The Problem of Evil: Why God Was There, Even in the Tragedy of Las Vegas

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This continuum is nothing new to the aftermath of tragedy. 

Then once the shock effect is over, we start to wonder, and even to rationalize.

Why did it happen?
What could have been done to prevent it? 

Then there's the question of God.

Where was The Almighty?
How can God, being both all-good and all-powerful, allow these events to unfold?

Philosophers, theistic and atheistic alike, identify this age-old quandary as the problem of evil. 

But sometimes we're ashamed to admit our trouble with theological issues like this because, after all, isn't that "questioning God?" 

Well, I would argue that the trouble in our hearts is often the fruition of our faith. Our love for God compels us to know Him more, and when we can't figure Him out it wrecks us. King David, a man after God's own heart, transparently expressed his theological anxieties to God. 

"Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" – Psalm 10:1

So if you're wrestling with the problem of evil don't be afraid to talk about it. It's a conversation worth having. 

How can God and evil co-exist?

To answer this question we must engage its antithesis: How can God and evil not co-exist?

If evil exists then there must be a moral code by which evil is judged, and if there is a moral code then there must be a moral code creator. Without a moral code creator there is no moral code and with no moral code there is no evil or good. So the existence of God is not antithetical to the existence of evil.

This raises a new question: Why does a God with attributes of omnipotence (being all-powerful) and omnibenevolence (being all-good) insist on permitting the existence of evil?

Ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus formed the problem as such:
If God is willing to prevent evil, but not able, then he is not all-powerful.
If God is able to prevent evil, but not willing, then he is malevolent.
If God is both able and willing to prevent evil, then how could evil even exist?
If God is neither able nor willing, then why call him God? 

The argument by itself seems irrefutable. But the problem with this argument is that it personifies God by limiting the options to human variables instead of acknowledging the entirety of His Divine essence. The argument assumes that the permissions of evil and good are incompatible. 

But are they?

We must realize that allowing good and allowing evil are not incompatible traits. Before we blame God for evil, we must remember that we are the ones who brought evil into the world. God would have been completely just to allow us to sprint down the path to Hell that we paved ourselves. But that didn't happen. 

God's justice allowed the separation caused by our sin, but His love demanded a remedy. That remedy was Jesus, the ONLY one who didn't deserve suffering yet chose to endure the suffering of the world.

The greatest evil was not the Las Vegas shooting. 
The greatest evil was not the Holocaust.
The greatest evil is not abortion. 
The greatest evil was the moment man disparaged the beautiful communion held with God.

God didn't introduce evil, man did and man has been reintroducing it every day since evicted from the Garden of Eden. God uses people to prohibit evil while allowing other circumstances to occur. Each time though, his glory is made known. Stories of courage, sacrifice, and service are always made known in the darkest times.