“Why Doesn't God Obliterate Evil?”

Adrian Rogers

JUNE 3

“Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine.” – 1 Chronicles 29:11

Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t obliterate the devil and eradicate all sin? If God destroyed evil, God would destroy every opportunity for choice. And if God were to destroy every opportunity for choice, then God would destroy every opportunity for love. Therefore, God would destroy the highest good. For God to destroy evil would be evil.

God doesn’t destroy evil, instead God defeats evil. How? Calvary and the resurrection! God turns every hurt into a hallelujah. Every defeat into victory!

Spend some time today thinking about heaven and the glorious reunion you’re going to have with Him one day.


For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit

www.lwf.org.

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Categories: INSPIRATIONAL DEVOTIONS

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6 replies

  1. If there was no evil we wouldn’t need Him. And we DEFINITELY need Him, more every day.

  2. Thanks for your post and devotionals. I am a follower of Christ, so please do not interpret the questions I offer as anything other than what they are…questions.
    You wrote: “Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t obliterate the devil and eradicate all sin?”
    The more pertinent question I would ask would be: Why did an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God create the “devil” if He knew the outcome? Would that not imply that God tempts us–freely allowing the “devil” to tempt, accuse and lead God’s creation to sin?
    Could you please help answer those questions.
    Another question: Why does God need the devil to “help” us in our choices?
    Doesn’t God grant free-will to humans and humans retain the power to choose? That would include to love, obey and accept God/Jesus Christ or to choose differently and disobediently–a rebellion (sin) against God.
    Choice is necessary. The power to choose is necessary. Free will is and of itself enough to give people a choice. But, how is/was the “devil” necessary? I do not understand why “Satan” is necessary as you describe in your devotional. God did not have to “create” evil–our choices–right or wrong–would reflect obedience or disobedience…right?
    You also wrote: “For God to destroy evil would be evil.”
    That’s a very interesting and challenging thought. To remove evil would be to ensure a “right” choice…right? But, if God is seeking, what you call a “higher love”, then free-will would establish that choice without the “help” of the presence and reality of a “Devil.”
    God does not need to “destroy” the devil to give us a “choice.” In fact, a universe with unhindered choices would appear to be much more an attributable creation of a just, fair and loving God…not a God that would create humans and then allow a “devil” to lead and tempt humans into sin, empowering the “evil” personage of a devil.
    Sin (rebellion from God) would simply be a choice–one much clearer, fairer and just…right? The devil would not be necessary…choices would say it all for each human.
    None of my questions question the necessity of grace through Jesus Christ. Please do not jump to any conclusions other than the questions I posed…there is nothing hidden in them.
    The reason I pose these questions is the troubling concept of the “devil”
    I would appreciate seeing the Scriptural support and basis for “Satan”: Is Satan the “serpent” in the Garden of Eden narrative? If not, who/what is the serpent? And, what about the temptation of Christ–that could be a wisdom type parable of Jesus being tempted to enact and use His own power, a shortcut to avoid the cross as a “choice”–in which He chose obedience, obeying the Father. And, where did Satan originate? When? (And, to save some time, if you’re going to point toward “Job”, please understand that story raises even more questions–if read literally–about God being loving, just and fair.)
    And, if you believe there is a devil (you point to “him” as a “entity” but did not capitalize the word)…do you believe in a fire and brimstone lake of fire for eternal damnation of lost sinners? If so, that draws out more questions about God’s purposes in creation and empowerment of “Satan”…
    Thanks–

    • Hi Luke,
      Satan: God did not create the devil, He created an angel – said angel decided he wanted the glory of God for himself.
      Temptation: God tempts no one – we can do that all by ourselves without help. Yes Satan and the demons help in this regard of a certainty, after-all Satan desires the throne of God for himself. Fighting against the One who he hates means he will fight against all that God holds dear – that means His children, us. Does God “allow” temptation? Yes He does – to not do so would be to remove our freedom of choice. One must also remember that the more one sins, the more we are tempted, therefore we bear responsibility for temptation along with Satan – not to mention our natural inclination is to want the “forbidden fruit”.
      If God did away with “evil” – there be no choice any longer. God created what He created, and all the sentient beings had (have) a choice – choose good or evil. What would be the point of God creating humans and angels and then ensuring all followed Him with no choice? God may as well have created robots then. The Lord desires more than just people, angels that blindly follow along – or He would not have created us with freedom of choice. The Lord God desires that we have a relationship with Him, that those who choose Him do so freely – that is what makes the difference. Would anyone want their wife/husband to be with them only because he/she had no choice in the matter?
      Why is Satan necessary? How else would Christ have been tempted? Who else would rule the kingdoms of earth until the Lord returns? Satan fulfills God’s purposes. Jesus made it clear that we all have a father – either our Father is God, or Satan. God represents good and Satan evil.
      Satan was created in the very beginning as he was there to temp Eve – when exactly, I do not know as the Bible does not tell us. Was Satan the serpent? I do not know, likely he influenced the serpent, but the end result was the same irregardless. Yes Job’s severe temptation is hard in some ways to swallow – but consider that through Job’s triumph over the situation (through the power of God) God was vindicated in what He said (not that God needs our vindication) and set us an example. Then again consider all that the Apostle Paul went through, or the fact that all the Apostles but one died for Christ.
      Yes Satan tempted Christ, this was necessary in order that Christ was tempted in all ways the same as us and even more so. Satan offered all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus if Jesus would worship him, the idea here was of course that Satan offered Christ a way to escape the cross. Hebrews tells us that Christ was tempted in all ways that He could understand and intercede for us. In so defeating Satan and evil, we are given the power to do so through the victory of Christ using the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
      Do I believe in Hell, yes. We need to remember that although God is loving – God is also just. Hell is spoken of throughout the Bible. Would it be fair if all went to heaven regardless of how they lived their life? If there were no threat involved in defying God – how many more would do so? Or to put it another way – IF God had said “I am good and I want you to be the same”, how many would listen? Does not the threat of punishment motivate, and do we not do the same with our children? And after time our children do not (hopefully) need that threat any longer and behave in a “good” way because they see the benefits of doing so – same with God. Or consider this – as we get to know God, hopefully we see that God’s “rules” are not about how He wants to control us, rather that what He says not to do – He does so because He knows those things will hurt us. Again – do we not do the very same things for our children for the same reasons? Some will argue with me for this next, but that is fine – God does not send people to Hell, we do that ourselves. Does God actually send someone there, yes – but the question to ask here is WHY did/would God send that person to Hell? Because that person through their own actions chose Hell. Now does anyone choose Hell? – of course not, yet it remains that ones choices lead to one of two places, Heaven or Hell.

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