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0000If God Exists, Then Why Is There So Much Suffering ?Sunday, July 15, 2018It’s great to have you here this morning for the next message in our “Asking for a Friend” series. Last week we started by answering the question, “Does God Really Exist?” Today, we’re moving to what seems like the next logical question, one that is asked by many people: “Many people turn away from God because they don’t understand why [or how] an all-powerful God would allow so much pain and suffering. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? Is God at all responsible for darkness or suffering?” “If God exists, why is there sin? Did God create sin if He created everything?”There may be no more significant question than this one. Either God is all-powerful but not all-good, and won’t stop evil, or He is all good but not able to stop evil, which means He is not all-powerful. The belief is that an all-powerful and all-good God would never allow anything bad to happen to anyone, ever.If God knew people who would choose to disobey Him and to reject Him, then why not make humanity without the ability to do so? Real love gives choice. God didn’t create robots who could only choose Him—that’s not real love. He gives us the ability to choose to know and love Him.At some point in the future, God will no longer tolerate disobedience and rebellion. He will stamp out pain and suffering. When the time is right, God will forever eliminate evil and all its consequences. The faithful will be in a place with God where “there will be no more death or mourning or?crying?or?pain” (Revelation 21:4). You might ask what God is waiting for, why doesn’t He just get rid of evil now? You must remember that if He did, none of us would survive. Just one little spot of evil puts a person at odds with a totally holy God, and each of us would be eradicated.“[There is a] faulty assumption that happiness is the greatest good of life. Happiness is usually thought of in terms of comfort. True, genuine deep-seated happiness, however, is something much more profound than the ephemeral, fleeting enjoyment of the moment. And true happiness is not precluded by suffering. Sometimes, in His infinite wisdom, God knows that there are things that can be brought only through suffering. To shield us from this suffering would be to rob us of a greater good” (Know Why You Believe, Paul Little, p. 134).Ravi Zacharias writes that it is important for us to distinguish the source of suffering and the source of evil. All evil comes from a resistance to God’s will. Rejecting His good will is sin and that is what caused Satan’s fall and the fall of humankind. Suffering is the natural outgrowth of disobedience and rebellion against God. Zacharias boils down the source of suffering and evil in four categories in his book, “Jesus Among Other Gods,” The direct consequence of specific sin in our life. There are many examples in the Bible, but broadly stated, this is the law of cause and effect. Even though we live under grace, there are always consequences for our sin. Adam and Eve were the first to experience this, and King David is another prominent example. When we sin, consequences follow, from uncomfortable and awkward to painful and life-changing.The direct consequence of specific sin in someone else’s life. Sometimes our suffering may be the result of some else’s sin. Someone else is drunk and tries to drive home. Someone cannot or will not control their anger. Someone feeds sexual desire and is consumed by it. Uriah did nothing wrong, but he was killed because King David sinned. Failure to heed warnings or take precautions. We see warnings every day—don’t eat this, don’t use this in this place or in this unintended way, don’t walk here—that are designed to help us avoid, pain, suffering, and even death. It should be no surprise when bad outcomes follow willful dismissal of warnings. The Bible is full of directions and guidance for our lives. From the Ten Commandments to the book of Proverbs, to the Sermon on the Mount, God has provided plenty of instruction to live lives that are pleasing to Him that will help us avoid certain types of suffering. Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37, “I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”The work of Satan, as allowed by God. Job is the main example of this kind of spiritual warfare. We seem to forget that Satan is real, that he is the enemy of God, and, as such, our mortal enemy. He’s the roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Paul says in Ephesians 6 that “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.” Though he is not all-powerful, all-knowing, or all-present (God is!), he still has the ability and the mission to make our lives as miserable as possible, waging war against God by attacking His children.Paul Little adds another idea concerning the reality of suffering. “God Himself is the great sufferer” (KWYB, p. 140). God suffers the rejection of His children, first, but also has suffered in the solution in the problem of evil, the gift of His own Son. The consequence of evil is forever removed by the life and death of Jesus. Our sin is forgiven, and we receive new life and the power to choose right, to choose God and His way, as God’s Holy Spirit changes and forms in us the image of Jesus.“The problem of evil has ultimately one source. It is the resistance to God’s holiness that blanketed all of creation. It is a mystery because we are engulfed in it—spiritual blindness. And there is ultimately only one antidote, the glorious display of God at work within a human soul, bringing about His work of restoration. That transformation tenderizes the heart to become part of the solution and not part of the problem. Such a transformation begins at the cross. ................
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