By Michael
Morrison
By Michael
Morrison
Each week is a week of tragedy. There are wars in Africa. There is ethnic violence in Israel, Turkey and India. There is state-sponsored persecution in China and Pakistan. There are hatred and jealousy, murders and war--every week.
But sometimes it strikes closer to home. The war in Kosovo is more real to us when we see pictures of people killed or homeless. Problems in our society get more publicity when schools become scenes of mass murder.
It all seems so senseless. Even people with no moral foundation can see this is evil. How do we as Christians respond to the problem of evil?
With sorrow. With sadness. With revulsion. With perplexity. With questions that have no answers.
Why does God allow such things? Why does he allow bad people to cause such suffering? Couldn't things have worked out in a less tragic way?
Philosophers and theologians can talk about why God might allow evil, but their answers do not make the pain go away. They cannot make the world seem tidy and sensible--because the world is not tidy and sensible. And Christian faith is not designed to make everything tidy and sensible. Well then, what does faith have to say about the evils we see?
First, that this world has evil in it.
Right and wrong is not simply a matter of opinion--there is an objective and unchanging standard of right and wrong, defined not by humans but by God. There has to be a God if there is going to be any definition of evil. And for reasons known best to God alone, God allows evil in this world.
Jesus commented on the problem of evil. A tower at Siloam collapsed and killed 18 people. Was this divine punishment for their secret sins? No, said Jesus. These people were not any more sinful than anybody else.
Jesus did not say why the tower fell, but he made the situation personal for his audience: Unless you repent, you will also perish. The tragedy on other people became an object lesson for us to repent.
If we have attitudes of jealousy, anger or resentment, we have committed murder in our hearts. And when we see the tragic results of anger in Littleton, Colorado, we do well to examine ourselves and our own attitudes. We need to be repulsed by the wrong attitudes within ourselves. When the results of sin are made so clear, what we need to do is repent.
We can grieve for the people of Littleton. But Jesus is saying that we need to look at ourselves, too. Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.
We can ask why God allowed people to die--but we also need to ask why God allows us to live. Each of us has had evil thoughts. Each of us has done evil. Why does God allow evil within us? None of us deserves to escape punishment, and yet God allows escape, too.
If we ask about why there is evil, we should also ask about why there is mercy. Why should God forgive us when we do not deserve it?
Let us abhor evil. Let us also rejoice in God's grace, and seek his grace. Let us repent. Let us fight against evil, starting with ourselves.
Jesus fought against evil, but he did not fight the way humans fight. He fed the hungry, he healed the sick. He cast out demons and he taught against religious oppression. But Jesus did not try to stop all evils through force.
He did not suggest that we need better police or better family values. He did not suggest weapons-control laws. Those things might help, but Jesus addressed a more fundamental need: repentance. We cannot conquer evil in others unless we are doing something about it within ourselves.
And ultimately, Jesus conquered evil--but he did it through suffering and death, not through force. And he also calls on his followers to be willing to suffer and die. He assures us that we are conquerors if we follow him even through suffering and death.
Our experiences with evil help us grow in compassion and faith--precisely because they test our faith. We are forced to trust in God because in such times, we can see the truth more clearly--there is really nothing else to trust in.
Someday, Jesus will use force to put down evil. Right now, he does not. Now, we as Christians live as aliens in a tainted and sinful world. We know by faith that a better world is coming. We know by faith that a better way of life is possible--but we also see in Jesus the perplexing message that this better way is achieved only through a time of evil and pain.
We cannot understand it, but we trust God to work it out because we see that he was willing to bear the pain himself. He was willing to suffer from evil, too.
But there was joy set before Jesus, and there is joy set before us, too. If we suffer with him, we will also reign with him. If we are with him in his humiliation, we will also be with him in his glory.
We do not yet see all things put under the reign of Christ. Now, we see suffering and death. But through the resurrection of Christ, we can see that death itself has been conquered.
All things will be brought into subjection to Jesus Christ, the Lord of compassion and mercy. Even as we grieve for the evils of today's world, we can rejoice in our hope in Jesus Christ. We still grieve--we should grieve at evil--but we grieve with hope and faith in Jesus Christ.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1999