Bible lessons
Published 04/05/2017
Why does God allow evil and injustice in human life? Most likely, every believer has asked himself this question at different stages of his life. If God is so loving, can't He save people from suffering? Why does God allow these bad things into the lives of people, especially believers? We will try to find answers to these and other questions in our article. And Gordon Ferguson, a famous Christian teacher and author of many books, will help us today.
Why God Allows Evil: Understanding the Problem of Suffering
The problem of understanding the reasons why God allows evil or the existence of evil is a big obstacle in the initial formation of faith in God. Even after we have come to faith, Satan will use this problem to try to lead us astray during difficult times in our lives. Several years ago I read a short but well-reasoned book by Thomas Warren called Have Atheists Proved There Is No God? Over the years, I have not found a better book on this topic from a logical point of view. I ended up writing a lesson presenting the main arguments of the book in sermon form. The material in this article is adapted from that sermon first preached many years ago.
As you consider this topic, keep 2 things in mind:
- No matter how many explanations may be given, the critical question will always be whether we exercise faith in the face of life's storms.
- Although logic and reasoning cannot remove from our lives those necessary obstacles that faith must overcome, yet many unnecessary obstacles can be removed by practical explanations. It would be a big mistake not to remove these unnecessary obstacles from our lives.
Undoubtedly, one of the most challenging obstacles to faith and trust in God is based on the question: “Why does He allow bad things to happen to good people?”, as we often phrase it. The average person would phrase their question something like this: “Why does God allow disease, evil, famine, natural disasters, and atrocities such as war, murder, violence, and child abuse?” An agnostic would express his concern this way: “If God desires evil, then He is not good. If God does not will evil, but it happens anyway, then He is not omnipotent. Therefore, since evil exists, God lacks either goodness or power.” And an atheist would speak out even more forcefully: “A good and omnipotent God would destroy evil completely. But evil exists. Which means there is no God!”
Introduction: Importance of the problem
We have come to the conclusion that suffering and evil do exist. Most people would completely agree with this, at least based on personal experience. Usually, both believers and non-believers who face suffering are equally tormented by the question: “Why?” We believe there is a purpose behind our suffering, and as theists we are primarily interested in God's reasons for allowing it. And it is indeed difficult to imagine a point of view that denies the objective reality of suffering.
Definition of basic concepts
Before we continue, we need to define some basic concepts. Definitions of “good” and “evil” are vital. The only real evil is what the Bible calls “sin,” because sin destroys our relationship with God and with our neighbors. On the other hand, the only true good is Biblical “righteousness,” that which is always good, that which develops our relationships with God and other people. We can call an “instrument of evil” something that ultimately leads people to do the wrong thing (to sin). These may be “stumbling blocks” or “stones that pave the way,” but they are not inherently evil. And we can call “an instrument of good” that which leads a person to true good.
Thus, the same incident can be both an “instrument of good” and an “instrument of evil,” depending on how a person looked at it and how he reacted to it. Illness is a good example of what can be both a blessing and a curse. A health problem can move a person to either slander God or turn to God, depending on that person's heart. In fact, pain in itself is not necessarily evil. It may simply be a symptom of a health problem that motivates a person to get the help they need, or it may be the inevitable result of life-saving surgery.
Definitions of some of God's qualities are necessary for our understanding of the problem of good and evil. When we say that God is “all-knowing,” we are saying that He knows everything there is to know. For example, He knew in advance that man would sin and would need atonement. Therefore, He created the world with this in mind - a world suitable for the spiritual development of man. Our world was never meant to be an eternal paradise - that's what Heaven is meant for!
When we say that God is “omnipotent,” we recognize that He can do everything that is in principle possible to do. However, some things are impossible by definition. For example, can God create a rock so big that he cannot lift it, or can God create a square circle? Questions like these give the impression that if God had more power, He could. But the fact is that some things are not a matter of power, not even God's power! He will do only what is in harmony with His nature. He will not and cannot lie, for example. And it will not interfere with human free will. To describe God as just is to say that He should reward good and punish evil. Because He created man as a being with free will, His justice requires that He allow man to make real choices.
If there is a God, why do innocent people and children, especially children, die?
Priest's answer:
Indeed, many are concerned about the problem of the existence of evil, suffering, especially of the innocent. Orthodox Christianity answers these questions as follows.
1. God is Holy, that is, He Himself is not the source of sin and evil. Evil does not exist apart from God. It does not possess any kind of eternal, independent and autonomous existence from God. In this, Christianity is strikingly different from dualistic religions (for example, Zoroastrianism), which believe that evil and good are two eternal principles. The Fathers of the Church say that evil is without substance. Just like rust, it does not occur in nature in its pure form. It forms on iron and destroys it. The God of the Bible is not the creator of evil: “God created man for incorruptibility and made him the image of His eternal being; but through the envy of the devil death entered the world, and those who belong to his inheritance experience it” (Wisdom 2: 23 – 24). Then where is the source of evil? – It lies in the incorrect will of freely rational beings: angels and people. Both are endowed with the ability of self-determination in relation to God. The wrong choice, called sin, violates the spiritual and moral laws of their existence established by God, and gives rise to evil. It was the sin of Dennitsa (fallen angel), as well as the ancestors of the human race - Adam and Eve, that became the cause of the appearance of evil, suffering and death in the world. All of humanity, as the descendants of the fallen Adam, inherited the state of his nature damaged by sin: they became passionate (more prone to sin than to virtue), perishable (subject to disease, aging), and mortal (physically dying).
