Why does God allow bad things to happen?

I know Kevin promised updates on the G90X on Monday’s.  Well…Kevin is not here, and I felt like I needed to post this.  I will give an update tomorrow on the G90X.

This piece is a companion piece to “Is God Evil”.  Just to recap… Two common arguments used by atheists and agnostics alike is that God is either evil because He is in control of everything and allows bad things to happen or He is not in control.  In the “Is God Evil” blog I refuted both of those points using God’s Word as the foundation.  So the natural response…If God is in control, and God is not evil…why then would He allow these things to happen?

I first began to think about this topic because I had my own motivations to study it.  I was curious about why God would allow a recession of this magnitude and other bad things I saw in the world around me.  I also was faced with a discussion with an agnostic/atheist who said they refused to believe in a God that would allow such horrible things to happen.  This gets to the heart of the matter for a number of atheists and agnostics.  Why? 

Recently I had a conversation with a woman that I have worked with for nearly a year.  Somehow during the conversation she had mentioned something about a trial, so I inquired.  It turns out that her son had been murdered.  The story is painful.  All I could think about was what my response would be had something like this had happened to my kids.  Anyway, her son had been shot because of an argument that went out of control.  The guy that shot him then proceeded to pour gasoline on him and set him on fire.  As she is telling the story she begins to cry, and then the most amazing words came out of her mouth… “I am so grateful that he was saved.  I know that I will see him again.”  Amazing!!  Here, this mother had lost a son, in the most extreme way, and was still grateful to God.

So why would God allow this to happen to her child?  Why would God allow a child to be raped (as David pointed out on several occasions from the “Is God Evil?” post)?  We could look at the cause of evil in the world today.  How the fall of man has allowed sin/disease into the world.  I would rather focus on the “why?” as opposed to the “how?”  Perhaps the “how?” can be addressed in a future post.

The first thing that has to be said when looking at the question “why” is that we have no way of knowing why God does the things that he does.  As smart as we all like to think we are we have no idea.  The perfect illustration to this is the book of Job.  To understand what I am talking about you have to understand Job.  Job was upright and blameless.  He had not committed any specific sin when God allowed Satan to strike at him.  Thus Job (and his friends) asked the question….why?  Why would God do this to him?  Now Job claimed he had done nothing wrong, and if he only had the opportunity to present his case to God he would be able to explain this.  Job friends said that he had to have done something wrong…otherwise why would God punish him?  Neither was right.  God responds in Chapters 38 – 42.  God challenges Job’s by asking him a series of questions.  Basically God asks Job…”Who are you?”  He does this in a sarcastic manner.  Jobs response in 42:2-3 shows the lesson to be learned.  There are things we cannot comprehend, things we will not understand.  God makes this point very clear to Job, and Job gets it.  What is the first answer to “why?”  We will never know until God reveals it to us.

There are additional answers that we have been able to identify from the New Testament that allow us to understand why God would allow these things to happen.  In my comments to the “Is God Evil?” post I identified a few. 

The question was asked then…”Does God really need to allow these things to happen to display Himself?”  The answer is yes.  Yes, He does. 

–          It allows a witness

We draw this example from Christ.  1 Peter 5:1 is an example of how suffering allows us to be effective witnesses.  Peter watched the suffering of Christ.  For this reason he was able to be an effective witness to the event.  Can you speak to suffering, if you have not seen the misery that comes with it?  Can you speak to anything with wisdom, if you have not participated?

–          It develops our capacity to comfort others

Look at 2 Corinthians 1:3-7.  Paul is making two distinct points.  First, that God is the father of compassion and comfort.  God will always be there to comfort us.  Also Paul makes the great point that the suffering we endure will create patient endurance and allow us to share our comfort.  Seriously, who is more able to provide more comfort in times of suffering?  Those who have not dealt with any, or those who have?  This was Paul’s point.

