“I don’t believe in God,” she said, “but if there is a God, why is there so much suffering in the world today?”

“You can’t blame God for all the suffering in the world,” I replied. “It’s not God who causes all these things. A lot of it is the work of the Devil. He just loves to hurt people and see them suffer. In fact, that’s one of his main tactics to try to turn people away from God—he tries to give God the blame for his own dirty deeds.”

The young lady was quiet for a moment as she thought about that, and then she asked, “Well, if there is a God and He’s all-powerful, why doesn’t He stop the Devil? Why does God allow so much evil in the world? Why didn’t He stop Hitler?”

“If God had put a stop to Hitler,” I began, “He would have to stop everybody from ever doing anything bad. We may not be as bad as Hitler, but we’ve all been guilty of doing bad things from time to time.”

“Then wouldn’t it have been better if God had made us all to be good?” she asked.

“If God had wanted robots, yes, He could have programmed everybody to do what was right in every situation. But He made us with a will of our own and gave us free choice so we could choose between right and wrong, good and evil. Of course He wants us to always choose the right thing, the loving and just thing, or at least something that won’t be harmful to us or others, but even when He sees that we’re about to make a bad choice, He doesn’t usually intervene. Why? Because He has given us the power of free choice and has bound Himself within certain limitations in order to not interfere.

“Unfortunately, everyone makes bad choices from time to time, and some people consistently make bad choices. That is the cause of most of the problems in the world today—people’s bad choices. There is hope though, at least on a personal level. God is ready, willing, and able to guide our decision-making. You and I may not be able to solve all the world’s problems, but we can improve our own lives and make a positive difference in our corner of the world—and it all starts with asking God to help us learn to make wise and loving choices.”

At that point the travel agent was called away to help another customer. “I think you made a difference just now,” she said as she excused herself, “because I feel different. I think I’m going to give God a try!” •