquakes happen.

Tornadoes exist.

Wildfires spread.

Disease destroys.

Bodies age.

Bones break.

Flesh decays.

From the beginning, the Bible warns that these things would happen.

This does not disprove God’s goodness.

It reminds us that we live in a world that is no longer the way it was designed to be.

Yet God is not silent.

He is not distant.

He is not standing by while creation suffers.

He is not letting evil go unchecked.

God did not remain distant from suffering.

He entered His own creation.

He took upon Himself the consequences of humanity’s evil.

The cross was not God ignoring evil.

It was not God surrendering to evil.

It was God confronting evil in the most loving, sacrificial, and unexpected way imaginable.

He did not answer evil with more evil.

He answered it with love.

Even now, God restrains evil in ways we rarely see.

We do not know how many tragedies He has prevented, how many dangers He has restrained, or how many prayers He has quietly answered.

We often notice the suffering that reaches us, but we rarely see the suffering that never does.

Evil is real.

But it is not ultimate.

Through the cross, Christ defeated it.

One day He will return to finish what He started.

Evil and death will be be removed.

Creation will be made new.

Until then, we live with hope—not because evil is not painful, but because we know it does not get the final word.

God is bringing creation back to the way it was always meant to be.