One of the greatest objections to faith in God is evil. The argument states: “If God is perfect, loving and having the power to eradicate evil, yet evil exist, God must not exist, or God is demonstrably capricious.” Humanity has experienced first hand the presentness of evil. There is wickedness, mental anguish, turmoil, frustration that continuously hound our body, soul and spirit. What is the Christian response to the query of evil? Christians hold to the veracity of the Bible: that is to say, a belief that the universe is good as reflected in Genesis 1. Therefore, if the universe is good, the inhabitants of the universe must of necessity be of equal value. In other words, that which exists by nature of being created by God must (due to the reflection of God) be good. Augustine, one of the great church fathers, affirmed the goodness of the universe. If man, being created after the will of God, is good, where does the evil originate? Evil is the absence of good. It is the perversion of something inherently valuable, a retardation of order, a cancer that is eating away at the good. Evil exist due to our self-determination and the consequences of those choices we make. Freewill inevitably gives rise to evil and suffering. Wrong doing is inextricably linked to finite creatures. If this isn’t the case, then the result would lead to bad dinner theater. In other words, everything would be staged. The enormity of sin is largely due to self-centeredness, which then manifest itself in humanity. By the effects of self-centeredness, the whole world becomes engrossed with depravity, which is spawning ground for pain and suffering. The good news is Jesus can save you from the eternal outcome of evil, alienation from God. Being rescued by God is supremely manifested in Jesus. The awfulness of sin could only be countered by the infinity of divine love. Jesus is that divine love. Will you accept him today and begin a new journey?
O.B. Richardson III
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! TRUST JESUS NOW
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