3. Why Doesn't God Intervene and Stop Evil?

When so many men and women in the course of history have misused their God-given free will to perpetrate outrageous evil on their comparatively innocent fellow human beings—and many still do—does God not own any responsibility for this? [p 68] [p 69] Does God take responsibility? So far we have argued that in order to have human beings as moral creatures, God had to give them genuine free will and free choice; and secondly that in giving human beings free will and free choice he inevitably had to allow the possibility that they would use their freedom to choose evil. But suppose we grant all this, it still leaves a question in many people's minds: when so many men and women in the course of history have misused their God-given free will to perpetrate outrageous evil on their comparatively innocent fellow human beings—and many still do—does God not own any responsibility for this? Why does he not intervene to stop evil, and eliminate its perpetrators, so that the rest of us innocent people can get on with our lives in peace and enjoyment? The question is reasonable enough; but upon inspection, it turns out to be a complicated matter, and requires not just one answer but a whole arra...