WHAT ARE THE 2 HARDEST QUESTIONS FOR CREATOR GOD AND HIS BIBLE TO ANSWER?
Of course, there is nothing too hard for God to answer!
Then the word of the Lord came… "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:26-27
Do you really think that there is anything that can stump Creator God?!
The basic fact of Creator God's existence, alone, answers many of the main questions that humans have.
But Materialistic Science struggles greatly to answer many of these crucial questions!
There are questions that are completely or virtually impossible for Materialistic Science to explain.
But an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God can easily do the many difficult things that science cannot explain.
These are discussed on the page, Doesn't Science Disprove the Bible?
But, there are 2 questions which trouble many people concerning God:
1. Why does an all-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing God allow evil in his world?
This is probably the biggest question asked about God –
and even in the Bible, itself, people repeatedly asks this question of God!
So it is a legitimate question for us to ask – and one that God is willing to listen to!
And willing to answer!
You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
Jeremiah 12:1
Now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.
Malachi 3:15
When we look around us at our world, we see evil everywhere.
So, people reason like this:
If God were all-powerful he could stop evil!
If he were all-loving he should stop evil!
If he were all-knowing he would never have made man (who commits all this evil) in the first place!
Or worse yet: he actually created the evil in the world!
Therefore:
God must not be all-powerful, all-loving, and all-knowing.
So I don't want to believe in a God like that.
But then we are left with a very serious problem:
[God says:] "I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God."
Isaiah 45:5
Now, this is what the Lord says–– "...I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior."
Isaiah 43:1, 11
So we need to step back and relax:
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him ...
Psalm 37:7
Creator God will take care of the evil in the world:
... do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret––it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
Psalm 37:7-9
This is the whole point of Bible-On-Center:
God will punish those who commit sin.
God will give eternal life to those who believe in Jesus Christ.
Here is the quick answer to the problem of evil in the world:
But, first, there is a more important question for each of us: How does God eliminate the evil in me?
The main point of the Bible is all about answering this question.
So this is the primary focus of Bible-On-Center.
Eliminating the evil in the world is, of course, an important focus in the Bible.
But eliminating the evil in you and making you God's child is an even greater focus.
What good is it for you if God eliminates the evil in the world but does not eliminate the evil within you?
So what's the answer to evil in the world?
• God allows choices in his universe –
Neither humans nor angels are robots.
Satan and humans both chose to sin.
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
James 1:13-15
• So the entrance of evil into our world was our fault, not God's.
This is what I have discovered. …This only have I found: God made mankind upright; but men have gone in search of many schemes.
Ecclesiastes 7:27, 29
Sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 5:12
How can we blame God for what we have freely chosen to do – and continue to choose to do?
• Our sin has tragically affected everything in our world.
The creation was subjected to frustration…[in] bondage to decay. …We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Romans 8:20-22
This goes far beyond typical environmental issues.
Frustration = "emptiness, futility, purposelessness, and transitoriness." [A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, s.v. "Mataiotes."]
The creation that we live in, now, is far different from the one that God originally created.
• The solution comes only through Jesus Christ.
God [the Father] was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself [the Father] all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his [Christ's] blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:19-20
Everything on earth and in heaven that has been twisted by evil will be either destroyed or made straight and whole through Jesus Christ.
The motivation for the solution is God's love for us.
• The carrying out of the solution takes a very long time (from our perspective but not from God's).
• The solution will definitely come – God has promised!
• So one day, all evil in the universe will be eliminated – by God either forgiving it or destroying it.
• So, when God eliminates evil, be sure to be on the side of those who are forgiven for their evil, not on the side of those who are destroyed for their evil.
Warning: many people will not like God's solution for evil –
1. Because the solution is very drastic and involves removing and destroying all evil from heaven and earth.
2. Because the solution for removing the evil within us requires humility and repentance before God –
and, unfortunately, many of us are too proud to do that.
3. Because the solution requires faith on our part –
and, unfortunately, many of us do not believe either Creator God or what he says in the Bible.
So this leads directly to the second most troubling question about God.
It has to do with those who refuse to have God forgive the evil that is within them.
