Good, Evil, and Suffering

What makes an action good or evil?

For Christians, goodness is more than obeying rules or avoiding crime. Good actions express love of God and care for other people, following Jesus' example. Feeding someone who is hungry, caring for someone who is ill and forgiving another person put that love into practice.

Evil actions oppose God's will and harm others. Deliberate violence and theft are examples of moral evil: suffering caused by human choices. However, wrongdoing can also involve failing to act. Someone who ignores a person in desperate need may cause harm through neglect rather than through an obvious act of cruelty.

Christians believe that humans have free will, the ability to choose how to act. This makes moral responsibility possible: people can choose compassion, but they can also choose selfishness. A sinful action is one that goes against God's will.

The Sheep and Goats: compassion and its reward

In the Parable of the Sheep and Goats, Matthew 25:31–46, Jesus describes the Son of Man returning in glory to judge all nations. People are separated as a shepherd separates sheep from goats: the sheep stand on his right and the goats on his left.

The King welcomes the sheep into the kingdom prepared for them. They have fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, welcomed strangers, clothed those needing clothes, looked after the sick and visited prisoners. They are surprised: they do not remember doing these things for him. He explains, ‘whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’.

The goats have failed to offer this care. By neglecting those in need, they have neglected him. The passage ends with eternal punishment for them and eternal life for the righteous.

The teaching connects three ideas. First, vulnerable people deserve practical care. Second, helping them is a way of serving Christ. Third, failures to help matter at judgement, as well as deliberately harmful actions. Visiting a prisoner, for example, recognises that even someone in prison should not be abandoned.

Christians believe that God judges human lives and that good actions are rewarded in the afterlife. Heaven is understood as eternal life with God; hell is associated with punishment and separation from God. These beliefs can encourage compassion and give hope that wrongdoing will not escape God's justice. They do not mean that being religious guarantees good behaviour, or that a good person will never suffer during life.

Why do people suffer? Different Christian explanations

Moral evil comes from human choices, whereas natural evil refers to suffering from natural processes, such as earthquakes and disease. This distinction matters because an explanation that fits deliberate cruelty may not explain an illness.

One Christian explanation is that God allows free will because genuine choices are valuable. Humans can freely love and help others, but they can also misuse that freedom. On this view, suffering caused by cruelty is the result of human wrongdoing rather than God's desire to cause pain. Its strength is that it preserves human responsibility. Its limitation is that an earthquake is not itself a human choice, although poor housing can make its consequences worse.

Some Christians connect suffering with the Fall, the Genesis account of Adam and Eve disobeying God and being expelled from Eden. Those who read the account literally may understand suffering as a consequence of sin entering the world, or as punishment for sin. Others read it symbolically, as a teaching about humanity's tendency to misuse freedom and become separated from God. These are different interpretations of the same account, not a single view held by every Christian.

Other Christians believe that suffering can test faith or have a purpose within God's plan. The story of Job, who suffers greatly but ultimately maintains his faith, provides an example of faith under severe difficulty. Some Christians also find hope in the belief that earthly suffering is not the end and that eternal life with God awaits.

These explanations face difficult questions. Suffering may strengthen faith or lead people to help others, but it may also overwhelm people. Explaining it as punishment raises the question of why people who have done nothing to cause their suffering should endure it. Christians therefore differ over how much of suffering's purpose humans can understand.

Atheist and Humanist explanations

Atheists do not believe in God, so they need not explain suffering as part of a divine plan. They may look instead at natural, psychological and social causes: disease, harmful behaviour, poverty or unsafe living conditions. Atheism alone does not specify how everyone should respond, but many atheists support practical efforts to reduce suffering.

Humanists place particular emphasis on reason, empathy and human wellbeing. They see suffering as something to address through human action rather than something that must have a God-given purpose. Healthcare, education, fairer social conditions and emotional support can tackle its causes and effects.

Some non-religious critics argue that religious belief can itself contribute to suffering. Believers may use competing interpretations of religious teachings to justify harmful actions. Dividing people into supposedly righteous believers and outsiders can also encourage prejudice. On this argument, religious conviction is not a reliable guarantee of moral conduct; actions should be assessed through their effects on people and through reason and empathy.

Christian responses and a justified judgement

Christians can acknowledge that religious people sometimes cause harm while arguing that this contradicts Jesus' demand for compassion. The Sheep and Goats supports judging conduct by whether people actually care for others, not simply by their religious label. However, critics can reply that appealing to the correct interpretation does not remove the harm caused by competing interpretations.

Christians also agree with many non-religious people that suffering needs practical action. They may care for the sick, provide food or campaign for safer housing. Prayer can accompany this work: Christians may ask God to remove suffering, give strength to those experiencing it or guide people who can help. Prayer need not replace practical assistance.

A justified conclusion should distinguish explaining suffering from reducing it. Free will offers a strong explanation of deliberate wrongdoing but is less direct as an explanation of natural suffering. Religious and non-religious people may disagree about suffering's ultimate meaning while agreeing that compassion requires action. The Sheep and Goats makes that responsibility central to Christian life.