Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas Village early on Monday morning killing more than 50 people, and injuring more than 500 people. The question on any people's minds and on the tongues of many scoffers is:
If God is love, why did he let this happen?
The Bible describes God as holy (Isaiah 6:3), righteous (Psalm 7:11), just (Deuteronomy 32:4), and sovereign (Daniel 4:17-25), so how could He have allowed this to have happened? God clearly despises evil and wants to rid the universe of evil, so how could a madman pack 10 or so rifles into a Las Vegas hotel room and open fire on a crowd 32 floors below him? Does God not care that His people are suffering at the hands of madmen, terrorists, political anarchists. and ruthless dictators? Why does God allow evil? And knowing that these questions are coming from all sides, are we as Christians ready to answer them?
Well, God could eliminate all evil and change everyone's personality so that we could not sin. That means we would no longer have a free will, we could not chose between right and wrong. We would be automatons only capable of doing right and our relationship with God would be meaningless, there would be no need for Jesus and his atoning sacrifice.
God could reach out and intervene 100 percent of the time, He could stop a drunk driver before causing an accident, or prevent a crooked construction working from doing a substandard job on a building that would cause the tenants harm. He could stop drug addicts from shooting up, stop children from climbing a tree they may fall out of, and stop a couple from having careless sex that would lead to an abortion. Terrorists would be stopped before they attack, murders would never get their hands on a weapon, rioters would find their anger removed. But where would this stop? How would God prevent a spouse from becoming an adulterer? Would He keep them from meeting other people? How would He prevent shoplifting, or cheating on taxes, or maybe even trying to steal second base?
Another possibility would be for God to immediately judge and remove those who would commit evil acts. The problem lies in Romans 3:23, Ecclesiastes 7:20, and 1 John 1:8 - we all sin, we are all capable of doing evil, there would be no one left on earth, again there never would have been a need for Jesus and his atoning sacrifice
Instead God gave us free will and planted us in a real world where there are real choices to be made, where self discipline is needed and consequences for our actions are a reality. This world design was given to us by Adam and Eve who chose poorly, defied God and now the world lies under this curse. We are all born with a nature to sin (Romans 5:12) and we are all destined to stand before the judgement seat of Christ, believers and nonbelievers alike. nonbelievers are storing up wrath against themselves:
Until that time He IS concerned about evil, He created the Old Testament laws to discourage and punish evil. He judges nations and rulers who disregard justice and pursue evil (Sudden Thought: was Desert Storm merely God using the United States as His sword of justice for the evils of Saddam Hussein?) In the New Testament God states that it is the governments responsibility to provide justice in order to protect the innocent from evil (Romans 13) and He promises severe consequences for those who commit evil acts, especially against the innocent (Mark 9:36-42)
God does prevent and restrain some acts of evil. This world would be MUCH WORSE were not God restraining evil. At the same time, God has given us the ability to choose good and evil, and when we choose evil, He allows us, and those around us, to suffer the consequences of evil.
Rather than blaming God and questioning God on why He does not prevent all evil, we should be about the business of proclaiming the cure for evil and its consequences - Jesus Christ!
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Well, God could eliminate all evil and change everyone's personality so that we could not sin. That means we would no longer have a free will, we could not chose between right and wrong. We would be automatons only capable of doing right and our relationship with God would be meaningless, there would be no need for Jesus and his atoning sacrifice.
God could reach out and intervene 100 percent of the time, He could stop a drunk driver before causing an accident, or prevent a crooked construction working from doing a substandard job on a building that would cause the tenants harm. He could stop drug addicts from shooting up, stop children from climbing a tree they may fall out of, and stop a couple from having careless sex that would lead to an abortion. Terrorists would be stopped before they attack, murders would never get their hands on a weapon, rioters would find their anger removed. But where would this stop? How would God prevent a spouse from becoming an adulterer? Would He keep them from meeting other people? How would He prevent shoplifting, or cheating on taxes, or maybe even trying to steal second base?
Another possibility would be for God to immediately judge and remove those who would commit evil acts. The problem lies in Romans 3:23, Ecclesiastes 7:20, and 1 John 1:8 - we all sin, we are all capable of doing evil, there would be no one left on earth, again there never would have been a need for Jesus and his atoning sacrifice
Instead God gave us free will and planted us in a real world where there are real choices to be made, where self discipline is needed and consequences for our actions are a reality. This world design was given to us by Adam and Eve who chose poorly, defied God and now the world lies under this curse. We are all born with a nature to sin (Romans 5:12) and we are all destined to stand before the judgement seat of Christ, believers and nonbelievers alike. nonbelievers are storing up wrath against themselves:But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, (Romans 2:5)For believers since Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us and our names are written in the book of life, we will be rewarded, but not punished, according to our deeds. There will be a day and time that God says "Enough!" and brings us to judgement but until that time he is delaying to allow time for more people to repent so that ne deend not condemn them (2 Peter 3:9)
Until that time He IS concerned about evil, He created the Old Testament laws to discourage and punish evil. He judges nations and rulers who disregard justice and pursue evil (Sudden Thought: was Desert Storm merely God using the United States as His sword of justice for the evils of Saddam Hussein?) In the New Testament God states that it is the governments responsibility to provide justice in order to protect the innocent from evil (Romans 13) and He promises severe consequences for those who commit evil acts, especially against the innocent (Mark 9:36-42)
God does prevent and restrain some acts of evil. This world would be MUCH WORSE were not God restraining evil. At the same time, God has given us the ability to choose good and evil, and when we choose evil, He allows us, and those around us, to suffer the consequences of evil.
Rather than blaming God and questioning God on why He does not prevent all evil, we should be about the business of proclaiming the cure for evil and its consequences - Jesus Christ!
source
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