The big question about God - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/the-big-question-about-god/?cat_orig=faith - and www.harvest.org
Pastor Greg Laurie addresses classic 'why does he allow evil?' issue
When it comes to questions about God, there is one that always seems to top the list: If God is so good and loving, then why does He allow evil? Why does He allow injustice, tragedy and other things?
This question is based on the assumption that either God is all-powerful but not all-good, and therefore he does not stop evil, or God is all-good but not all-powerful, and therefore he cannot stop evil. The general tendency of the question is to blame God for all of the problems in the world and to imply that all the suffering and wrongs that are being committed are basically God's fault.
But these assumptions are built on a false premise. By asking, "If God is all good, then why does he [fill in the blank]?" we are, for all practical purposes, the ones who determine what is good and what is not good. When we ask that question, what we are really saying is that God is not all-good, implying that if he were all good, then he wouldn't allow those things. The premise is that we decide whether God is good or not.
So when did we become the moral center of the universe? And who are we to say that God is good or that God is not good?
God is good because he says he is good. Some may argue that this is circular reasoning, but remember, we are talking about God. We have to go to the highest authority possible, which is God. God is good because he says that he is. The psalmist said, "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good" (Psalm 34:8 NKJV), and Jesus said, "No one is good - except God alone" (Luke 18:19 NIV). God is good whether we believe it or not. He - and he alone - is the final court of arbitration.
Therefore, good is what God approves. Why? Because he approves it - and he simply is good. There is no higher standard of goodness than God's own character and his approval of whatever is consistent with that character.
God is good, and it is not for me or for anyone else to say that he is not, because we are not in the position to make that determination.
Let's come back to the question Why does God allow evil? It is a valid question to ask. Why do we see the things in the world that we see? It's because human beings were created with something called a free will.
Originally, the first humans had it pretty good in the Garden of Eden. Adam was living in a veritable paradise. His basic job responsibilities were to enjoy all that God had made, to walk in fellowship with God, to think of some clever names for the animals and to spend time with his wife, Eve. How good is that?
Of course, Adam and Eve were attracted to the fruit God had forbidden them to eat, and they ate it. Then sin entered the world. If they had not sinned, the curse of sin would not have come into the world. And if the curse of sin had not come into the world, then we would not have the problems we have in our world today.
It comes down to basic things like the human body breaking down. Were it not for sin, we wouldn't have bodies that age. We wouldn't die. But because Adam and Eve sinned, all the problems that follow it came into the world. Romans 5:12 says, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned" (NIV). Therefore we must recognize that God is not responsible for that - people are responsible for that.
So why should we be held responsible for what some guy named Adam did so long ago? Here is the answer: If you or I had been living in the Garden of Eden, we would have done the same thing. Adam just did what any of us would have done.
Why did God make it that way? Why didn't he make it so there wasn't any temptation or evil? Wouldn't everything have been great? Yes, and we essentially would have been robots. We would have loved God because we were programmed to love God, and we would have done what God wanted us to do because we had no other choice. Instead, God gave us free will. He wants to be loved and obeyed by creatures who voluntarily choose to do so. Love is not genuine if there is no other option. What makes love special is when we willingly give it. God wanted us to love him voluntarily - not because we had to.
As a result, bad things happen in a sinful world. Tragedies happen to both Christians and non-Christians alike. Christians get cancer, and so do non-Christians. Christians die in accidents, and so do non-Christians. Christians experience hardships, and so do non-Christians. It is all a part of the cycle of sin. The Bible says, "For [God] gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike" (Matthew 5:45 NLT).
We all are going to die one day. It is not a matter of if; it is a matter of when. There are no exceptions. Tragedies are going to happen. Hardships will come into our lives. But here is the wonderful thing: God can take bad things and ultimately bring good things out of them. That doesn't necessarily mean that a bad thing becomes a good thing. But what it does mean is that a bad thing can lead to a good thing.
What we perceive as a good thing or a bad thing can change. There is nothing good about hardship or tragedy, but it can produce something good. Why does God allow evil? Here is the short answer: I don't know. But God can take the horrible things that happen in this world and turn them around for good. Christians, and Christians alone, have the hope that one day when we die, all of our questions will be answered. All of our tears will be dried. All of our pain will be gone. There will be no more suffering and no more sickness. There is a better day coming. That is what we hope for.
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