Have you ever heard someone ask, “If there is a God why is there so much evil in the world”? Well that is a good question. Why is there evil in the world and not just evil, but “so much evil”. Where does evil come from? People like atheist Richard Dawkins would have us believe that we are all pre-programmed robots controlled by our genetics from evolution. We have no control and as he says, “There is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference”. So, if there is no evil and no good, is anyone really responsible for what he or she does? After all, the terms evil and good are words that connote a moral attribute, so who decides what is good and evil? Who has the moral justification for condemning what another does?
The problem with that philosophy is the consequences that result from it. For example, a woman being raped would think it to be a moral outrage. But, if there is no good nor evil, should she fight against her attacker or should she just lay back and enjoy it since she is helping him fulfill his genetic destiny? Based on what Dawkins says, she should not fight her attacker because that might cause her to lose her life. But, since her life has no design nor purpose, does it really matter if her life is taken?
The truth of the matter is that if there is no God then there is no good and there is no evil; there is only nice and not nice depending on how I feel about something. Therefore, based on an atheistic philosophy, there should be no punishment for anything, maybe only consequences.
But the Bible explains where evil originated; it started with on of God’s creatures, and angel named Lucifer. Lucifer wanted to be God and take over everything, but he was defeated. So, he came to earth and tempted the first people God created into believing they could be like God. Genesis 3 tells us the couple, Adam and Eve, failed and passed on to all of us an inherited nature to disobey God. God is the personification of good and love. God is also the One, and the only One, who has the authority to declare what is good and what is evil. And it is the belief in God that gives us the only clear answer as to why there is evil in the world. All other explanations lead to the same type of conclusion Richard Dawkins came to.