WHERE IS GOD?

Why, if God exists, does he allow suffering?

LITTLE Stephen received what he had been hoping for, a visit to Disney World. But only 90 minutes into his visit, and before he could be photographed with Mickey Mouse, one of his favorite comic characters, he died. Stephen suffered from a congenital heart defect. Death hung over his every breath. It took his life before he had the chance to really understand what living was all about. He was only 3 years old.

Why? Why does God let little children like Stephen die? many ask. Where is God when we need him most?

In Borken, Germany, a coal mine explosion snuffed out the lives of 51 miners. They were loving fathers and husbands, dedicated to supporting and maintaining their families. The pain and tragedy of it all was dramatically evidenced by scenes of crying wives and family members, reeling and agonizing over the loss of their loved ones.

Where was God? Why does God allow such terrible disasters to occur? concerned people ask?

Why War?

According to estimates, in World War I more than eight million military personnel were killed between August 1914 and November 1918. Millions of civilians not in direct combat also died. Multiple millions of others suffered painful, debilitating, deforming injuries for life.

World War II occurred in nearly the same area and for some of the same reasons as World War I. The loss of life and incident of mayhem and crippling injuries were staggeringly worse. As the smoke and guns of Word War II, fighting and killing erupted in the Middle East. In other areas of the globe hundreds of local wars have since been fought.

Why does God allow so much suffering? Why does God allow war? Droughts and floods. Crops can't grow. Livestock can't survive. Famine looms over many regions. Why does God allow natural disasters to strike that cause famine and starvation, disease and death? people ask.

Where is God?

Nineteenth century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche claimed "God is dead." English mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote a prodigious amount of verbiage in his Unpopular Essays trying to God never existed, that there isn't a "First Cause," as he states it.

But objective individuals know better. The intricately woven details of the earth's composition and life systems prove a First Cause. The awesome magnitude of our universe with almost unfathomable mass and spans of distances declares it.

God does exist! His creation proves it! "For the invincible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:20). Clearly, as Psalm says: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

If God exists-and he does-why must the world face devastating heartrending problems? Why has there been so much suffering throughout man's history? Why does God allow such tragedies today?

There is a reason why humans find engulfed in seemingly unsolvable problems. There is a reason why humanity has suffered upheaval and war throughout history. There is a reason why diseases plague the earth despite all of the marvelous technology man has acquired. There is a distinct reason why God does not always intervene to save man from droughts, famines and plagues. Why little children like Stephen prematurely sicken, suffer and die. Why miners perish.

It is time to declare why?

To comprehend why this earth is the plight it is in and why humanity's history has been written in blood and suffering, we must go back to our beginning. The one reliable source available that describes that beginning is the Bible.

Humanity Given a Choice

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen 1:1), the Bible clearly says. Nothing else makes sense. The great God from another dimension, out of another realm other than the physical one we know, began it all.

Much later he created Homo sapiens. "So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:27). Our original parents were given a first simple rule and the choice to follow it. Along with the choice God warned them of the penalty for making the wrong choice:
"And the Lord God commanded the man saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die'" (Gen. 2:16-17, New King James).

Our first parents made the wrong choice! They couldn't resist the temptation of trying out the "tree of knowledge of good and evil." They could have chosen any of the many trees God made available, including the "tree of life" - the symbolic representation of God's way to living that leads to happiness and abundant living now and ultimately eternal life.

Instead they chose "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" that God warned them no to take-the way of hit and miss, some happiness at times, much sorrow and difficulty, and a way of living apart from God that leads to death.

Like Father, Like Son

That's why all of the suffering, war and hardships of the past and why the same today! Just like our first parents, so their descendants as a whole have chosen to reject God, God's ways and what God says.

It is plain!

Each of us has done essentially the same as Adam and Eve, the parents of the present human family. There is not a man or woman in the past or living today who has been able to claim not to have erred: "For all have sinned and come short," as it says in Romans 3:23. We've all disobeyed God's rules: "For sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4).

God Is Not to Be Blamed

We can't blame God for our sins or for the sins of others. "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone" (Jas. 1:13, NKJ).

God is aware of what takes place on this earth. He knows the suffering and heartache that is extant. But he does not desire that mankind should live the way people have chosen to live: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that is cannot save; nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear" (Isa. 59:1-2).

God doesn't want humanity to suffer. He never wanted the human family to suffer. Yet he knew that without suffering we would never learn the full meaning of love. God is love (I John 4:16). He is compassionate, full of mercy, long-suffering and kindness. He cares about you and me.

At the same time God does not want to remove free will and choice. He is not looking to create mindless automatons. Rather, he is in the process of creating like minded beings who are learning to desire and choose his way of life. During this process we humans must learn that our own way, the way of "good and evil," is the way that leads to unhappiness and miseries. God is not to be blamed, by he is responsible for suffering.

Restoring Contact

Though mankind has been essentially cut off from access to God's Holy Spirit, mankind was eventually destined to receive full access to God. Thorough Jesus Christ the Messiah, who obeyed God, unlike out first human parents Adam and Eve, we humans were provided with the opportunity to have contact with God.

Through Jesus Christ we may be completely forgiven, and may receive the gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23, last half) with God, as members of the God family:
"For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive... And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being.' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit... The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven... And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man" (I Cor. 15:21-22,45,47,49, NKJ).

Jesus came to pay the penalty of death in our stead: "For the wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23, first half). He tasted death for every man, purging our sins (Heb. 1:3) so that we could become "sons of God (Heb. 2:9-10).

God is watching developments on this earth. He is still keeping hands off and allowing men and women to make their choices-to complete the experience of learning how really wrong are their ways that seem right. God is waiting until sin reaches the full, until the time comes when, if he doesn't step in and intervene, mankind would bring an end to life (Matt. 24:22). Then, at that precise time, God will send Jesus Christ back to this earth as "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Rev. 19:16) to put down man's rule and establish God's government on this earth.

For 1,000 years (Rev. 20:4) God's way of life will bring peace health and prosperity. The "earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9, second half).

War shall become a thing of the past: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Mic. 4:3).

by Patrick A. Parnell