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Evil and Suffering

1 Joh 5:19 We know that we are of Elohim, and that all the world lies in the wicked one.
We know the question..."Why does God allow evil and suffering in this world?"

Suffering is a different issue to evil, and I will deal with suffering in my next post...this post will deal with evil.

The verse I quoted above addresses the first part...Evil.  That phrase 'all the world lies in the wicked one', is well translated as 'all the world lies under the sway of the wicked one' in the New King James Version of the Bible.  The original Greek text reads 'all the world lies in wickedness'.

What this text makes clear is that the world we live in IS an evil one.  There is a spiritual dimension in which there are spiritual forces at play.  And since we are spirit beings (who live in a body and have a soul), we are very much affected by the happenings in the spiritual dimension.  Right at the beginning of the bible this interplay is made clear in the example of Cain and Abel.  YHVH said to Cain, when Cain was upset about his offering not being accepted by YHVH:

Gen 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.

There is a spiritual interplay between us and evil, but we are to rule over it.  And so ultimately it comes down to free choice. Each of us, every moment, makes choices regarding alternative paths that lay ahead.  To get up for work (or school), or lay in bed a bit longer.  To have toast for breakfast, or bacon and eggs.  To call up a friend on the phone and chat, or to just send an instant message.  To have a drink with a friend on a night out and then go home, or to get drunk.  To take your girlfriend's virginity.  To allow your boyfriend to take your virginity.  To join a gang.  To surf pornography on the internet.  To adhere to the speed limit.  To have heterosexual relations.  To have homosexual relations.  To have that first cigarette with buddies due to peer pressure.  To take someone's life, or not to.  To rape someone, or not to...

Some of the choices may seem obvious.  Some of the choices may even seem unfair - and in those 'unfair' cases we are actually choosing based on known consequences of the alternative (like choosing to stay in bed instead of going to work, like joining a gang or not), and we use the undesired consequence of the alternative as an excuse...to say we have no choice.
Some choices are guided by our past experiences and prejudices and hurts (like choices about homosexuality), and these also become an excuse to say I have no choice...that there is a deeper feeling of just being that way...just being born that way...that's just who I am.

And then what we would argue to be the most evil of all...the choice of having to take a life, or to rape someone.  Choices that are certainly limited to the most degenerate individuals of humanity....even they sometimes come with interesting excuses.  We've seen the movies, or heard the news articles - "there were voices in my head telling me to do so"; "I had to do it as part of an initiation".

But no matter the alternatives laid out before us...WE ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE.  And it is ours and ours alone to make.  Our God is not interested in having robots that do his bidding.  He wants us to choose to serve Him.

Gen 4:7 ...choose for yourselves this day whom you are going to serve....

In the above verse Joshua (the leader of the Israelite nation at the time) asking them to choose between serving Almighty God, YHVH, or serving "other might ones".

And sadly many of us do NOT make the right choice...and this very often leads to evil outcomes.  Sadly the same freedom of choice we have in choosing to go to work or joining a gang, is the same freedom of choice that leads to murder and rape and war, or unwanted pregnancy and abortion and broken families.  All as a result of our own choices.

Perhaps a better question would be "Why do WE allow evil in this world?", and not "Why does God allow evil?"

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