9/11 Tragedy: Why Does God Allow Evil?

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Although 25 years have passed, I can still remember where I was. I was in my third year of high school, sitting in our first class that morning, when one of my classmates started talking about an attack in the United States.

At that age, I didn’t even know what the Twin Towers were.

I simply knew that something terrible had happened.

Millions of people would soon realize just how terrible it was.

On September 11, terrorists hijacked four airplanes. Two crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York. Another hit the Pentagon, while the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members fought back.

By the end of the day, 2,977 people had been killed.

Behind that number were fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, friends and coworkers.

And among them were firefighters, police officers and other first responders who ran toward danger while everyone else was trying to escape.

Three days later, President George W. Bush stood among the rubble at Ground Zero. Surrounded by exhausted firefighters and rescue workers, he tried to speak to the people gathered there.

Someone shouted, “We can’t hear you!”

Bush responded:

“I can hear you. I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you.”

It was a powerful moment.

But that scene also raises a much deeper question.

If God could hear them, why did He allow such terrible evil to happen in the first place?

That is a question people have asked throughout human history.

Why does God allow evil?

God Did Not Create an Evil World

The Bible begins with a very different picture of the world than the one we see today.

After creating the heavens, the earth, animals and humanity, God looked at everything He had made:

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”
Genesis 1:31, NKJV

God’s original creation was good.

Murder was not part of His design.

Hatred was not part of His design.

Terrorism was not part of His design.

War, abuse and corruption were not part of His design.

So where did evil come from?

Genesis 3 shows us that humanity rejected God’s way.

Sin entered the human experience.

And from that point forward, mankind began experiencing the consequences of rebellion against God.

Human beings were given the ability to make meaningful choices. Unfortunately, we have often chosen badly.

We can choose love, but we can also choose hatred.

We can choose generosity, but we can also choose greed.

We can choose peace, but we can also choose violence.

September 11 was an extreme example of what human beings can do when they embrace evil.

But it was not the only example.

History is filled with wars, dictatorships, murder, oppression and unimaginable cruelty.

The problem is not simply that there are evil people “out there.”

The problem is the human heart.

Jesus Also Addressed Tragedy

Interestingly, Jesus Himself was once asked about two terrible tragedies.

Some people told Him about Galileans who had been killed by Pilate.

Jesus also mentioned eighteen people who died when a tower in Siloam collapsed.

Jesus asked:

“Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?”
Luke 13:2, NKJV

And regarding those who died in the tower collapse:

“Do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?”
Luke 13:4, NKJV

Jesus’ answer is important.

He did not say those people died because they were worse sinners.

Sometimes terrible things happen simply because we live in a world affected by sin, human choices and the consequences of living apart from God.

Jesus used those tragedies to remind His listeners that life is temporary and that we need to examine our own relationship with God.

That is an important lesson for us too.

When tragedy happens, our first question should not always be, “Why did God punish them?”

It should also be, “Am I prepared to meet God?”

There Is Also an Unseen Spiritual Battle

The Bible reveals another dimension to the problem of evil.

There is a real spiritual adversary, Satan.

The book of Job gives us a glimpse into this unseen world.

Job was a righteous man who suddenly experienced devastating suffering. He lost his possessions, his children and eventually his health.

Job wanted to know why.

His friends assumed that Job must have done something terribly wrong.

But they were wrong.

Job’s suffering was not proof that he was a worse sinner than everyone else.

The story shows that Satan was involved, although God remained in control and placed limits on what Satan could do.

This teaches us an important distinction:

God may allow something without approving of it.

God is not the author of evil.

But for this present age, He has allowed humanity to experience the consequences of rebellion and has allowed Satan a limited role in opposing His purpose.

We may not understand every reason God permits suffering.

And sometimes we have to be honest enough to say, “I don’t know.”

Job Never Got the Full Explanation

This may be one of the most important lessons in the entire book of Job.

Job wanted answers.

He wanted God to explain Himself.

But when God finally answered, He did not give Job a detailed explanation of everything that had happened.

Instead, God revealed Himself.

Beginning in Job 38, God reminded Job of His enormous wisdom and power.

Job could not see the whole picture.

Neither can we.

There will be things that happen in our lives that we may never fully understand.

Why did this person die?

Why did that tragedy happen?

Why didn’t God intervene?

Why did my prayer seem to go unanswered?

Sometimes, we simply don’t know.

But not knowing the reason doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a purpose.

We can trust God even when we don’t understand everything He allows.

God Can Bring Good Out of Evil

One of the most encouraging examples is Joseph.

Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery because of their hatred and jealousy.

What they did was evil.

Yet years later, God used Joseph to save many lives during a terrible famine.

Joseph eventually told his brothers:

“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.”
Genesis 50:20, NKJV

Notice what Joseph said.

He didn’t call their actions good.

They meant evil.

But God brought something good out of it.

The greatest example of this is the death of Yeshua.

Yeshua was innocent.

Yet He was betrayed, falsely accused, beaten and executed.

From a human perspective, it looked like evil had won.

But God used that terrible event to accomplish something extraordinary.

Yeshua’s death became part of God’s plan for humanity’s redemption.

Then came the resurrection.

What looked like defeat became victory.

This doesn’t mean evil is good.

It means evil does not have to be the end of the story.

We See This in Human Responses to Tragedy

September 11 also revealed something else.

Evil can bring out the worst in people, but tragedy can also reveal extraordinary courage and compassion.

Firefighters ran into burning buildings.

Police officers risked their lives.

Rescue workers searched through rubble.

Ordinary people helped complete strangers.

One of those firefighters was Robert “Bob” Beckwith, a retired FDNY firefighter who returned to Ground Zero after the attacks.

On September 14, he stood among the rubble alongside President Bush.

The photograph became one of the defining images of that moment.

Beckwith later became an advocate for the health needs of 9/11 first responders. He died in 2024 at age 91 after battling melanoma, with firefighter organizations describing his death as a World Trade Center-related illness.

The tragedy itself was evil.

But the courage, sacrifice and compassion displayed by so many people in response to it were good.

That is something God can do.

He can bring good out of circumstances that were never good to begin with.

We Don’t Have to Understand Everything to Have Hope

Yeshua never promised that His followers would live without suffering.

In fact, He said:

“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33, NKJV

Notice that He didn’t say, “You will never suffer.”

He said we will have tribulation.

But He also said:

“I have overcome the world.”

That is where our hope comes from.

We live in a world where evil still exists.

People still make terrible choices.

Sickness and death still happen.

Wars still occur.

People still hurt one another.

But this is not the end of the story.

Yeshua has already overcome the world.

And one day, His victory will be fully revealed.

Evil Will Not Have the Last Word

The Bible points toward a future when God will establish His Kingdom and ultimately remove the causes and consequences of sin.

Revelation gives us a beautiful picture of that future:

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.”
Revelation 21:4, NKJV

Think about that promise.

No more death.

No more sorrow.

No more crying.

No more pain.

There will come a time when people will no longer ask why God allowed evil because evil will no longer exist.

The world we see today is not God’s final product.

And that is perhaps the most important thing we can understand.

We may not know why God allowed a particular tragedy.

We may not understand why one person suffered while another escaped.

We may not have answers to every difficult question.

But we can know where history is going.

God’s Kingdom is coming.

There will be a resurrection.

Death will not have the final word.

Suffering will not have the final word.

Satan will not have the final word.

Evil will not have the final word.

Yeshua will.

And until that day comes, we can hold on to His words:

“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33, NKJV

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