SIR – With reference to Mr K Hemming’s letter about God and the evil in the world, ‘What favours has God ever done?’ (July 29), I would point to two solutions: Atheists will reply that life on our planet has always been hard and ruthless.

Atheists of all colours, sizes and shapes will speak about some imbalance or another.

We are at liberty to pick either belief.

As a Christian, I find that Man – a being endowed with freedom of will and choice – at a certain moment, separated himself from God through disobedience, and therefore his heart became corrupted, selfish and limited in vision. This third element brought into Man the awareness of suffering and the inescapable terror of death and of powerlessness in front of the unknown and unexplained. God – because of His redemptive love – shares our pain and disgrace through the Cross of Jesus Christ. The fact then of the bodily resurrection and Ascension of Christ spurs us to the assurance that evil has not the victory.

Life everlasting is a reality in time and space, though, at the moment, we can only see it by trusting. Meanwhile our duty and task is to brave life and help others and stand by anything that is good and just – divine grace buoys us up.

JOHN E IEBOLE,

Worcester.