We all speculate over this question pointing to, among other things, the corruptness of society, the availability of guns and proper gun training vs more gun regulation, to mental health issues and whether you are a believer or an unbeliever we always wonder "Why, if God exist would he let this happen?" I cannot answer all these questions and the endless loop of questions they birth. I also cannot speak for God because as much as I like to act like it, I am not him. However, I will attempt to answer, or at least give some perspective on a root question for all of this turmoil that surrounds us now. I do not think this will necessarily give us all comfort after this tragedy, I do think it may help establish a foundation on which we can begin to ask deeper questions, and to hopefully find answers and meaning in a world that at times like this seems to lack both.
The question is this. "Why does evil happen?" Not where does it come from, but "why". I plan to do so from a Christian perspective for two reasons. 1. Non-Christians get frustrated at Christians (this is due to the second reason) 2. because most Christians lack the ability or understanding themselves to accurately articulate their point of view. This means for me, that I will most likely make enemies on both sides, but you will always have enemies if you are trying to be a friend to the truth. If you are an unbeliever I ask you to suspend your disbelief for a moment and follow the train of thought I lay out, I admit that it may be hard to accept, the truth normally is, but it is not as unreasonable as some would want you to think. If you are a Christian, please try your best to let this sink in, if you disagree fine, but make sure your disagreement is biblical. In both cases please don't ignore the very powerful emotions you have after this event, but allow reason and civil discourse to guide them into their proper place. Here we go...
According to the Christian world view evil comes from sinners who sin. The problem is not society, if society is wrong/evil, then it is only because society is made up of people who are evil, or at least, mostly evil. If this is true then it follows that no societal change will fix the problem. Better education, better laws, better regulation, better awareness, more prayer in schools will not fix the problem, to be fair they may be beneficial to understanding or finding a solution to the problem, but they, in and of themselves, are completely unable to fix the problem because the problem is us. So how does this help us answer the question that this entry is named for? Well...evil is the result of sin, and evil happens because we sin. Sin, according to Christian tradition, became a companion to humanity when our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned. We are now, all of us, implicated by their treason and it doesn't take long before we actively partake in their rebellion by sinning on our own.
This leaves us in a rapid state of decay. Once sin entered the world evil walked right on through the door as well, it only took until the next generation, Adam and Eve's sons, before we see the first murder...again according to Christian tradition. So if this is true I know two things for sure. I am a sinner, and when I sin evil rules, Adam Lanza is a sinner, and when he sins evil rules. Here normally starts the debate on who sin worse, "yes I've sinned, but my sins haven't killed anyone!" We all try to prove our innocence, and since we ignore our guilt we push it onto others.
Here is where we are at. We are all guilty sinners, and our sins make a world were evil can reign. However, God, once evil and sin entered the picture has provided us with grace. God warned our first parents that the punishment for their sin was death, yet when they sinned, God held back his wrath and instead issues a sacrifice, killing an animal in their place, and taking that animal's fur and covering their nakedness with it. Now if you are picking up on the symbolic nature of this, you would be correct. So, for those still reading... Evil enters the world with our sin, God counteracts this by giving us grace and he does this in two ways.
The first is what we call providence, through this God restrains evil throughout the world. The question for Christians is then reversed. I for one, am not surprised that evil happens, although I can be surprised by specific acts of evil, the question is no longer "Why does evil happen?", but "Why doesn't more evil happen?" Why are we not completely evil yet? Well God, if he exists, has every right to abandon us and punish us, yet he doesn't. He holds back evil through his providence, showing kindness and long-suffering to us, instead of his wrath, that hopefully we may repent and turn back to him. Allowing evil to still exist does not mean that he is unable to remove it, but it shows that we will never truly serve God unless we see that we truly need him. So evil exists because of sinners, we are sinners, and evil still exists because we refuse to turn from our sin and to God, and God holds back a great measure of evil through his providence.
