God's Blame: Wrestling with Evil and Suffering

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War, sickness, death, God is to blame.

The Consider Podcast

Examining Today's Wisdom, Folly and Madness

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
God is to blame.
Cancer, accidents, war,injustice, poverty, work, hunger
, misery, pain, crime, feversand disease are ever present and
ever around us.
God created death and limitsthe number of days a man may
live.
Whatever handicaps orlimitations you have, god takes

(00:22):
responsibility for it.
The Lord said to Moses who gaveman his mouth, who makes him
deaf or mute, who gives himsight or makes him blind?
Is it not I, the Lord?
Exodus 4.11.
In the midst of this suffering,god sent his son Jesus to tell
us that God is love.
But how can God be loved whenhe permits, allows or sends so

(00:46):
much evil into our lives?
What you are about to hear willnot seem pleasant, but it is
nevertheless the truth, a truththat, if accepted, leads to joy,
eternal joy.
In fact, it is better to feelsorrowful than happy, because,
in reality, in this life life,there isn't much to feel happy
about, and it is good to takethat truth to heart.

(01:08):
Sorrow is better than laughter,because a sad face is good for
the heart.
Ecclesiastes 7.3.
A lot of people blame God forthe misery in their lives, and
they are correct.
God is to blame, no matter howyou look at it.
God is responsible for the painand suffering in the world.
He has either set into motionthe pain we feel or he has

(01:31):
permitted it to happen.
Take this example God allowsaccidents to occur.
Anyone who strikes a man andkills him shall surely be put to
death.
However, if he does not do itintentionally, but God lets it
happen, he is to flee to a placeI will designate Exodus 21, 12
and 13.
However, responsibility forpain doesn't mean guilt.

(01:55):
God did no wrong in creatingand allowing pain, and has some
very good and justified reasons.
A serious look at the worldaround us causes us to conclude
that mankind is under a heavyburden, a burden God says he has
laid on men.
I devoted myself to study andto explore by wisdom all that is
done under heaven.

(02:16):
What a heavy burden God haslaid on men.
Ecclesiastes 1.13.
As we just heard, god laid thisheavy burden on man and, as a
result, unleashed Satan on theworld, a devil that torments man
and causes even more pain andsuffering.
After all, god kicked us out ofthe Garden of Eden and allowed

(02:36):
Satan to do his evil works.
In fact, the Bible tells usthat God takes responsibility
for bringing disaster to cities.
When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble when
a disaster comes to a city?
Has not the Lord caused it?
Amos 3.6.
Finally, the list of evils endswith the fact of death.

(02:57):
All life ends in death and eachday brings us one hour closer
to our time of death.
Death may take some by surprise, yet everyone at one point must
leave behind all they hold dearin this world.
If God is a God of love, whydoes he permit and work so many
troubles in the world?
What are we to make of wars,accidents, famines and crimes?

(03:20):
What should we make of a Godwho allows injustice and seems
so quiet and disinterested inthe sufferings of this world?
The correct question, theanswer is found in asking the
correct question, for thequestion isn't why does God
allow evil, but why doesn't Godpermit more evil to enter your

(03:40):
life?
The allowance of evil by God isonly understood in the context
of hell, the lake of burningsulfur, where all but a very few
who go to heaven will betormented day and night for
eternity, where a billion yearsis only the start of torment.
If anyone's name was not foundwritten in the book of life, he

(04:00):
was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20.15.
Most understand that the andtyrants of this world deserve
hell, but few understand thatthey are also worthy of
damnation.
Those who count themselves asChristians fail to embrace the
misery in their lives as God'sdiscipline.
Hebrews 12.7.

(04:22):
But a clear understanding ofhell clarifies why God allows or
sends bad things.
For the sake of argument, letour listener assume that he or
she is worthless and will end upin the lake of fire or hell.
Or if a Christian is in need ofdiscipline.
If we accept this fact, then wecan easily see why God allows
all manner of bad things tohappen in our lives.

(04:44):
God demonstrates an act of thedeepest mercy when he permits an
individual to experiencehardships now rather than
instantly be thrown into hell,For every bad thing that happens
only serves to warn us that wewill be judged for the vile,
worthless beings that we havemade ourselves.
Or if a Christian the need tomore adequately die to self All

(05:08):
have turned away, they togetherbecome worthless.
There is no one who does good,not even one.
Romans 3.12.
God is like a judge whocondemns an evil man to death
but delays the execution foryears, hoping the condemned man
becomes truly sorrowful for hiscrime.
In other words, no matter whatyour condition or belief.

(05:29):
In this life, we receive farless than we really deserve.
Simply stated, each person isworthy of hell just as much as
Hitler.
This tract cannot possiblyanswer every question about why
God allows evil, but it can makeclear the reason why he does
not punish you for your sins.
Right now, he desires to showyou mercy.
God delayed your death sentenceto allow time for you to admit

(05:52):
that you deserve far worse thanyou have received up until now.
Those who have experiencedGod's mercy know this to be true
.
Psalm 103, 10.
Right now, god holds back evil.
Most people sense that the worldis falling apart and as
lawlessness increases, mankindwill soon destroy itself.
As the following passagereveals God holds back

(06:16):
wickedness until no hope remainsthat anyone will repent.
Indeed, god holds you back fromthe evil desires that hide in
your heart.
Think for a moment what wouldhappen if you could act upon
every thought and desire youhave.
We refuse to realize how evilwe are and cannot even see that
our acts of kindness are wicked.

