Why Does God Allow Evil? A Christian Perspective on a Hard Question

This is another frequently asked question—closely related to the one in the previous post, “Why Does God Allow Suffering?” And once again, I do not claim to have a complete answer. But I will try to respond based on what I understand from the nature of God revealed in the Bible.

There are examples in Scripture where God allows suffering for a purpose, as we saw in the case of Job (Job 1–2), Paul (2 Cor 12:7–10), and even Jesus (Isaiah 53:3–5). But I am not aware of any biblical passage where God allows or causes evil itself. That makes the question worth examining more closely.

Evil is not something God does. Evil, in fact, is the absence of God, not the result of His presence. When people ask why God allows evil, they are often referring to actions like abuse, exploitation, or cruelty. But look more closely—these actions are not random. They are always a violation of God's commands.

Take for example pedophilia or sexual trafficking—both are evil. Why? Because they directly break God’s clear commands against sexual immorality and the abuse of others (Exodus 20:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:3). Almost every act that we rightly label as evil fits into some violation of the Ten Commandments.

So evil is not something God created or allows in the sense of permission—it is what happens when God's laws are rejected. Evil is godlessness, not something God is responsible for. When this godlessness takes over, the innocent suffer.

For now, what I do know is this: God is not the source of evil—He is the one who defines and opposes it.