Many people lose faith in God when they see evil and natural disasters in the World. They feel that, if God is really present or really loves us, He will not allow evil. This feeling becomes even stronger, when they see children and innocent people suffer. However, it is not God, but our sins, that produce evils in the world. Sin results from selfishness and selfishness causes hurt to others.  Even natural disasters, which some people erroneously refer to as “acts of God”, are result of our sins. Since we have dominion over the World (Genesis 1: 27-28), our acts of selfishness affect the balance in nature.  So that when we sin by going against nature, the balance in nature is disturbed to produce natural disasters and diseases. Similarly, our evil acts directly affect others and cause them hurt.  The hurt that evil produces affects everyone; including those who live holy lives.  God allows evil, because, He has given us free will. He has given us free will so that we can exercise unconditional love.  If we did not have free will, we will never be able to love others unconditionally, because, to love is a choice, and every choice needs a free will.  God wants us to love (John 13:34), because, he wants us to have His peace and joy (John 15:11) for all eternity. Furthermore, compared to the peace and joy that God gives us in the eternal life our hurts in the present life are nothing.


God heals the broken hearted 
  We all have to go through pain and suffering, because we live in a world that has sin. God, however, brings us peace and joy by comforting us (Psalm 23, Is 57:18-21; Ps 94:19). He comforts us by being one with us in our pain and suffering.  He did this by becoming one of us and freely accepting the worst form of pain and suffering. He gives us hope by overcoming pain, suffering and death through his resurrection. He gives redemptive value to pain and suffering by freeing us from sin by his own pain and suffering. He freed us from sin by completely emptying self on the cross on our behalf (Peter 2:24, 25). This helps us to accept pain and suffering in a quiet and humble manner.  Our humility then opens our heart to accept God’s graces. This helps us to use our pain and suffering to overcome sin, build endurance, and become compassionate and forgiving people. God thus helps us by changing us from within. This enables us to find peace and joy by living His life.

I think God put nature in motion in the beginning. The "natural man" Adam, (spirit of God had departed from Adam when he sinned) had & has free will. This is the naturally sinful & evil unregenerated man. The flesh is corrupt lustful, greedy. Somehow laws save us from ourselves. Well, they are protection of life.
So how could God not allow nature to take on its courses? Man was even given some laws by God. That proves that God is still in control.

I admit, there are some things so horrendous, they are beyond reasoning or there is no answer. Yet another fact is true in the world. God does intervene on behalf of the saints!
Usually through prayer.
Evil isn't going away here. But deliver us from evil!
I think mostly God wants us to have Faith, Hope & Love. These virtues we take to heaven.

God also, often times, uses people to love people. So that totally invalidates any arguement one could have against God that He isn't who He says He is.

Sure, God could make everything go away with just a twitch of His eyelash if He wanted to. But ya know, I think one of things that we need to consider is that fact that #1, we all sin and #2 it is not impossible for any of us to love people.

Besides, the evil in the world aint going away any time soon until the 2nd coming of Christ and when He will make everything new. In the meantime, make sure you're living a life of love and service to Him.

Rather than questioning God's character and integrity, why not take a look at ourselves and ask if we've loved someone today or not?  

The problem isn't with God. That's for sure. 

If he destroyed evil, we wouldn't need to be saved.

It is true that some will lose faith, or their faith will be shaken by a perceived evil (i.e. natural disaster, tragic death, etc.) 

However,

1.  It is important to note that evil can only exist if God exists.  Evil can only be defined if there is an ultimate good, or standard of good to compare to. 

2.  It is important as Christians that we define evil properly.  Should we really consider death as an evil thing.  (Paul said to die was gain)  Should we consider losing all our earthly goods in a natural disaster as evil? 

God is good.  Evil is not disease, evil is not poverty, evil is not death.  Evil is the absence of good.  Evil is the absence of God.

Granted these are sticky points to bring up to someone who has lost a loved one, or has just experienced significant losses from a natural disaster.  But, we should understand as Christians that whether high or low, we should be content with whatever situation we find ourselves in.

When Adam fell ( took on satan's nature, into enmity, rebellion ) the problem God was presented with was how to judge Satan without judging man and yet still remain a Just God.

Put another way

Since God is a Just God, He cannot justly judge unjust satan without also judging unjust man.  

Satan, going to and fro ( Job 1 ), as the accuser  (Rev 12:10) , is constantly reminding God that man has also taken on his rebellious nature and therefore if he is to be judged for God to remain Just man be also


What Satan did not realize and completely did not expect, is that God would pay the penalty for us.
Satan did not realize that God in His Divine Wisdom already had a solution in that Jesus..... would identify with man, take on sinful flesh, and take all the punishment man deserves, thereby fulfilling God's righteous requirements, paying the full penalty for all mans guilt, as a man on behalf of man sparing mankind the fate satan is doomed to

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus.. Romans 3:26

The catch as we all know is, man's only Salvation is in Christ, hence.... its not so much that evil is being allowed by God or even tolerated because it has been judged in the Body of Jesus

but ....

