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The challenge of gratuitous evil

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Over this miniseries of recent articles, we have gleaned several notions from the biblical text in an attempt to ascertain what God has to say in answer to the question, “Why does God allow evil and suffering to exist in the world?” From that exposition, we have identified evil and suffering as punishment for sin, as a consequence of other people’s sin, as a consequence of fallen angelic free will, and for a greater good that could not otherwise be obtained. Sure enough, the Bible gives multiple examples of each of these reasons why God may allow evil to exist in the world.