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Is evil necessary? This is a huge question that many Christians have trouble answering, and one that often deters others from the faith. Many people say that if God truly loved us then he wouldn’t allow evil in the world. If He truly loved us, then He wouldn’t allow murder, rape, thievery, or any other kind of moral evil. If God is omniscient and omnipotent, why would He allow evil? Although it may seem like a loving God wouldn’t allow any evil, in order for us to have free will, He has to. If He created us without the ability to reject good and perform evil, it would be like programming a computer to say “I love you.” This wouldn’t be real love, because the computer doesn’t have the free will to choose not to love you. It’s the same with us humans. In order to truly love God, we must have the ability to choose to reject Him. Like when we were little and we got in a fight with a sibling. Our parents made us apologize, but we weren’t really sorry. The apology wasn’t genuine, because we didn’t have a choice in the matter. 

People, however, because they like to argue, will still bring up that even if we didn’t have free will, not being able to choose to do evil would still be better than having events like the Holocaust happen. However, if you think this through, it’s obvious that if this actually happened, the same person who suggested the idea would not be too happy. People- especially in America – greatly cherish their independence, and if you ask anybody if they would want that taken away, even if it meant that there would be no more evil in the world, they will almost definitely say no.

In conclusion, the presence of evil in the world is necessary. In order for us to have free will, we have to be able to choose to do evil. However, this does not mean that God does not love us. On the contrary, it demonstrates just how much He loves us. If God didn’t truly love us, then He would’ve simply taken away our free will and made us love Him. But He didn’t. He kept our free will intact, and, even when we went against His commands and sinned, He sent a Savior to deliver us. 

Marie Birkmann – 9th Grade

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