–          It is a training tool

Suffering allows us to grow.  James 1:2-4 tells us that trials will help us persevere.  The Bible verse here says it all. “… that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” See the parallel passage in Romans 5:3-5 “³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

–          It displays the awesome power of God’s grace

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 displays this point.  Here Paul is under attack, and describes the thorn in his flesh (suffering).  Paul pleaded with God three times.  God’s response?  My grace is sufficient.  God did not tell Paul, okay I will make it all stop.  God responded by saying, I get it, and my grace is enough for you during these trials.

It is hard to endure or even watch the evil and suffering that exists in the world.  How do you, from any perspective answer the question, “Why would God allow that to happen?”  Rape, child molestation, murder, genocide etc…  Look at the above answers.  As painful as it is for us, our faith has to reside in God, otherwise…what else is there?  Man? Randomness?  Chance?  These things happen for any number of reasons that will be beyond our control.  We must, in all circumstances, know that we must continue to have faith in God.

LOST Series Finale

Sunday night was bitter sweet for me. LOST is over… Yeah, I can admit that I’ve been a huge fan of the show. My wife and I didn’t start off watching it, but got caught up in about season 3 by renting the first two seasons on DVD just before season 3 launched. This series has been one of my favorite shows of all time and the finale didn’t disappoint.

Of course, there are plenty of things to criticize about the show’s world view… but seriously, who forms their belief system over something they know to be fiction? There are, however, at least a few parallels to biblical Christianity (this is often true of great literature)… So, to put LOST to bed, so to speak, please allow me to point out just a couple of these.

First of all… the concept of the show started out simple enough, but then it got REAL complicated – REAL quick… Not everything made sense – no one could ever quite understand all the rules governing the island and those living on it – good people went bad, people with dubious pasts redeemed themselves. To the very end everybody had their own opinions as to why such and such was happening (from the tiniest detail to the over-arching purpose/meaning)… In fact, the most helpful episodes were the reruns that included the writers’ and/or directors’ commentary – but even these sometimes brought more confusion and questions than they provided answers.

Isn’t that just like real life, though? Life starts out real simple, but gets REAL complicated – REAL quick. Not everything that happens to us makes sense – Why do bad things happen to us or people we know? Why does the economy stink? Why do folks get laid off? What is the Purpose of Life? Why is the government so jacked up? The questions roll on and on… And the stronger the questions and challenges the less we know how to deal with them on our own!

Sorting it all out can be crippling! So people turn to various religions and try all sorts of theories (remember the hatch… Hugo’s unlucky numbers… Daniel’s crazy insights and ideas – including the nuke… Desmond’s idea last night). But even when they find the right place (we believe this to be the Bible) to search for reliable answers to life and morality (I mean, just how are we supposed to fight the “Smoke Monsters” in our lives – whoever he is) the waters can still be muddy because people often have a hard time understanding it or it leads to more questions!

SPOILER ALERT: Two of my favorite places in this last episode is where Jack initiated Hurley by passing him the bottle as Jacob had done for him – “Now, you’re like me”. Kate said “I know you don’t understand, Jack… But if you come with me, you will.” She touched his life profoundly and then led him to his father, who could (and did) provide the answers.

Both of these scenes demonstrate the kind of evangelism we need to have in the Church today… a passionate compassion for other people that leads them to be their best by seriously engaging in a relationship with God. In both scenes a life-altering decision was made and it was initiated by one of the characters simply asking them to make a decision. The decisions were tough but because of the love and care and friendship that had been invested between them the decision was really not all that hard… But still, one had to ask and the other had to accept. Demonstrating their decision wasn’t complicated – instead, it was so easy Hurley asked “Is that it?” It is the same for sharing and accepting God’s free gift of salvation. Through Jesus there is redemption for everyone even someone as evil as Benjamin Linus (I was glad to see them bring that character around for good through admitting his failures and apologizing). But for that to occur they must be presented the Good News that forgiveness and a new life are available though Jesus… this means that we are going to have to do a much better job of just lovingly asking our friends and family to make a decision (just like Kate and Jack did) – I’d venture to say that we will often get similar responses as the ones depicted on the show… acceptance (even if there is some reluctance at first).

