“Tough Questions for a Big God”

The greatest external challenge to the divine will and sovereignty of God in the world is the human capacity for individual will and freedom. This freedom complicates the workings of divine love and justice in the world. God’s justice will not be fully achieved without human cooperation, and divine love and power alone is not sufficient to make all things right in the cosmos.

A God who honors human autonomy cannot simply remove suffering and eradicate evil at will. This phenomenon explains the mystery of the intersection between divine freedom, human freedom, and the enduring problem of evil—the heart of theodicy.

Moreover, since the beginning of creation and human history, there are few recorded events where God directly eradicates evil within human communities. Such instances of divine triumph are rare in global history. In contrast, human communities worldwide have seen a persistent rise in evil and the spread of suffering across nations. In other words, we lack concrete evidence, past or present, that God has decisively eradicated evil or is actively doing so in these fragile and uncertain times for contemporary societies.

How can we be sure that God will ultimately create a future world better than the present one?

How can we trust that human beings will attain greater moral goodness in the world to come?

How can we be confident that, in the end, God will eliminate all forms of suffering and evil in the universe?