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If God Is in Control, Why Does Evil Still Happen?
1. The Most Common Misunderstanding of “God’s Sovereignty”
After spending even a short time around faith communities,
we almost automatically begin to say things like:“God is omnipotent.”
“God governs all things.”
“Nothing happens without God’s permission.”These statements are not wrong.
The problem lies in how we silently translate them:“Then God directly manipulates everything.”
But biblical sovereignty is not manipulation.
God does not move humans like remote-controlled puppets —
yet He does not lose the direction of history.Control and manipulation are not the same.
By confusing the two, we begin many of our deepest faith-questions.And on this misunderstanding, the most dangerous question is born:
“Then why does human evil still happen?”
2. God Can Prevent Evil — Yet Sometimes He Does Not
Here an uncomfortable truth appears:
God can stop evil.
Yet some evils He does not prevent.This is not impotence.
It is intentional non-intervention.Why?
We often think of faith
as a device for creating a trouble-free world.
But the biblical world is designed very differently.The world God is currently running
is not a “peaceful world,”
but a world in which responsibility can exist.
3. Good That Cannot Be Chosen Is Not Good
If God were to block all evil in advance,
we would no longer choose.
We would merely react within permitted boundaries.In such a world, there would be no:
- sin
- repentance
- responsibility
- judgment
- salvation
Because good that cannot be chosen
is not good at all.
It is merely behavior forced by environment.So God does not make humans
“survivors inside a clean environment,”
but leaves them as beings who choose and bear responsibility.
4. We Are Still Living in a World Under Review
Christian faith does not see the present world
as a completed world.This is a world before the final settlement.
Not the stage where evil is eliminated —
but the stage where evil is revealed and recorded.So that:
- judgment can be just
- victims are not erased
- salvation carries real meaning
This world is quietly being recorded even now:
who chose what,
and how one treated another.
5. Why God Does Not Make the World Clean “Right Now”
We often ask:
“Why doesn’t God eliminate evil immediately?”
But the more precise question is:
“Why does God preserve this world in a form that allows judgment?”
God is not currently creating
an instantly purified world.
He is creating a world that can be settled.So evil is not something happening outside His control —
it is the trace of choices deliberately left
so that meaning is not lost.
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Do Interpretations Not Intended by the Author Still Have Meaning?
“That’s Not What the Author Meant”
When leaving an exhibition, we often hear remarks like these:
“That’s not what the artist originally meant.”
“You’re misunderstanding it.”These phrases are frequently used
to stop interpretation itself —
as if what was not intended cannot be meaningful.But is that really true?
The Author’s Intention Is a Starting Point — Not a Borderline
An artist begins a work
with a clear intention.But the moment the work enters the world,
it no longer remains inside the artist’s nervous system.The work begins to operate
on the sensory systems of others.The artist’s intention is merely the coordinate that gave birth to the work —
not the border where meaning must stop.
Interpretation Is Not an Addition — It Is a Reoccurrence
We often think of interpretation
as an explanation added on top of a work.But interpretation is not
the act of “adding” meaning.It is the work-event
happening once again
inside a different sensory system.Just as the same piece of music evokes
entirely different scenes in different listeners,
interpretation is not misunderstanding —
it is the second birth of the work.
Works Evolve Through Misinterpretation
As a work passes through multiple sensory systems,
its form and meaning differentiate.This is not a process of corruption,
but a process of the work living, moving, and evolving.A living work is one whose meaning is not fixed.
Therefore, Criticism Is Not About Finding “The Right Answer”
Criticism is not writing that proves
“what the author originally meant.”Criticism is:
the act of recording
how the work operates again
within the sensory field of today.Good criticism does not merely explain a work —
it records the sensory structure of its time.
Conclusion
An interpretation not intended by the author
is not a betrayal of the work.It is an act that reopens the work toward the world.
Art is not a message —
it is an event.And events happen anew, every time.
So—
Unintended interpretations are not meaningless misunderstandings,
but the clearest proof
that art is still alive.
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The Moment “Culture” Becomes Fate
What the Phrase “It’s Because of the Culture” Brings to a Halt
People say it easily.
“It’s because of that society’s culture.”
“It was just the atmosphere of the times.”
“It’s because of their family environment.”These phrases sound like understanding.
But in truth, they explain nothing.Because they stop questions.
Why that choice was made,
which experiences altered that person’s judgment,
which norms and reward structures guided their behavior—
all these questions are ended by a single sentence:“It’s the culture.”
At that moment, culture stops being an explanation
and becomes fate.
Culture as a Totality Is Not Explanation—It Is a Device of Fatalization
The word “culture” is too big.
And too convenient.Inside it are bundled together
norms, education, rewards, punishments, imitation, anxiety, expectations,
and countless unspoken rules.But the moment we say “it’s the culture” without dismantling any of this,
what we are really saying is:They could not have been otherwise.
This is not a sentence that explains structures.
It is a sentence that turns human choice and social design
into an unchangeable fate.Responsibility disappears.
Correction disappears.
Design disappears.
So do criticism, questions, and the possibility of change.
Mechanisms Erased Under the Name of “Environment”
The same is true of “environment.”
“It’s environmental influence.”
“That household atmosphere was like that.”
“It couldn’t be helped—it was that era.”These phrases sound plausible,
but in reality, they say nothing.Which experiences were repeated,
which rules were rewarded,
which anxieties were trained,
which behaviors survived—all of this vanishes,
leaving only “a person who couldn’t be otherwise.”Explanation disappears.
Only fate remains.
Culture Is Not a Mood—It Is an Operating Structure
Culture is not an atmosphere.
It is not emotion, nor image.Culture is an operating structure that runs people.
Which behaviors are praised?
Which choices are safe?
Which attitudes are punished?
What is shameful, and what is respected?This invisible set of rules
designs human judgment and behavior.The moment we say “it’s because of culture” without dismantling this,
we are not explaining society—
we are running away from it.
Words That Stop Explanation Stop the World
The moment culture becomes fate,
the world becomes a structure that cannot be repaired.Because fate cannot be modified.
Explanation leads to design.
Decomposition leads to change.
Questions lead to responsibility.That is why I consider this question more important
than the phrase “it’s the culture”:Exactly what—
through which pathways,
by which rules—
made this person this way?As long as that question remains,
culture has not yet become fate.And the world,
is still repairable.
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