That is what Robert and I are trying to do with this venue… it’s our driving force… our passion… our purpose: To connect with you and share life with you – to show you the way to the God and place (God’s Word – the Bible) where we’ve found our answers – And, we want to do this with No Shame, No Fear and No Apologizing – though we ourselves have been LOST, even though we fail… We sincerely hope you will come along with us and see where this ride takes us – It’s wilder and more awesome than anything Jack, Sawyer, Kate, John or Hurley could ever have imagined!

Failure is not an option – it happens!

One of the things I’ve tried to put into place in my life is accountability. This is a painful thing often, because it requires people telling me that I’m not doing things perfectly (I really want to think I’m close to perfect – but the sad truth of the matter is I’m not even close). Things have been going fairly good in our church – there’s a lot of positive that’s happening in the church as a whole and in the youth as well, but when stuff goes well I rejoice with one hand and brace for impact with the other.

You see, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about integrity… Satan’s attacks… persecution… fighting for the Kingdom of God and other things.

I am consistently wary of how my failings may affect my family, my ministry and other people.  A few years back (okay a lot of years back) DC Talk wrote a song that captures my personal feelings on this matter. The 2^nd verse and chorus are particularly appropriate:

Father please forgive me for I cannot compose
The fear that lives within me or the rate at which it grows
If struggle has a purpose on the narrow road you’ve carved
Why do I dread my trespasses will leave a deadly scar

Do they see the fear in my eyes?
Are they so revealing?
This time I cannot disguise
All the doubt I’m feeling

What if I stumble, what if I fall?
What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all?
Will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl?
What if I stumble, and what if I fall?

 

Here are a few things I know:

• When someone starts making an impact for the Kingdom of God – Satan takes notice and goes after them with everything he’s got (cf. Job; Luke 22:31-32; esp. Luke 4:1-13 ).

 Hey, this is a great strategy! Take out/discredit the leadership and the followers will be easy pickings. To do this he will use lies, deception, evil people, bad circumstances… but like Robert pointed out in a previous blog Satan often focuses most on our particular weaknesses and natural dispositions to specific sins… Usually for Christian leaders the temptations that lead to epic fails are in one or more of these 3 areas (cf. 1 John 2:16): Pride (fame, influence, accolades); Money (Stealing, hording or materialism); Sexual Immorality.

•  Christians carry the name of Christ and their reputation reflects upon His reputation (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:20; Matthew 5:11-12; 1 Peter 3:13-17).

 In fact, this is exactly what “Christian” means. That term started off as a derogatory term basically meaning “little Christs”… This is such a complement when we are being like Him, but the sword is double edged… it cuts both ways… when we carry His name what we do says something to people about Him – it’s not fair to Him, but it is the harsh reality of the matter.

•  If we get things flipped around to where life is about our fame and glory we are in for a world of hurt because we will be fighting God (cf. Prov. 3:34) and Satan.

 There is no doubt that we will be persecuted – scripture is clear about that. However, we are only blessed when we are persecuted for doing right… Otherwise we’re just getting what we deserve.

• We are all going to sin! The point is to get accountability in our lives and be daily in God’s word and controlled by the Spirit as much as possible in order to minimize the impact and depth and breadth of our inevitable failures! (cf. Ephesians 5:15-21; Galatians 5:15-26)
• Forgiveness is available to any who seek it – but this requires humility to repent and confess when we have failed! (cf. 1 John 1:9, James 5:16)

1 Peter 5:1-11 really speaks to all of this. Let me encourage you to read it and meditate upon it, especially if you are in any sort of Christian leadership and most especially if that leadership is in any way in the public eye. Jesus took quite enough of a beating for us 2000 years ago… He certainly does not need another black eye.

