This week we are
addressing the fifth of these eight common questions that those who are
skeptical ask as a challenge to God and the Christian faith. And that question
is this: “Why would a good God allow so much suffering?” Yesterday we
discovered that this is a question that we all ask at
some point in our lives. And, for many people, this question serves as the
chief objection to the Christian faith.
The timeless reality is that every human being
experiences suffering. We experience suffering as a result of the frailty of
our bodies and the inevitable march toward death that we all experience. We
also experience suffering as a result of the seemingly cruel laws of nature
that produce earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, or a branch falling on a moving
car in a storm. We experience suffering as a result of the hatred and hostility
of humanity toward one another.
And it is not just the quantity of the suffering
that causes us to question the existence of God. The very nature of the grief
that surrounds suffering causes us to question God. Those who reject God often
make a very strong case against God when it comes to the issue of suffering in
the world. As Bill Kynes points out, the philosophical case against God often
goes something like this: A God who is all powerful would be able to prevent
evil in the world. A God who is all good would want to prevent evil in the
world. However, evil exists in the world. Therefore, an all-powerful and
all-good God cannot exist.
Often religious people will try to respond to this
philosophical argument against God by trying to water down one of the premises.
For example, some religious people will respond to this argument against God by
proclaiming that evil is not as real as we imagine. Other religious people will
respond to this argument against God by proclaiming that God exists but He just
simply isn’t as powerful as we thought. Still other religious people respond to
this philosophical argument against God by proclaiming that God is all
powerful, but He is just not as caring as we would like.
But this morning, are these the best responses that
we can come up with to this philosophical argument? That evil is really not
that bad? That God is really not that powerful? That God is really not that
good? What if I told you that there is a better response? What if I told you
that there is a response that is found, not just in the letters that make up
the Bible, but in the very life of the historical figure of Jesus?
First, the response of followers of Jesus to the
existence of evil and suffering in the world is not to deny or minimize its
existence. Instead, as followers of Jesus, we are to readily admit the reality
of evil and suffering because Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible shed
a spotlight on it in a way that exaggerates and reinforces the existence of
evil and suffering in the world.
You see, Jesus and the letters than make up the
Bible declare that the evil and suffering that is in the world is far worse
that we realize. As a matter of fact, the existence of evil and suffering in
the world is itself a pointer to the existence of God. Think of it this way: if
there is no God, is there really any ground for believing that injustice and
evil exists? If there is no God, wouldn’t evil just be the result of genetics,
or bad luck? But who really believes that? No, we know evil when we see it,
don’t we?
But the evil we see is only the tip of the iceberg
of the evil that God sees. You see, as
human beings our experience of evil is focused on the outward acts of violence
and hatred or the suffering caused by natural disasters. However, God sees an
additional dimension of evil, which is the spiritual dimension of evil that is
personified by a being that the letters that make up the Bible refer to as
Satan, or the Devil.
Now Jesus and the other authors of the letters that
make up the Bible teach us that demons are a group of supernatural beings who
are under the leadership of the Devil, or Satan. We also know that the Devil
and demons have superhuman, but limited knowledge and power. The Devil and
demons are angels that were created by the Lord before the creation of the
universe, who rebelled against God sometime before the fall of humans that is
recorded for us in the very first letter in the Bible in Genesis 3. And the
Devil and the demons that follow the Devil are driven by a desire to destroy
the Kingdom of God and the people of God. The Devil and the demons are driven
by a desire to be worshipped as gods instead of worshipping God.
However, the letters that make up the Bible also
reveal another element of evil that we can often be oblivious to. And that is
the evil that is found within our own hearts. We see this reality revealed for
us in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the
book of Romans. Here is what a man that we know today as the Apostle Paul had
to say about the human condition in Romans 3:9-18:
What then? Are
we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and
Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE
RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS
NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE
BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." 13
"THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP
DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS"; 14
"WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS"; 15
"THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, 16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY
ARE IN THEIR PATHS, 17 AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT
KNOWN." 18 "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR
EYES."
Here we see the Apostle Paul provide the
evidence to demonstrate that all humanity has a huge problem with God as a
result of the evil of our hearts. Paul reveals the reality that this problem
that is the result of the evil in our hearts is universal. Paul reveals the
reality that this problem that is the result of the evil in our hearts is
revealed by our words and by our actions that cause suffering and harm to
others. Paul reveals the reality that this problem that is the result of the
evil in our hearts is insurmountable.
You see, evil is real and is deeper and far more
pervasive than we can possibly fathom because God is far more right and just
than we can possibly imagine. And this is where what is referred to in church
mumbo jumbo talk as “the fall” comes in. The world that God created was good,
very good. God did not create evil. Now a natural question that could arise
here is “Well if God did not create evil where did evil come from?”
Evil is not something that has an existence all its
own; evil is a corruption of that which already exists. Evil is the absence or deprivation
of something good. For example, tooth decay can exist only as long as the tooth
exists. The cause of evil is not material. Instead the cause of evil is moral.
Evil came into existence the moment that Adam and
Eve used their God-given freedom of choice to choose to rebel against God by
disobeying God, which is recorded for us in a section of the very first letter
in the Bible called the book of Genesis, in Genesis 3. As a result of this
choice by Adam and Eve, the relationship between God and Adam and Eve, and
humanity throughout history, was drastically changed. Now the church mumbo
jumbo talk phrase for this event from history and the consequences from this
event from history is “The Fall of Man”.
You see, for humanity to be truly human requires the
ability to choose and to freely love. By very definition, love is voluntary and
must be freely expressed. Free choice, however, leaves the possibility of wrong
choice. Evil is inherent in the risky gift of free choice. While God’s plan included
evil when he gave humans the freedom of choice, the actual origin or evil came
from man who directed his heart away from God and toward his own selfish
desires.
Thus, whereas God created the fact of freedom, man
created the act of evil. Through Adam’s act of selfishness and rebellion, all
humanity acquired a natural bent toward selfishness and rebellion against God.
Through Adam’s act of selfishness and rebellion, all humanity through history
has acted on that selfish and rebellious bent to do things that hurt God and
others. And it is this selfishness and rebellion that alienates, or separates
us from the relationship with God that we were created for.
However, not only does evil exist and is far worse
than we realize as a result of what is found in our own hearts that rebel
against God. A second response of followers of Jesus to the existence of evil
and suffering in the world is that evil and suffering actually reveals that God
is far more loving than we could ever hope.
After all, if evil originates from the rebellion of
humanity who directed their hearts away from God and toward their own selfish
desires, then an all good and all-powerful God should simply do away with
humanity so as to do away with evil. If the problem is humanity, just remove
humanity and the problem is solved.
But the letters that make the Bible make it
abundantly clear that God did the exact opposite. Friday we see the Apostle
Paul reveal this reality just a few chapters later in the book of Romans...