2a. How can an all-loving God condemn people to eternity in the Lake of Fire?
We feel deep emotion, anguish, and even revulsion when we consider this eternal punishment.
It is genuinely agonizing to consider.
Which is why so many people ask this question so frequently.
Yet, few people take it seriously for themselves personally.
It is amazing how many people live in a way that shows little fear of the answer!
The reason God condemns evil so harshly has to do with his character:
"I, the Lord your God, am holy.
Leviticus 19:2
God's attitude toward evil in heaven and on earth is total revulsion.
You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors.
Psalm 5:4-5
God's character cannot tolerate evil of any kind.
Also, consider that it was just one sin that destroyed God's original creation!
Sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 5:12
Is God not justified in eliminating those who have ruined his creation?
Your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, ...and for destroying those who destroy the earth.
Revelation 11: 18
Creator God is under no obligation to show us any mercy.
Yet, God's character compels him to do just that!
God is love.
I John 4:8
As a result, God has chosen to offer us love instead of condemnation.
In him [Christ] was life. …To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 1:4, 12
God [the Father] loves the world so much that he gave his one and only Son [Jesus Christ], that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
God [the Father] demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. …When we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.
Romans 5:6, 8, 10
Whoever believes in him [Jesus Christ] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
John 3:18
Isn't it amazing how many people reject God's solution for dealing with the evil in themselves?
[Jesus Christ] was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. …This is the verdict: Light has come into the world but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
John 1:4-5; 3:19-20
• So, people blame God for the evil in the world – even though he did not create it.
• Yet, in his great love for us, he has gone to 1000s of years of planning, trouble and immeasurable sacrifice to eliminate the evil in us and, ultimately, in the world.
• But, God has absolutely no obligation to do any of this for us – he does it because he loves us.
Are you going to blame Creator God for your own choices?
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
John 3:36
Who is responsible, if you fail to take advantage of his love for you?
Who is responsible, if you choose to remain under his anger?
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:20
2b. How can God condone all the killing in the Old Testament?
This question is somewhat related to Question 2a.
The Great Flood:
The taking over of Canaan:
Israel is a visual representation of what the Kingdom of God is like:
Good is blessed – evil is punished.
God is patient, not wanting any to perish.
But God will not wait/tolerate evil forever.
What do you do with your questions about God?
Do you have any doubts or questions about God or the Bible?
Don't hide them!
Suppressing your questions rarely leads to faith.
Be sure to ask God those questions.
He wants you to know him!
He is very patient and understanding with our questions.
Or ask those questions of someone who knows God and the Bible.
Expressing one's doubts and questions, then getting clear answers, is a huge step toward growing one's faith.
You are not the only one who has questions and doubts.
The Bible is filled with the questions and doubts that people have about God.
The Bible is also filled with answers to those questions!
But what is the motivation for your questions?
A. Is it to avoid having to believe in God?
Is it to find an excuse not to believe in God?
B. Or, is it to truly know and understand God better?
Then, ask God for wisdom and understanding –
He wants you to know him.
The answers are in God's Word – the Bible.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe [B, above] and not doubt [A, above].
James 1:5
The Bible is your guide and final authority.
[God,] your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalm 119:105
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
Psalm 119:97-100
Helps for understanding the Bible:
Pray as you read the Bible.
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law [the Bible].
Psalm 119:18
Ask questions.
If you have questions, ask someone who loves Christ and knows the Bible.
Search the internet.
Or search on the internet to find the places in the Bible that talk about your questions.
For example: evil in the world bible verses
But be discerning.
Check the Bible (God's Word) to make sure that people's answers to your questions are correct.
Don't naively put your faith in the words of people.
There are many wrong ideas about God and the Bible out there – especially on the internet.
As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue [Jewish church], and...reasoned with them from the Scriptures [Old Testament], explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. ...Now the Bereans...received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Acts 17:2-3, 11-12
Compare what people tell you to what the Bible says.
Avoid someone who:
• contradicts the Bible, or
• adds to the Bible.
[Paul says:] My purpose is that...[you] may know...Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-souding arguments.
Colossians 2:2-4
There were also false prophets among the people [in Old Testament times], just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
II Peter 2:1-3