One of the guys that regularly hold me accountable sent me a good reminder yesterday from Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest): “Unguarded strength is double weakness because that is where the retired sphere of the leasts saps. The Bible characters fell on their strong points, never on their weak ones.” Now that’s some old English speak that basically says, be careful about what you are strong in because it can become an area of pride and pride comes before a fall.

My friend’s take on this was:

If our strength is UNITY… be careful.

If our strength is COMMUNITY… be careful.

If our strength is TRUTH… be careful… Etc..

 Each of these (and numerous others) is a double edged sword.. since each can probably derail us too..  I must know who I am in light of HIM.

Another thing… It is important to note that the failings of humans do not really invalidate the truth of the Gospel (the claims of the Bible should be evaluated on their own merit) – however, Christians’ failings can damage the perception of the Gospel in the court of public opinion and make it more difficult sometimes for people to come to Christ.

Is accountability fun?!?! NO WAY – actually it quite often stinks, stings and smarts. But at the same time it keeps us from MUCH MUCH more serious damage to ourselves, our families, our friends, and the reputation of our God.

Strategery against Satan

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:10-18, NIV)

So what are the strategies against Satan?

1.     Understand who you are in your relationship with Christ.  One of the hardest realizations of my growth had to be realizing the truth about who I am in Him (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17).  For me this was the step immediately before repentance.   Ultimately, only God knows you as well as you do.  But until you are open about your own weaknesses you cannot hope to address them.  This would include identifying your sin and then repenting for it. This is demonstrated in a 3 step process described in Romans 6… We need to know who we are in Christ (Romans 6:1-10)… We need to consider ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11)… We need to submit ourselves completely to God (Romans 6:12-14).

2.     Know that you cannot defeat him on your own (James 4:4-10).  Here is a solid piece of humble pie for many of us.  You have to come to the conclusion that you are not in control.  Even those who do not have a type “A” personality will try to control a situation when it starts to spin out of control.  One of the hardest things for me to do is to realize that God…is in complete control.  Even when “bad” things happen.  You have to learn to let go of that control and walk in faith and trust God. This faith in God, is essential.  Another bad cliché?  No, the absolute truth.  The only true way to defeat Satan is to accept Christ and to trust Him (Ephesians 6:16-18).

3.     Know that God loves you.  The most powerful moment in my life was truly understanding the depths of God’s love for me.  I am His child.  He loves me, defends me, protects me, and most importantly He forgives me.  Realize this, Gods love for you is so complete, that even when you do stupid things… He will forgive you.  God has never abandoned you.  Despite your choices, which have put you at odds sometimes with God, God will always be by your side.  This is an extremely important strategy to defeat Satan because for one simple reason, forgiveness.  Satan wants to convince you that the sin you just committed is the one that will break the camel’s back so to speak.  He wants you to think that THIS TIME God will not forgive you – The Bible calls this condemnation.  This is an absolute lie, and I can say that with downright confidence because God has promised this (see Romans 8:1). Knowing that God loves you requires faith.  God’s love can cover you with protection that you cannot imagine.  You MUST accept this very simple truth.  This can provide an armor so to speak that you have to put on (Ephesians 6:13-14).

4.      Understand that Satan is as real as Christ.  Everyone has heard the over used phrase “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”.  Sound like a cliché?  It isn’t.  Satan shows intelligence (2 Corinthians 11:3), emotions (Revelation 12:17), and that he has a will (Isaiah 14:12-14, 2 Timothy 2:26).  The Bible also shows that he is a created being (Ezekiel 28:11-19), and that he is a spirit being (Ezekiel 28:14).  Satan manifests himself in this world through rulers, authorities, powerful people, EVIL PEOPLE (Ephesians 6:12).  Do not fall prey to the thinking that the devil isn’t real.  Do not believe the lies that Satan is some story.  Do not cringe when you mention Satan or when others mention him.

5.     Prayer, Prayer and MORE PRAYER (Ephesians 6:18)

6.     Read, Study and Memorize God’s word… (Ephesians 6:17). This is our only offensive weapon in the Armor of God… Don’t believe it? Check out how Jesus Himself used His knowledge of the Bible to defeat Satan in Matthew 4:1-11.

