"God gives all people their talents to glorify Him. He gives Christians gifts to praise God. Why does he give non-Christians, let alone sinners, great gifts that are used against Him like the very talented satanic metal bands?" -- Anonymous
This anonymous brother / sister in Christ focusses the question on the talents given by God to people who then abuse them -- and, worse, use those talents to abuse Him and others. In passing, I want to note that my sibling is asking "Why is there evil?" in a very specific context. Rather than reflecting on the larger question, I'll try to stick to this specific one. Before doing so, though, I must point out one thing about the larger question, "Why is there evil?", that deserves mention whenever considering any problem of this type. The answer to the larger question is not an idea, not a concept, but an invitation by God to get to know Him: God responds to the question, "Why do You allow evil to exist? -- I thought you're completely good!" by saying, "I am completely Good -- but more good than you know! Come and get to know me better by worshiping me and being my partner in opposing evil." God isn't content to simply explain his ways to us (when we probably wouldn't understand the ways of an infinite Being anyway). God wants us to know Him as the answer to the problem.
Specifically when talking about wicked people, God gives not only talent to them, but much else besides. The apostle Paul noted that "In Him we live and move and have our being." Jesus observed that the Father causes the sun to rise on the just and unjust alike, the rain to fall on just and unjust alike. The Holy Spirit is "the Lord and Giver of Life" according to the Nicene Creed. Every time you take a breath, God is there giving you that breath. Every time your heart beats, God is there giving you that heart beat. Whenever you experience love or kindness -- or even the pain that tells you "I am still alive!" when you're in a hard place -- God is there in that moment, that gift. The answer to the question, "Why do you give talents to bad people?" is something like "Come and see -- get to know me." And the God we come to know is the God who "...so loved the world that He gave..." God's goodness and love is a sacrificial goodness that spends itself on worthless, spiteful, selfish people. See how St. Paul writes in Romans 5 "God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners (!!) Christ died for us."
So, part of the answer to "Why does God give talents to horrible people?" is "He loves them." We may think God a great fool for doing that and at times wonder, along with the Psalmist, how long is He going to put up with all the crap -- and make us put with it! The suffering righteous in the Book of Revelation put the question well in Chapter 6: "How long will it be, holy and true master, before you sit in judgement and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?" Here, the second part of the partial answer is given to the whole church, "Join me!" We read on in chapter 6, "Each of them [the martyrs] was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little while longer until the number was filled of their fellow servants and brothers who were going to be killed as they had been." God says to the martyrs, "Put up with the wicked a little longer. Suffer with me as I put up with them for just a little while longer." Now, you may object that God doesn't say exactly "suffer with me". To understand that that is what is going on, we have to read the Bible a bit more. See the book of Acts, when the Resurrected and Ascended Lord Jesus confronts Saul, "Saul, Saul! -- Why are you persecuting me! " Christ sees the suffering of His people as his own suffering. Strangely, He and us have become One, He the head, and we the body.
Pastor Mike, your thoughts?
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I have only two thoughts to add to what Pastor Matt has already said.
First is the distinction between talents and Spiritual gifts. God gives every person talents by virtue of God creating each person in His image. God desires us to use our talents for His glory. As sin enters the picture though, we misuse our talents for our own glory and even in opposition to God's purposes. Spiritual gifts, though, are given only to believers by virtue of their receiving the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts are given by God and used strictly for God's purpose in building up the Church. That's a key difference: I think it's impossible for Spiritual gifts to be used in opposition to God's purposes, or at least I can't fathom how they could be.
The second thing I want to mention is the constant hope for redemption. God grieves over Satanic rock bands using their talent in opposition to God's purpose. While it's true that, as Pastor Matt explained, God will eventually deal with the wicked, He ultimately longs for the wicked to repent, turn to God, and be redeemed so that they might use their God-given talents for His glory.
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