....moreso that God is allowing as much time as possible for those who belong to Him to come to their right senses ( Luke 15:17 )
and return to Him.

In that context the following verse becomes crystal clear

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

We got work to do folks!!!
 

The harvest is white....

Hallelujah!!

I'd simply say that God is not the Creator of evil, nor the source of it. So many doctrines attribute everything to God, All the Good as well as All the Bad.
Some of this thinking can be attributed to the predominating Jewish tendency to not mention Satan in the Torah and laying everything at the feet of God. This they did with the idea that mere mentioning of Satan in the Holy Scriptures was the equivalent of giving him honor.
They looked at it as if mentioning him was acknowledging him and not mentioning was acting as if he didn't exist.
Amazingly... many Christians hold this view today. They get disturbed when people discuss Satan because they feel as if he is being given too much honor or credit. Many of those same people are they who lay sickness at God's feet...see what I mean?
Some things never change

For instance 1 Samuel 16:14 and Judges 9:23 and 1 Kings 22:23 are perfect examples of this tendency.

On the other hand
The bible makes it clear that God cannot lie. ( Numbers 23:19 )
Jesus made it clear that Satan is the Father of lies ( John 8:44 ) So obviously God did not create lying!

Is the bible contradicting itself or have people, well meaning perhaps, mis-characterized God?

I submit to you the latter is true... for neither God or His Word is contradictory!

We also know that Satan has NO creative power so not only did God not create lying but neither did Satan.

So how do we get death, how do we get lying and how do we get sickness? Simple...the same way we get sexual immorality...PERVERSION

Satan takes that which God has created and perverts it. We can say he twists it, he makes it wicked or twisted from where we get our word "wicked"

God Creates Truth, Satan's nature twists it...it becomes a lie
God Creates Life, Satan's nature twists it...it becomes death
God Created Man to be healthy....Satan's nature twists it...it becomes sickness!
God Created Sexual relations....again Satan's nature twists it it becomes porno, it becomes incest, it becomes rape and yep you got it.... homosexuality!

Notice, I didn't say Satan twists it, but rather his nature.
This is an important distinction because Satan's nature is in the world.
That is why John said love not the world or the things in the world ( 1 John 2:15 )

How did they get into the world?...Through one man Adam! ( Romans 5:17 )
Because of Adam we are all born into Satan's nature. Satan is not omnipresent so he is not every where at once but his "corruptable" nature is in the world

God is Good, Jesus re -emphasized this point when He was called Good by the rich young ruler Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. Luke 18:19

The Hebrew word there "agathos" translated  "good", denotes excellence and Jesus was reminding the young man that such a characterization is reserved for God alone.

In effect Jesus was asking the rich young ruler ....do you recognize that I am who I say I am or put another way do you realize that I am God in the flesh?
He wanted to get that straight before He answered the rich rulers question....but I digress.

James put it like this...

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17

My point and one that I continually dispute is this characterization of God as a schizophrenic one a God who is at once temperamental and unpredictable while He is All Loving Merciful and Gracious.

Many Christians do a dis-service to non Christians and young thinking Christians by painting Him and insisting upon presenting God as such.

They make statements like "maybe God put that sickness on you for a reason trying to teach you a lesson" and numerous similar types of statements.

Meanwhile Jesus spent 2/3 rds of His ministry healing people and none of it making anyone sick or ill!

In fact Jesus couldn't even attend a funeral without messing it up....yet people attribute death to God as well...go figure.

If Heaven is a place of perfection...it follows there is no death there, no pain there, no suffering there, no lying and no crying. If those things are not in heaven...from whence would God get them?  

Lastly which of you would inflict cancer upon any of your children to punish them or teach them a lesson?
Hopefully none of you and by the same token and a thousand times more....neither would God!

We'll never solve it all in this forum but I just wanted to share something for everyone to ponder

In Jesus Name

Because mercy triumphs over judgment, God is not in a hurry, to punish people of doing evil. God can stop people of doing evil by punishing them, but he has given people the choice of choosing to love him, repent, and be saved. God is much more interested in people, to choose themselves, to repent and start loving him in the first place, than, he punishing them, for doing evil. God is love, and he does not want to force anybody to obey him and love him, but gives people the choice of doing so. He is patient, and waiting for them to repent. He loves them, despite of them doing evil, therefore, he waits for them to repent, and turn to him, love him and be with him for eternity.