Even knowing these will not guarantee that you will have success all of the time.  Satan will score, but the outcome of the game has already been determined.  Christ is victorious in a blow out.  You have to be vigorous in your defense, and be prepared.  Because the cool thing is that if you have totally placed your faith in God, you don’t even have worry about the outcome.  Your fate has been decided.

If you have learned anything over this year it is that life is fleeting (Think of Chile, Haiti, the Olympic accident, etc).  The search for truth that you may be agonizing over may end in an instant.  At that point you will know the truth, and will find out that Satan, and God are both real.  As each of us have seen or read about tragic and unexpected deaths of some nature or the other… The point is we all know that this life can end in a split second.  No warning or lead up.  Just over.  In that moment Christ will reveal himself to you as your judge.  You may think that you have years to take a journey to determine the truth.  In reality, you may only have a fleeting moment before the truth will be revealed.

What about this Satan Character?

God created everything.  This would include Satan.  Looking at the timeline presented in the Bible we know that Satan and his bunch of rebels were kicked out of Heaven before the creation of Adam and Eve.  Satan was the best and brightest of the angels.  But he had a flaw.  He wanted to be like God – Really, he wanted to BE God.  This naturally caused a rift between God and Satan, and of course God wins.  With Satan, 1/3 of the angels departed from heaven (we know them now as demons).  If we know that Satan fought against God because he wanted to be like God, we can draw some conclusions.

1.  Satan is not God thus,

2. Satan is not Omnipotent (All Powerful) and,

3. Omniscient (All Knowing) and,

4. Satan is not Omnipresent (Everywhere at once). 

These four simple points cover a lot of area.  Because Satan is not God, he cannot know everything that is or will be, and he cannot be with us all of the time and He can (and will be) defeated!

All of these points are critical to gain understanding of our common opponent.  Satan is an aggressive opponent, and knows how to attack people.  This statement implies a level of omniscience.  However, we have already established that he is not omniscient. So how does he know?  I believe Satan is an excellent observer of human behavior.  Let’s be honest – he has had thousands of years of observations to draw from. 

Observation is a highly effective strategy that is often used in business, sports and war.  People are taught to watch for cues that indicate what people are thinking, how they might respond, when to press, and when to lay back and let it ride.  Anyone’s personal experience is limited to maybe 20 to 30 years of active observation.  Satan, though, has all the years going back to Adam and Eve to draw from.  This gives me reason to believe that while Satan is not omniscient he certainly can provide a very educated guess as to how you will respond to temptation. 

While we are all created uniquely, we all are prone to various kinds of temptations which are not unique.   Our mistakes are not the first of their kind in human history.  This is Satan’s tactical advantage over us.  He knows that while we are unique in our creation, our response to temptation is not.  After thousands of years of observation of personality types, and responses, he knows how to trip a trigger and crawl into your life.  There is hope, though… See 1 Corinthians 10:13 While Satan has millennia of experience tripping people up, God, though the Holy Spirit, has been equally practiced at helping God’s people deal with sin… More on this later.

Everyone has their pressure points.  Do you believe that it is a coincidence that the same issues appear over and over in your own life? I never thought about it until recently.  Then it finally dawned on me:  Satan is real, Satan is clever and Satan is a very astute observer. 

The attacks can be sudden, and from out of nowhere.  There can be long pauses between attacks (demonstrating Satan’s lack of omnipresence).  Rest assured, if you are making an impact for God, if you are beginning to grow in your faith, or beginning in your path towards the truth, you will attract his attention and his ire.  This is where understanding your opponent’s tactics will really help you. 

