God Cannot Exist Because…

One of the objections that we hear most often is, “God cannot exist because a good God would not allow evil and suffering in the world.” The argument is that if God is good and all-powerful, He would not allow evil, pain, and suffering. Either God is not good, or He is not powerful, or, most likely, there is no God.

Those who advance this objection are saying that their knowledge of all things proves that they know what God should do. God could not possibly have a good reason for allowing things to run their course based on circumstances and the actions of people. God should intervene to stop people from doing anything that would cause harmful consequences for themselves or others. God should cancel the natural laws at times to prevent accidents and disasters. People who make these arguments are claiming to be smarter than God.

But what if God is smarter than we are? What if God knows more than we know? Suppose that God knows the future because He is not limited by our time dimension. Is it possible that God has a reason for allowing bad things to happen that we, in our limited knowledge, cannot understand? Just because we can’t see a reason for God not to intervene, does that mean God could not have a purpose?

It’s a mistake for anyone to assume that a God beyond our limitations of knowledge and understanding could not exist. A god with our limited knowledge would not be God. George Burns played the role of “god” in the 1977 movie Oh, God! When the character played by John Denver asked him what was going to happen, Burns replied, “How should I know?” When asked for clarification, his response was, “I only know what is. Also, I’m very big on what was. Now, what isn’t yet? I haven’t got a clue.” That describes the limitation of humans—not God.

The Bible tells us that God is not only good (“God is love”) and omnipotent (all-powerful), He is also omniscient (all-knowing). It’s a mistake to say, “God cannot exist because a good God would not allow evil.” The only way you could know that God has no reason to allow evil and suffering in this world is for your knowledge and understanding to be greater than God’s. To believe that is indeed the height of arrogance.

— Roland Earnst © 2020