As in a Mirror

Questions. We all have them. And inevitably, once one is answered, a handful of others rise up in its place. We often state, regarding many situations, “Once this vital question is answered, then I’ll give it some consideration.” Truth is, we won’t ever be completely satisfied if what we have is an intellectual fire-stop. But that doesn’t mean the questions aren’t legitimate, or aren’t worth addressing.

Spiritual seekers ask a lot of questions, as do people who wouldn’t consider themselves very spiritual. Two questions in particular are asked frequently by both parties. I would like to systematically address these; so read carefully or else you may learn something.

Question #1: “If there is a God, and if He is loving and all-powerful, why is there so much evil in the world? Why is there suffering?”

Anyone who has ever answered a question knows that it is important to understand the perspective behind the question. Sometimes, even, the best answer is a question. So what is the perspective behind this question? Why is it that we only ask it when things go wrong? Why, on the simple, beautiful days, do we not stop, walk outside, look into the sky and the trees, breath deeply, and ask the nearest person, “If there is a God, and if He is so good and powerful, why is there so much love in the world? Why does He let me have these good things?”

How quick we are to believe that we worked for these good things, things that have been handed to us on a silver platter! We have never worked for the sunshine, the birds’ songs, the simple peace and happiness in life.

Now that we have established some perspective, we are ready to address the question. So, why doesn’t God deal with all the evil in the world, if He is good (and, of course, if He exists)? Let’s consider that for a minute. Now, if God were to destroy any and all evil from the face of the earth… what would happen to you? Would you still be here, or would you have to go with “all the evil?”

If you think you’ll survive it because you’re really not evil, look at what God considers to be evil:
“But there shall by no means enter it (the New Jerusalem) anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Revelation 21:27)
“But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.” (Revelation 22:15)
God judges men by their works, yes, and we have all done things we know we should not have, but God looks even to our thoughts, considering hate to be murder, lust to be adultery; even if we covet, we have sinned. Maybe you’re “pretty good,” but you are not perfect, and God requires perfection.

Folks, I have news. We see tragedy and disaster all around us a lot, and at some times more than others. And in the midst of them, we feel overwhelmed. But there is coming a day when we will see disaster such as has never been seen before in all of history. Am I saying natural disasters are God’s judgment on the earth? No. I am saying, because of the evil that man has continually allowed into the world, we experience pain and suffering. The first man, having the place of progenitor, committed sin thus bringing natural disasters into the scene. But if you are clothed with the righteousness of Christ Jesus, you have hope for the world which is to come, with no more evil, and therefore no more sorrow or suffering.

So the question for you should change its focus, from “Why is there evil in the world?” to “Where will I be when all evil is obliterated from the earth?” Because there will come a day when God will judge the world in righteousness; there is coming a day when He will punish all evil. But you need to know where you’re going.

And if you realize that you indeed are evil and need to change, you also need to realize that merely cleaning up your life and “getting back on track” won’t clean up your record before a perfect God. And you’ll soon find out that you will keep messing up and tripping up and falling back to the things you never wanted to. Even if you do good for a little while, granted, you will fall back. Unless:

Unless you are born again! When you get to a place where deep within, you not only regret your sin but come broken over your sin–not your self-pity–to God and repent of your ways and decide to trust in the grace of God through Jesus to grant you salvation. His Holy Spirit will fill you and exchange your hardened heart for a heart that desires Him and His ways, and from thence forth you will grow, til you meet Him in heaven.

Which brings us to Question #2:

Question #2, Part 1: “Okay, so do only a few select people make it to this place in the sky called heaven?”

Answer: What exactly is the assumption behind this question? Does it assume that good people make it to heaven? Well, we’ve established that nobody is good. Does it assume that only those who put their faith and trust in Jesus go to heaven? That only those with the correct doctrine go to heaven? Answer:

There is a process, a beginning that needs to be understood firsthand.
1.) All have sin and are bound for hell.
2.) Jesus lived a sinless life in the flesh, then died and went to hell on behalf of the sins of the entire world, then He rose again to give us the power to live in righteousness.
3.) Therefore, if only those with a perfect record can make it to heaven, only those who have Jesus’ record can make it to heaven.

The solution, faith in Jesus Christ, is so simple! Any person, in any culture, in any circumstance, in any time, can put their faith in Jesus Christ, and thus have salvation. For more information on this subject, read this article here).

Now, we make it to Question #2, Part 2: “Do people in the jungles die and go to hell because they never believed in Jesus?”

So, what about all those people in the middle of nowhere who have never heard the name of Jesus? This seems to bring up a lot of heat, even to the point where some say, “No, you do not absolutely positively have to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation to go to heaven.” To a lot of folks, it may seem that the only other alternative to this solution is that all those aborigines are bound for hell.

Answer:
“Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole… Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10, 12)

So then, is the aborigine bound for hell? Ray Comfort addressed the question very poignantly: “People don’t go to hell because ‘they didn’t believe in Jesus,’ they go to hell because they’ve sinned!” That is what must be established firsthand.

One other point: God has put it in the heart of every man to know Him. He searches to and fro over the earth for hearts that long for Him, rather than for pleasure. God created the earth, the trees, the heavens, and He whispers to us gently of His existence and His interest in our well-being through these small things. He gives us hearts that yearn for love– is this not proof of His existence? Then when the heart, even the heart of the aborigine, recognizes these whispers and these expressions of love from the Creator, and if that heart searches to connect with this Creator and to please Him, honestly, without trying to earn His favor by sacrament or ritual or goodness, God will reveal Himself to that person. I have heard many times of people who first heard the name Jesus from Jesus Himself, who appeared to them while they were crying out for the Creator. God is a God of justice, and also of mercy. And justice and mercy have met at the cross, folks! His mercy extends beyond the reach of man.

This brings me to two points I want to make to believers:
1) We need to pray. Instances like what I just described are miraculous, and surely happen when we pray. Sometimes in the middle of the day, or the night, we will start to feel a deep burden in our spirit and when we say, “God, what is this?” we usually realize it is a burden for someone in need, sometimes for protection over believers but sometimes for lost souls. Sometimes we recognize a little bit of who or what we are praying for, and sometimes we know next to nothing and all that comes out is, “God, break through; God sow Yourself mighty; God, take care of it.” Let’s learn to be sensitive to this and remember to pray for the lost, even those whose names we do not know.

2) We need to preach the gospel! We need to give it to the people around us and we also need to remember to help those who are preaching it to the far corners of the earth! “Why,” you might ask, “when God is so mighty that He can preach it Himself?” I have two answers (yet again) A) because God told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. B) because not every heart recognizes the whispers and call of God in their lives; they choose to ignore it because they’d rather have pleasure or they don’t understand. Thus, when the gospel is preached, in light of the law followed by the grace of God, hearts are convicted and then they understand. Most of the time, the first time a person hears the name of Jesus is from another person. In this way, it seems, when we see a human life transformed, then we know it is real. And it has almost always been people who help and minister to those who were first introduced to Jesus by Himself!

In closing, if anyone wants to check out more about salvation, faith, and grace, discussed briefly above, please read this article. Also read the book of Romans, Luke, and John. When you get a hold of these, read James, Ephesians, and Timothy, and yeah, go ahead and read the whole New Testament! (Don’t be distraught, start one at a time, with the suggestions above. It’s worth an eternity!)

I would like to invite anyone out there, who has an outlet like a blog or anything that reaches more people than this one, or who wants to further this message, to please copy and paste this article and post it on your website, or link to it with a word or thought from you; this is a message people need to hear! Time is short, and the harvest is white! Please do not hesitate; leave a comment and link to where you have helped out!