Today in class I learned about a controversial question that I am sure we have all asked ourselves and that is "If God is truly good, why does bad things happen?" So this can't be a one answer question but it is in parts.
First we must ask ourselves:
Would a good God make a world that is capable of love or one that is incapable? The answer of course would be that He would make one that is capable of love, but at the same time to be able to love and it to be genuine, one must have free will to do so. Love without free will is not love. So, in order to have free will, we must have a choice between two things at least. In this case: Choice between love or hate. So this means that we not only have a world that is capable of love but by definition of free will, has to have to capabilities of hate so that it is a choice for all of us. This can be a dangerous ability, free will. So, not only did God give us free will but He gave us an instruction manual on how to use it (Bible). Because free will does not just effect us but everyone around us. So it should be wielded with the upmost care and responsibility.
Second we must think critically:
Sometimes, bad things happen not because of another person (directly) but because of natural evil (tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes). Some of this can be contributed to free will of humans again. We have not taken care of our planet and our planet is now dealing with things that are the consequences of those choices. Also, when one suffers an earthquake and much is destroyed, the choice to then rebuild back on that fault line will lead to further disasters, but that is indeed what happens. Again this is free will which leads to further bad things happening. When we continue to pump poison into our air, it effects the climate which leads to intense weather disasters. This is free will. When we poison our water supplies and our land with pesticides, we then get things such as cancer. This is contributed to human free will.
Third, let us look at perspective:
In Christian theology, this life we live is small in comparison to eternity. So say we have a straight line from birth to 90 years and beyond those 90 years, is eternity. If something bad happens even over the course of all 90 years, it is but a small dot in the perspective of eternity. Meaning, it will be nothing to us because it will be so small in comparison to the range of time we will have for eternity. When something bad happens in our childhood, it becomes more faint in memory as life goes on because it becomes such a small part of such a big life. This of course is not watering down truly evil things that happen to us in childhood but then again that can be referred back to free will and how someone wields it and how it then affected us when we were young.
Fourth, let us look at the idea of what makes something evil.
We all collectively agree that evil is wrong (murder, theft, violence, etc.) But, how did we come to understand it was wrong? It's not a matter of opinion. If it was, then we could erase all evil just by changing our opinions. It is based off of ideas that are of a transcendent nature. This means that it is ideas that have been the same since the beginning of time, regardless of culture or environment. They have withstood time and continue to be the basis we base right and wrong off of. We today can collectively agree that it is wrong and we can come together with this common ground. So where did this idea of right and wrong come from that has transcended all space and time? Well, it was set by an intelligent Creator. God made human beings in His Image so this means that we took on "communicable traits" such as love, mercy, justice, wisdom, and holiness; allowing us to reflect His character in a finite, analogical way. These shared traits enable personal relationship and moral likeness, distinguishing them from incommunicable attributes exclusive to God, such as omnipotence or omniscience.
We have seen the consequences of free choice ever since Adam and Eve made the choice in the Garden of Eden to disobey God. It has been a spiraling situation that has been becoming increasingly worse but Christians have hope because they know that even as this world grows darker and our lives grow shorter, this is not the end of our story. Our lives as long as we may believe them to be, is nothing compared to what awaits us after it is done. So this is the hope Christians have and this is how we can still have joy and happiness in the midst of the turmoil and this is why we try to share our joy and our hope with others because knowing the whole picture, makes the small scenes not seem to important and life shattering. God Bless.
First we must ask ourselves:
Would a good God make a world that is capable of love or one that is incapable? The answer of course would be that He would make one that is capable of love, but at the same time to be able to love and it to be genuine, one must have free will to do so. Love without free will is not love. So, in order to have free will, we must have a choice between two things at least. In this case: Choice between love or hate. So this means that we not only have a world that is capable of love but by definition of free will, has to have to capabilities of hate so that it is a choice for all of us. This can be a dangerous ability, free will. So, not only did God give us free will but He gave us an instruction manual on how to use it (Bible). Because free will does not just effect us but everyone around us. So it should be wielded with the upmost care and responsibility.
Second we must think critically:
Sometimes, bad things happen not because of another person (directly) but because of natural evil (tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes). Some of this can be contributed to free will of humans again. We have not taken care of our planet and our planet is now dealing with things that are the consequences of those choices. Also, when one suffers an earthquake and much is destroyed, the choice to then rebuild back on that fault line will lead to further disasters, but that is indeed what happens. Again this is free will which leads to further bad things happening. When we continue to pump poison into our air, it effects the climate which leads to intense weather disasters. This is free will. When we poison our water supplies and our land with pesticides, we then get things such as cancer. This is contributed to human free will.
Third, let us look at perspective:
In Christian theology, this life we live is small in comparison to eternity. So say we have a straight line from birth to 90 years and beyond those 90 years, is eternity. If something bad happens even over the course of all 90 years, it is but a small dot in the perspective of eternity. Meaning, it will be nothing to us because it will be so small in comparison to the range of time we will have for eternity. When something bad happens in our childhood, it becomes more faint in memory as life goes on because it becomes such a small part of such a big life. This of course is not watering down truly evil things that happen to us in childhood but then again that can be referred back to free will and how someone wields it and how it then affected us when we were young.