(06:36):
Proverbs 12.10.
For the secret power oflawlessness is already at work,
but the one who now holds itback will continue to do so till
he is taken out of the way.
2 Thessalonians 2.7.
To be clear if God permittedman complete free reign, mankind
would have destroyed itselflong, long ago.

(06:58):
If the Lord had not cut shortthose days, no one would survive
, but for the sake of the electwhom he has chosen Mark 13.20.
So the real question is whydoes God allow bad things to
happen?
For you see, bad things don'thappen to good people because

(07:18):
there are no good people.
Mark 13.20.
Injustice, this concept that Godis to blame will grow tougher
to accept.
But we must look at lifehonestly if we want to discover
a God of infinite love.
Now do not misunderstandWherever there is injustice,
wrongdoing, or wherever one manharms another, we must demand

(07:41):
and deliver justice.
True Christians never turntheir backs on injustice,
sickness or heartache.
Indeed, we weep, as Jesus didat the tomb of Lazarus, knowing
he would, in a few minutes,raise him from the dead.
We too must weep with those whoface injustice and hurt, with
those who suffer.
When Mary reached the placewhere Jesus was and saw him, she

(08:04):
fell at his feet and said whenMary reached the place where
Jesus was and saw him, she fellat his feet and said Lord, if
you had been here, my brotherwould not have died.
When Jesus saw her weeping andthe Jews who had come along with
her also weeping, he was deeplymoved in spirit and troubled.
Where have you laid him?
He asked Come and see, lord.
They replied Jesus wept.
John 11, 32-35 Justice in theworld is at best a shallow

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victory.
We cannot deny our powerlessnessto stop most suffering and even
more to stop injustice.
We cannot right wrongs thathave been committed against
others in the past and makeright the wrongs we have done to
others to any worthwhilemeasure.
In short, we cannot possiblystraighten out a fully twisted
and corrupt world.
Only God can do that, and thisbrings us to the hope in God.

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God can and does desire toright every wrong and wipe away
every tear.
Mark these words down Whateversuffering, wrongs or pains we
face in this world, god willmake it more than right.

(09:14):
You just have to give God alittle faith and time.
In the context of eternity, ourcurrent pains are short matters
and the God, who is pure joy,peace and love, can comfort and
heal to such a degree that wewill forget we ever faced
troubles.
The first step to this peace isfound in accepting one more fact
God placed you in your lifesituation, your country, state
and city, with the people aroundyou, whether good or bad.
For one reason, the addresswhere you were born was

(09:38):
determined by God before theworld began.
As scripture tells us, goddetermined the time set for them
and the exact places where theyshould live.
From one man, he made everynation of men that they should
inhabit the whole earth, and hedetermined the time set for them
and the exact places where theyshould live.
God did this so that men wouldseek him and perhaps reach out

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for him and find him, though heis not far from each one of us
Acts 17, 26 and 27.
In other words, god put you atyour address for a specific
reason, that you might cry outto him.
Hell is so serious, sin sodeadly, life so short and death
so sure that God didn't just letyou be born at a whim.

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Rather, he boxed your life inso that you might, in your
misery, seek Him In the greatestof love.
God hopes that you will seeyour plight, admit the truth
that you need a loving God andtherefore seek Him.
God permits every accident,every sickness, every crime,
every injustice and every sinfulthing you do so that you might

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seek out the true God.
The Lord is so loving that fora brief moment he withholds His
wrath against us because helongs to forgive us our crimes.
Let no one guess as to why Godpermits the bad things he does.
God does this because he wantsto spare us from the lake of
fire Peace.

(11:06):
To understand all of this, wemust look at time, from the lake
of fire Peace.
To understand all of this, wemust look at time in the context
of eternity.
Our time here on earth is but asecond compared to eternity.
When we think of God allowingevil or injustice, we must think
from God's viewpoint.
To God, to God, evil andinjustice last but a millisecond
.
In reality, in the context ofeternity, his justice is

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immediate.
God simply allows this briefsecond to give you and me a
chance to repent so that we donot suffer hell.
You see, you and I deserve hell.
Allowing evil allows us theopportunity to sin instead of
God immediately righteouslyjudging us.
Just because others die morequickly or in some more severe

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fashion doesn't mean they aremore guilty than you.
One reason God allows evils tohappen around us is that in His
wisdom, he knows who to judgefirst, so that others might take
notice and repent of their sins.
For those eighteen who diedwhen the tower in Siloam fell on
them, do you think they weremore guilty than all the others
living in Jerusalem?

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I tell you no, but unless yourepent, you too will all perish.
Luke 13, 4 and 5.
Therefore, evil, sickness,discipline and injustice occur
in the world.
So that we might humbleourselves and see our need to
repent.
If you want the mercy, peace andjoy that God offers through

(12:33):
Jesus, then consider becoming adisciple of Jesus, for in Jesus
you will find a God ofoverwhelming love and mercy, a
God of love that will more thananswer your doubts and questions
.
So stop, soften your heart,humble yourself and get down on
your knees.
Surrender to what God isworking and ask Jesus what he is

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trying to teach you.
Those who surrender to God,whether Christian or atheist,
embracing and learning fromevils, god allows, will proclaim
the Lord is upright, he is myrock.
There is no wickedness in Him.
Psalms 92.15.
The Consider Podcast Examiningtoday's wisdom, folly and

(13:16):
madness.