There's a book called “Being Christian:
Exploring Where You, God, and Life Connect” by Stephen Arterburn and John
Shore that that has really impressed me. The book tackles some simple but complex questions that just about
everyone has about being Christian. And they do it in everyday, easy to
understand language, as opposed to the language of seminary professors (which
they are not). Some of the questions include:
· How do I know that God loves me personally?
· Is there any sin that’s beyond forgiving?
· Will being a Christian help me get rid of my bad
habits?
· Why are there so many Christian denominations?
· Should I join a Bible study group?
One of the questions
the book addressed was “Why does God allow evil to exist?” This is a tough
question, and one that I’ve heard asked more than once. Certainly there are
several different kinds of evil; human generated evil and “natural evil” –
earthquakes, floods, cancer, etc.—to name two. This month we’ll focus on human
generated evil. Here is how Stephen Arterburn and John Shore answer that:
God
allows evil to exist because he allows people to exist. It’s people who do
evil, not God. What people at heart almost always really mean when they ask the
question is “Why doesn’t God stop evil from happening?” – which, in practical
terms, necessarily boils down to the question, “Why doesn’t God stop people
from doing evil things?”
God
doesn’t stop any of us from doing what we want to do because doing so would
require his taking back the free will he gave us. Because he loves us (not to
mention that he created us in his image), violating our free will is not
something that God is going to do. And it’s definitely not anything any of us
would want God to do. Our free will is what makes us human. Our free will is
proof positive that God loves us so much that he endowed us with the ability to
completely ignore or deny him if we want to. That is love. God would have to
love us a lot less than he does in order to start overthrowing our free will.
He’d have to hate us, in fact.
Stopping
people from being able to do evil would mean stopping them from thinking about
doing evil, which would mean stopping them from ever having the negative
thoughts that necessarily precede evil actions. And that could only result in
full mind control.
When
does a thought become “evil”? If I think a person is wearing clothes that look
bad, is that an evil thought? If I think that person shouldn’t have left home
wearing those clothes, does that thought now qualify as evil? If I wonder how
they could possibly look in the mirror and think they look okay, is that
thought finally evil? You see the problem. The whole range of thoughts between
“not evil” and “evil” constitutes a gray scale of such infinite shade gradation
that virtually the only way to stop all evil thoughts (which, remember,
necessarily precede evil actions) is to stop all thoughts, period.
Do no
evil = think no evil = have no evil thoughts = the absence of life as we know
it. That is why no one really wants God to stop people from doing evil. That
evil exists doesn’t prove that God isn’t benevolent. It proves just how
benevolent he is.
So, there is evil in this world
because it’s one of those very sad prices we must pay to have free will; to
have the ability to be human in the sense that we now define humanity.
Overcoming the evil is pretty straight forward: believe in Jesus Christ and
allow him to control your life. Turn your thoughts and actions over to Him. At
some point we are all going to have evil thoughts. With God’s help through the
Holy Spirit we can choose not to act on those thoughts. And then we can ask God
to forgive us those thoughts and wipe that sin from our slate.
Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your
rod and staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)
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