Fourth, let us look at the idea of what makes something evil.
We all collectively agree that evil is wrong (murder, theft, violence, etc.) But, how did we come to understand it was wrong? It's not a matter of opinion. If it was, then we could erase all evil just by changing our opinions. It is based off of ideas that are of a transcendent nature. This means that it is ideas that have been the same since the beginning of time, regardless of culture or environment. They have withstood time and continue to be the basis we base right and wrong off of. We today can collectively agree that it is wrong and we can come together with this common ground. So where did this idea of right and wrong come from that has transcended all space and time? Well, it was set by an intelligent Creator. God made human beings in His Image so this means that we took on "communicable traits" such as love, mercy, justice, wisdom, and holiness; allowing us to reflect His character in a finite, analogical way. These shared traits enable personal relationship and moral likeness, distinguishing them from incommunicable attributes exclusive to God, such as omnipotence or omniscience.
We have seen the consequences of free choice ever since Adam and Eve made the choice in the Garden of Eden to disobey God. It has been a spiraling situation that has been becoming increasingly worse but Christians have hope because they know that even as this world grows darker and our lives grow shorter, this is not the end of our story. Our lives as long as we may believe them to be, is nothing compared to what awaits us after it is done. So this is the hope Christians have and this is how we can still have joy and happiness in the midst of the turmoil and this is why we try to share our joy and our hope with others because knowing the whole picture, makes the small scenes not seem to important and life shattering. God Bless.
Today in class I learned about a controversial question that I am sure we have all asked ourselves and that is "If God is truly good, why does bad things happen?" So this can't be a one answer question but it is in parts.
First we must ask ourselves:
Would a good God make a world that is capable of love or one that is incapable? The answer of course would be that He would make one that is capable of love, but at the same time to be able to love and it to be genuine, one must have free will to do so. Love without free will is not love. So, in order to have free will, we must have a choice between two things at least. In this case: Choice between love or hate. So this means that we not only have a world that is capable of love but by definition of free will, has to have to capabilities of hate so that it is a choice for all of us. This can be a dangerous ability, free will. So, not only did God give us free will but He gave us an instruction manual on how to use it (Bible). Because free will does not just effect us but everyone around us. So it should be wielded with the upmost care and responsibility.
Second we must think critically:
Sometimes, bad things happen not because of another person (directly) but because of natural evil (tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes). Some of this can be contributed to free will of humans again. We have not taken care of our planet and our planet is now dealing with things that are the consequences of those choices. Also, when one suffers an earthquake and much is destroyed, the choice to then rebuild back on that fault line will lead to further disasters, but that is indeed what happens. Again this is free will which leads to further bad things happening. When we continue to pump poison into our air, it effects the climate which leads to intense weather disasters. This is free will. When we poison our water supplies and our land with pesticides, we then get things such as cancer. This is contributed to human free will.
Third, let us look at perspective:
In Christian theology, this life we live is small in comparison to eternity. So say we have a straight line from birth to 90 years and beyond those 90 years, is eternity. If something bad happens even over the course of all 90 years, it is but a small dot in the perspective of eternity. Meaning, it will be nothing to us because it will be so small in comparison to the range of time we will have for eternity. When something bad happens in our childhood, it becomes more faint in memory as life goes on because it becomes such a small part of such a big life. This of course is not watering down truly evil things that happen to us in childhood but then again that can be referred back to free will and how someone wields it and how it then affected us when we were young.
Fourth, let us look at the idea of what makes something evil.
We all collectively agree that evil is wrong (murder, theft, violence, etc.) But, how did we come to understand it was wrong? It's not a matter of opinion. If it was, then we could erase all evil just by changing our opinions. It is based off of ideas that are of a transcendent nature. This means that it is ideas that have been the same since the beginning of time, regardless of culture or environment. They have withstood time and continue to be the basis we base right and wrong off of. We today can collectively agree that it is wrong and we can come together with this common ground. So where did this idea of right and wrong come from that has transcended all space and time? Well, it was set by an intelligent Creator. God made human beings in His Image so this means that we took on "communicable traits" such as love, mercy, justice, wisdom, and holiness; allowing us to reflect His character in a finite, analogical way. These shared traits enable personal relationship and moral likeness, distinguishing them from incommunicable attributes exclusive to God, such as omnipotence or omniscience.
We have seen the consequences of free choice ever since Adam and Eve made the choice in the Garden of Eden to disobey God. It has been a spiraling situation that has been becoming increasingly worse but Christians have hope because they know that even as this world grows darker and our lives grow shorter, this is not the end of our story. Our lives as long as we may believe them to be, is nothing compared to what awaits us after it is done. So this is the hope Christians have and this is how we can still have joy and happiness in the midst of the turmoil and this is why we try to share our joy and our hope with others because knowing the whole picture, makes the small scenes not seem to important and life shattering. God Bless.
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