2. From here it becomes clear why people suffer and die? – They carry in their nature: in body and soul, deep damage called original sin. It was precisely for this reason that the Son of God came to earth two thousand years ago, in order to give all humanity a cure for sin, curse and death through His Redemptive Sacrifice.
3. So, one of the most important causes of suffering and death is human nature itself, damaged in Adam. Another reason is the wrong choice made by each descendant of Adam: by preferring the path of sin, that is, violation of objective moral laws, a person suffers himself and makes others suffer, including his children. For example, an alcoholic, conceiving his child in a drunken stupor, dooms him to severe hereditary diseases. Parents who are subject to passions pass on their inclination towards them, in the form of so-called generational sin, to their children.
4. But why does God allow this suffering if He is Almighty and He is Love? - God does not want to deprive people of the gift of free will, for this is the greatest gift that can make a person God-like: “to become a partaker of the Divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). To take away freedom means to deprive people of the opportunity to achieve their destiny, it means to commit violence against them. So, God does not take away people’s freedom, although he warns about the consequences of a wrong choice: and these are illnesses, suffering, mental and physical. But He includes the consequences of evil human actions in His Providence, turning them to the good of man himself. Example. War, as the vast majority of people believe, is the focus of maximum evil. But, for example, the Great Patriotic War, for many Russian people who had by that time become atheists, became a reason to return to faith, to find God. How many recent unbelievers, in the face of death, turned to Him in prayer, repented of their sins, and after the war became priests, monks and elders.
5. The presence of innocent suffering is a school of love necessary for every person so that by caring for the sick and suffering he can become a Human.
6. And finally, innocent suffering rather confirms the existence of God than refute it, and here’s why. If there were no God, there would be no life after death, all earthly activities of mankind would turn into nonsense, and death would become the greatest tragedy: a person died and disappeared forever. And it is not clear why he was born and grew up, studied, achieved something in life, built, raised children, learned about the world around him, obtained material wealth, if death instantly and forever takes all this away from him? Children's, innocent suffering is especially meaningless: they turn into a blind play of the forces of nature, or evil human will. And only the existence of God, eternal life and posthumous reward, fills childhood suffering and death with meaning. From this point of view, it turns out that the path of this child is not cut short by death, and the suffering suffered in earthly life will be replaced by the joy of communion with God in eternal life.
I would like to recommend to you, Artemy, for a more detailed acquaintance with the arguments of Christianity in defense of the existence of God, and answers to the objections of atheists, an interesting series of lectures by the Orthodox publicist Sergei Khudiev: “God exists!” https://gorenka.org/index.php/lektsii-propovedi/12095-sergej-khudiev-bog-est-kurs-lektsii-po-obshcheniyu-s-ateistami, as well as a weekly program with his participation: “One Hundred questions from an atheist" https://teos.fm/show/100-voprosov-ateista
"Suffering in the Flesh"
Everyone is suffering. And the suffering that people experience on earth is not necessarily in direct proportion to the sins they have committed. Disciples of Jesus Christ, God's servants, know how to benefit from suffering.
1 Peter 4:1 says: “Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, arm yourself with the same mind; for he who suffers in the flesh ceases to sin. ." Physical suffering alone cannot put an end to sin. On the contrary, when a person experiences pain, loss, tragedy, then the sin that lives within them begins to make itself known, and people can be tempted to anger, bitterness and despondency. But the disciple acts as his Teacher - Jesus did: He rejects these thoughts and puts them to death. The sin that was discovered during the test dies. This is called "suffering in the flesh" because preventing the flesh from following its lusts is the same as denying its will, and this causes pain. This is what Jesus did while on earth, and this is God's will for us. As a result, sin will be defeated and virtue will replace it.
When enough people consciously choose to suffer in the flesh rather than sin, God will finally be able to say to Satan, “Look, your way didn’t work. Sin only leads to suffering, but some people have chosen My path. They chose not to sin. This proves again that you have nothing more to say! !
Then the time of reckoning will come.
Why doesn't God make the suffering stop?
God could have intervened at any moment and stopped the suffering. He could have reached out His hand and saved us from pain. Despite everything, He is omnipotent. But if He had done this, He would never have been able to prove that Satan had made a mistake. Sin brings suffering. God knows this. Now He wants to prove it to all creation.
God is very sad to see His creation suffer. He wants this to end so that He can give us a helping hand. His ultimate goal is to end suffering forever. He wants all of His creation to be in perfect harmony, as it was in the beginning. But this time, He wants to make sure that no one will infect this new creation with sin. Therefore, He needs to prove that sin entails only misfortune and suffering. And to prove this, God has to follow the laws that He himself created.