The second way God gives grace is also the final way. This is the cross, that first sacrifice we mentioned for Adam and Eve is a shadow of the greater sacrifice of Jesus, who lived a perfect life that we could not, and died a horrible evil death that we deserved, so that we may put on his "fur" (read life) that would cover all of our sins and evil. The cross is the solution for all the sin and evil in the world. Which begs the question, "Then why does evil still exist if the cross already happened?" The best characterization I have heard to answer this is that Jesus Christ, on the cross established the spiritual fulfillment of the Kingdom, but the physical Kingdom has not yet come to pass, and will not come to pass until he returns. This is because when the physical kingdom is established there will no longer be a chance for anyone to turn to Christ, his return waits so that more will come to know him, he is patiently waiting for us to see our need for him and repent.
In all of this bad news the good news is that through the cross Jesus has made a way that we may pass from God's providential grace, that currently rules over all creation, and into God's saving grace. That no matter how evil we or the world around us becomes, we are all under the common grace that is God's providence, but we are not all under God's saving grace, but we all can be. God, through his son on the cross not longer has to either hold back evil, or destroy it, but he can redeem those who cause it, he can renew us. So imagine, if you are still suspending your belief, a society and a world were we stop living in God's providence, ignoring God and think that it is some product of our own effort, and instead we bend a knee to his saving grace. My favorite way the scriptures portray this is God removing our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh.
Societal woes, abortion, gun control, wars, illness both mental and physical simply cannot exist in this world, a world full of people that have hearts of flesh instead of stone, hearts made alive by Christ. I am deeply grieved and dismayed like all of you, but I also cannot help to realize that Adam Lanza was a man who denied God's saving grace, and resisted God's restraining providence. That this did not have to happen, and with all the issues that we try to blame, I cannot help but to feel some responsibility. I am not directly responsible for this tragedy in any real way, but I am as guilty as the rest of humanity in my rebellion against the one who gives, sustains and takes away life. I started this explanation saying that I dont think it will solve all of our problems and make us feel better. I do know, however, that I, like you and the rest of humanity are never going to receive the help we so desperately need until we hate all sin including our own.
If you need a church to help you find some answers and council I suggest this one ... www.myvillagechurch.com
So where does this leave us in our question? Why does Evil exists? Evil exist because sin exist, sin does not come from things but from the hearts of men, so evil exist because we exist. God has restrained this evil by his providence and he will remove this evil completely by his justice for those who rebel and his redeeming grace for those who repent. Lastly this saving grace is available for everyone, even the worst of us. We see our own guilt in a guy like Adam Lanza, we see what we fear and know we could be if we let our evil rule us. I have come to the conclusion that I am not sufficient to rid myself of evil, but Jesus is. I will summarize it this way...
God is holy, we are sinful, but Christ is sufficient.
Grace&Peace to all of us, even the worst of us.
According to the Christian world view evil comes from sinners who sin. The problem is not society, if society is wrong/evil, then it is only because society is made up of people who are evil, or at least, mostly evil. If this is true then it follows that no societal change will fix the problem. Better education, better laws, better regulation, better awareness, more prayer in schools will not fix the problem, to be fair they may be beneficial to understanding or finding a solution to the problem, but they, in and of themselves, are completely unable to fix the problem because the problem is us. So how does this help us answer the question that this entry is named for? Well...evil is the result of sin, and evil happens because we sin. Sin, according to Christian tradition, became a companion to humanity when our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned. We are now, all of us, implicated by their treason and it doesn't take long before we actively partake in their rebellion by sinning on our own.
This leaves us in a rapid state of decay. Once sin entered the world evil walked right on through the door as well, it only took until the next generation, Adam and Eve's sons, before we see the first murder...again according to Christian tradition. So if this is true I know two things for sure. I am a sinner, and when I sin evil rules, Adam Lanza is a sinner, and when he sins evil rules. Here normally starts the debate on who sin worse, "yes I've sinned, but my sins haven't killed anyone!" We all try to prove our innocence, and since we ignore our guilt we push it onto others.
