Evil is a reality. "God is love" is a reality. How can we find harmony in these two statements? To believe in God, one must have faith that He is loving and wise, and providing all things for man’s ultimate good. God, whose character is supreme love, would not have permitted 6,000 years of evil to reign over His creation without an ultimately useful purpose and grand outcome. It would truly be a horrible thought that a God who claims to be love would create billions to live on earth in sorrow, only to send them to a future of eternal torment. We know that God is just and good, and hates evil of every kind. "Thou are not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee..." Psa. 5:4

To understand why God permits evil, we must first realize the difference between permitting and causing. God has permitted man to have a temporary experience with evil, so that all will come to know firsthand the contrast between living righteously, or selfishly in disobedience. And, by faith we trust that God would not permit this experience with evil to last forever.

Satan, His Lie, Disobedience and Death

The cause of evil is sin—not only personal sin, but inherited sin. "Dying, thou shalt die" was our inheritance from father Adam. Gen. 2:17 Fellowship with God having been cut off, man’s distressed mind affected his physical health, and soon disease permeated the perfect organism.

Man lost his dominion over himself and his dominion over nature. Yes, the calamities in nature are the result of disobedience, as well. God said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." Gen. 3:17 Man must endure an unfriendly earth as part of the penalty for disobedience.

God purposely made the test upon Adam simple, plainly stating; "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:16-17 If it had been a difficult thing the Lord required of him, Adam might have been excused, because obedience would have been beyond his capabilities. No, Adam was simply forbidden to eat of the fruit of only one of the many trees of the garden.