Satan deals in half truths.  He wants to present you an option that appears to be in the nature of the Bible and God’s word.  This is the trick of Satan. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Here is an example.  If you are beginning to grow in your faith, then it is fair to say that you are trying to rid yourself of some bad habits.  Stress is a fantastic way to push people back to a default habit or personality trait.  Apply a little stress, and the normal person will revert.   Let me use examples out of my own life. Things like success are a difficult temptation for me because, while I have my moments, I am not a humble guy.  Another example for me is fear of betrayal.  Satan knows my weaknesses, and knows what I need to see in order to feed my arrogance and paranoia.  But this is not limited just to me!   Satan’s desire is for you to revert.  God’s desire is for you to succeed by becoming more like His Son – See Ephesians 5:1-2. 

Look at these startling statistics.  The Bible mentions Satan over 180 times, Jesus mentions him 100+ times.  Despite that, 60% of believers believe that Satan isn’t a real living being, but rather a symbol of evil.  The greatest achievement of Satan is to have convinced the world that he doesn’t exist.  Not only has he convinced the world but also believers. 

If you are a believer let me boil it down a little more strongly…You are willing to have faith that Christ was born of a virgin, Christ is the son of God, Christ lived without sin, Christ died on the cross for your sin’s, Christ was resurrected, and God created angels, …Do you really think it is so farfetched to believe that Satan is real?! 

Next time, we will look at specific strategies for defeating this very real and active enemy, but as a preview you may want to take a look at the following passages: James 4:4-7; Ephesians 6:10-18 & Romans 6:6-13.

Getting to know your Adversary

I am a firm believer of understanding an opponent.  In a competitive situation, it helps you to win.  One of the best strategies is to know how you will be attacked so that you can effectively defend yourself and/or pull of a counter attack.  But what do you do when you’re in a situation where your weakness gets continually exploited, and there is no appearance of a sound counter attack available? 

I don’t handle failure well because I hate to lose.  If I fail at something or do it wrong I over analyze, over criticize, and then come down hard on myself.   While all of us have very different lives, different challenges, and different successes we all have one common opponent.  Our opponent is relentless, ruthless, and cunning- the kind of opponent who is a win at all costs kind of guy.   He will outright lie to you, exploit your weakness, push you to the brink and tell you half truths.  The opponent I speak of, Satan.

I probably lost some of you with the very use of the word Satan.  Bear with me on this.  Up until a few weeks ago I had never given Satan much thought.  I understood what he represented at a conceptual level, but had never really pursued it beyond that.  To me, Satan was something in the Bible that had caused Adam and Eve to sin, and tempted Jesus.  I guess you could say that I thought of him in more of a historical context rather than something that was operating in the here in now.  Even from a social context, the look you get on most people’s faces is bewilderment when you mention the word Satan, or Devil… I’ve even gotten this “you’re weird” look a spiritual conversations!  

The Set Up…

For the last few years God has been really working on my life.  During this time my understanding of Christ has grown immeasurably! I guess that I first grew in my knowledge of Him from a business perspective (Many thanks to Liberty University’s MBA program). 

Since graduating, however, I have had time to get to know this God that I serve on an even deeper and more personal level.  I wanted to get to the heart of the matter and not have a vague understanding of Christianity… I wanted to know Him.  Kevin recommended that I dive into a personal study of theology.  So, I got a theology book by Charles Ryrie for Christmas, and away I went.  To say that I have been blown away by the amount of material that is in this book is an understatement.  While a number of things have changed, as far as my theological approach and general understanding, one of the biggest impressions left on me has been the chapters on Satan.

For those of you who believe Satan is some sort of metaphor for bad things, the Bible tells us you are wrong.  If, like I did, you think that Satan is an entity that only acted in ancient history but is no longer present and active, I care about you too much to not tell you that you are mistaken.  Satan is real, he hates us, and he is very much alive and active – that little booger is running around wreaking havoc on everything!  Here’s how the Bible describes him: Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Your doubt and misunderstandings plays right into Satan’s strategy for ruining your life. In John 10:10 Jesus told us the bad news about Satan… “The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” But Jesus didn’t stop there, he went on to tell us the good news: “[but] I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” What Jesus is saying here is that He wants us to know the strategies of Satan so that He can help us fight back and have a GREAT life, in Him!