Here is where we are at. We are all guilty sinners, and our sins make a world were evil can reign. However, God, once evil and sin entered the picture has provided us with grace. God warned our first parents that the punishment for their sin was death, yet when they sinned, God held back his wrath and instead issues a sacrifice, killing an animal in their place, and taking that animal's fur and covering their nakedness with it. Now if you are picking up on the symbolic nature of this, you would be correct. So, for those still reading... Evil enters the world with our sin, God counteracts this by giving us grace and he does this in two ways.
The first is what we call providence, through this God restrains evil throughout the world. The question for Christians is then reversed. I for one, am not surprised that evil happens, although I can be surprised by specific acts of evil, the question is no longer "Why does evil happen?", but "Why doesn't more evil happen?" Why are we not completely evil yet? Well God, if he exists, has every right to abandon us and punish us, yet he doesn't. He holds back evil through his providence, showing kindness and long-suffering to us, instead of his wrath, that hopefully we may repent and turn back to him. Allowing evil to still exist does not mean that he is unable to remove it, but it shows that we will never truly serve God unless we see that we truly need him. So evil exists because of sinners, we are sinners, and evil still exists because we refuse to turn from our sin and to God, and God holds back a great measure of evil through his providence.
The second way God gives grace is also the final way. This is the cross, that first sacrifice we mentioned for Adam and Eve is a shadow of the greater sacrifice of Jesus, who lived a perfect life that we could not, and died a horrible evil death that we deserved, so that we may put on his "fur" (read life) that would cover all of our sins and evil. The cross is the solution for all the sin and evil in the world. Which begs the question, "Then why does evil still exist if the cross already happened?" The best characterization I have heard to answer this is that Jesus Christ, on the cross established the spiritual fulfillment of the Kingdom, but the physical Kingdom has not yet come to pass, and will not come to pass until he returns. This is because when the physical kingdom is established there will no longer be a chance for anyone to turn to Christ, his return waits so that more will come to know him, he is patiently waiting for us to see our need for him and repent.
In all of this bad news the good news is that through the cross Jesus has made a way that we may pass from God's providential grace, that currently rules over all creation, and into God's saving grace. That no matter how evil we or the world around us becomes, we are all under the common grace that is God's providence, but we are not all under God's saving grace, but we all can be. God, through his son on the cross not longer has to either hold back evil, or destroy it, but he can redeem those who cause it, he can renew us. So imagine, if you are still suspending your belief, a society and a world were we stop living in God's providence, ignoring God and think that it is some product of our own effort, and instead we bend a knee to his saving grace. My favorite way the scriptures portray this is God removing our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh.
Societal woes, abortion, gun control, wars, illness both mental and physical simply cannot exist in this world, a world full of people that have hearts of flesh instead of stone, hearts made alive by Christ. I am deeply grieved and dismayed like all of you, but I also cannot help to realize that Adam Lanza was a man who denied God's saving grace, and resisted God's restraining providence. That this did not have to happen, and with all the issues that we try to blame, I cannot help but to feel some responsibility. I am not directly responsible for this tragedy in any real way, but I am as guilty as the rest of humanity in my rebellion against the one who gives, sustains and takes away life. I started this explanation saying that I dont think it will solve all of our problems and make us feel better. I do know, however, that I, like you and the rest of humanity are never going to receive the help we so desperately need until we hate all sin including our own.
If you need a church to help you find some answers and council I suggest this one ... www.myvillagechurch.com
So where does this leave us in our question? Why does Evil exists? Evil exist because sin exist, sin does not come from things but from the hearts of men, so evil exist because we exist. God has restrained this evil by his providence and he will remove this evil completely by his justice for those who rebel and his redeeming grace for those who repent. Lastly this saving grace is available for everyone, even the worst of us. We see our own guilt in a guy like Adam Lanza, we see what we fear and know we could be if we let our evil rule us. I have come to the conclusion that I am not sufficient to rid myself of evil, but Jesus is. I will summarize it this way...
God is holy, we are sinful, but Christ is sufficient.
Grace&Peace to all of us, even the worst of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment