God definitely did not create evil and suffering. Suffering results from evil, and evil results from the poor decisions of man. A man chooses to commit adultery, and his innocent wife takes the brunt of the suffering. A woman chooses to have a few beers before driving home, and the innocent children riding in the SUV she demolishes are made to suffer. Jesus Christ is the ultimate in innocence because he never sinned, and yet he endured the ultimate suffering on the cross while paying the penalty for all of man’s sin. God gives us the privilege of making our own choices, but that certainly does not make him the author of evil and suffering. If you blow the speakers on your stereo system because you did not read and follow the directions given in the operator’s manual, don’t blame the manufacturer. If you want to minimize the amount of evil and suffering in the world, read the Bible and do what it says – don’t blame God for our inability to follow his directions.

Of course, there is evil and suffering in this world that does not seem to be the direct result of man’s decisions. It’s hard to blame natural disaster and disease on a man’s sinful behavior. What we have to understand is that God created the entire universe and everything in it depends on everything else. The universe is a lot like the human body in that when a part of it goes wrong, other parts are affects as well. For example, our bodies burn food as fuel like a car burns gasoline. The kidneys are responsible for filtering out the toxic by-product of this fuel burning process just like the exhaust system of a car expels of all the leftovers from burning gasoline. If the kidneys fail and cannot get rid of the toxic stuff in our system, we will become very sick and eventually die. Right now, the universe is full of a toxin called sin and is very sick. This toxic sin was introduced by man in the beginning and continues to increase with every sinful decision we make. Because of sin, the universe cannot function the way God intended it to, just like when we are sick our bodies do not function like they normally do. The good news is that God has promised to restore all of his creation to good health before it totally dies. So, why hasn’t God already fixed the universe? Well, that’s a discussion left for another question – “Why doesn’t God put an end to evil and suffering?”