The prescience of evil and good in todays world and why seemingly bad things happen to good people and children. This subject is probably one of the most complicated and complex problems for a Christian Minister to address. But with the recent deaths of a good friend of mine senselessly at the hand of another and the hearing still of a 12 day old granddaughter of a good friend of mine suddenly passing I felt it needed my comments. I hear questions of How could God allow this evil to happen? or Why did God allow my child/baby to die? even still, Why did God allow someone in the prime of their life suddenly die for no good reason at the hands of another? First there are two kinds of evil within this world Natural evil and Moral evil. In some cases there is a mix of the two. I will try to explain each: Natural Evil is that which happens in and of itself. Hurricane Katrina, the recent outbreaks of tornadoes in the mid-west, The floods of the northeast are all examples of natural evil. Natural evil basically without going into too much is secondary detail caused primarily by original sin of Adam. This world is in a constant state of decline and degeneration. As time goes on more and more of these events will happen due to this state of affairs of this earth. Moral evil is when another person makes a decision to do something that is wrong in the eyes of God and society as a whole. One person shooting another or killing them in some other manner. or even suicide falls in this category. These are usually dealt with swiftness by our justice system for the most part. God wanted to destroy all Moral evil when he ordered Noah to build the ark. It was said at that time that the thoughts of man were only evil continually. God spared Noah and his family, but evil still continued after a fashion and still does to this day. This evil is a direct cause of Adams sin in the garden of Eden. God has promises us as Christians a better world (future) where these problems do not exist. A child being accidentally hit by a car while playing and dying because of the injuries is a natural evil. However that same child dying suddenly for no apparent reason being found dead in bed one morning is not fully a moral evil (at times) but not a natural evil either. It is a mixture of the two simply speaking. The Bible states it is appointed to men once to die and after this the judgment. The Bible also stated after the flood that My spirit (God shall not always strive with man. Therefore his days shall be numbered to 120 years. So why does seemingly loving and caring God allow these things to happen? In a nutshell, these things are allowed to happen for in most cases a greater good. Such as the suffering this 12 day old child would have gone through the rest of her life if she had lived as an invalid or worse on continual life support. The expenses associated with maintaining that life would have been tremendous and possible devastated that family financially. The good however that came from her 12 day old seeming short life was filled with love, care and happy emotions from the parents and the other siblings. That is all she knew. She never had to face the pain of this world, the disappointment, the heartbreak, physical pain. The parents and family did a good job of preparing this child to meet the Savior because she went from happiness to a place of eternal happiness. In the case of the elderly or those who contract a disease after being what is termed a good Christian, the disease itself is the thing that is evil. The Bible states that these things will happen and usually there is a greater good that comes from these events. Another soul is brought into the Kingdom of God, a wayward relative comes back to God and becomes a Deacon of a church after counseling (I witnessed this one myself). We may live to see the greater good that comes from these things. We also may never know the lives that loved one touched that you are not aware of that would not have been touched had they not been in your life or others. My mother died of complications from Hepatitis C. My mother lost slowly all of her bodily functions and her heart was the last to go. She died literally drowning in her own bodily fluids. My mother was in constant pain. All I wanted her to be was free of pain. The person in that bed was not my mother I knew. However I knew that when she passed, the pain, the disease, the artificial limbs, the broken bones from osteoarthritis would be gone and she would be happy and pain free with the Lord. But during her life she touched so many lives I cant begin to count and is part of the reason of why and who I am. My father died suddenly at 46 years from a massive heart attack when I was 11. Had this not have happened, I would not have grown up to be the man that I currently am. He taught me many things and the trials I went through as a teenager helped me help others on countless occasions had I never had the experience I did. We do not always know the reason why, but sometimes we get to see the results. The Bible states that we do not live in a perfect world. that much is true. If God rid the world of all evil, he would have to destroy you and me. That is not his wish. Jesus was a man and can empathize with our feelings of sadness and despair. Just read the account in Matthew. We do not have a savior who is not familiar with our day to day sufferings. When Jesus went to the tomb to raise Lazarus, he wept. We are told by Jesus to anticipate that we will follow the Lord in suffering (John 15:20-27) but Jesus has overcome the world and we can be comforted that the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is revealed in us (Romans 8:18). Or the glory that is to come. I sincerely hope my explanation has helped some understand the presence of evil and good in this world and is my best attempt to answer those questions. God bless you Pastor Charlie Painter
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 10:32:53 +0000
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