Overcome

This semester I'm taking my first class toward my minor, Religion and Philosophy.
The class I'm taking is Writing Enhanced Philosophy and Literature, and so far I'm loving it! My teacher is funny and kooky, and you can tell she loves what she does. The concept of God has already been brought up in class a few times, and I've always heard that some teachers will openly deny their belief and paint the lectures with a bias toward atheism, or whatever their worldview is.
This woman, however, from what I can sense, has been teaching from a completely objective standpoint of the belief in God and creationism. I can tell she has a very open mind and deep appreciation for all religions, although she herself may not be religious.
Anyway!
Today in lecture, we read a couple of John Donne's poems. He was a known Christian, and as we discussed the poems, God entered the discussion. We were asked to name characteristics of the Christian God, and of course all the "omni" words were mentioned: omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and aside from those, all-loving. Ms. Alexander (my teacher) briefly mentioned some arguments against these theistic beliefs, and one argument was particulary thought-provoking.
I've heard the argument that if there is a God, He cannot be all-loving because there is great evil in the world.
There is a terrifying amount of evil in the hearts of humankind.
How could a perfect God create a world where rape, murder, abuse, starvation, imperfection, hatred, and war run rampant? Why would this be a part of the human nature if God loves us so much?

My mind has been plagued by this question.
It doesn't make any sense at all...

But then,
you observe love.
Without hunger, we don't realize the need for food.
Without the bitter cold, we don't realize the need for warmth.
Without war, we don't realize the need for peace...

and without evil, we don't realize our need for a Savior.

Why do we need evil to realize this?
God wants to overcome it with us - true love would have no meaning without it. In a "perfect" world where everyone has a pre-programmed robotic love for God, there is no purpose.
Evil exists to overcome evil.
Evil is the absence of love.
We must fall before we can rise.

I acknowledge that there are many, many unanswered questions. I can't even give a concrete answer, just some thoughts spurred by people much wiser than myself. I do however understand that there are things beyond my comprehension, beyond mankind's comprehension. It's an uncomfortable thought for everyone.
We seem to have this need to be able to tangibly understand and micromanage every aspect of life.
It's so much simpler than that.
God loves you, and because of this, He overcame evil with the greatest love the world has ever known.
He only asks for your heart in return.



"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
-Romans 12:21