Q & A: How can God be good if there is so much bad in the world?

The answer to this question is simple, and it is found in 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” All aspects of God’s nature begin with that single characteristic—God is a God of love and compassion, and His intentions for mankind have always been for good (Genesis 1-2).

Why then, does the world continue to have death, wars and heartache? Because of mankind’s choice to reject God’s good plan (Genesis 3). Death and destruction are not God’s plan. They are simply the result of men and women using their God-given right of choice to choose death instead of life.

Even in this condition of destruction and heartache, God’s love is displayed. He has given us a way out—the option of choosing life by making Jesus our Lord and Savior (John 14:6)! The Word of God says if we believe with our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess Jesus as our Lord, we will be saved (Romans 10:9-10).

The choice God offers is not to follow a religion or a system of beliefs. Instead, it is to allow Him to totally change us on the inside and make us new creations in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). There is only one true God. So our focus cannot ultimately be to find a god that fits our concept of what a god should be, but instead to see the one true God for who He is and accept the salvation He offers.

Unconditional love offers salvation as a free gift made possible through the sacrifice Jesus made in our behalf: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Through the cross, God laid the punishment for our sin on Jesus so that we might become the righteousness of God through faith in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).