Why Does God Permit Wickedness And Suffering&;#063;

"WHY". That three letter word is so common when
disasters strike. It is the final question when war or
natural disasters happen. Or when epidemics exact
their toll on humans. Or when a rapist, or robber goes
on rampage. Or perhaps when children are abused by
persons who are supposed to be their custodians, or
when a loved one drops dead.

Sometimes though the "WHY" is elongated to "WHY GOD
WHY" That suggests the person acknowledges that God
allows evil. If so, why does he permit wickedness and
suffering?

If we say we are not victims of wickedness and
suffering, then we are deceiving ourselves. For have
we not lost someone in death? Or are we ourselves sure
we will be around to shoot fireworks at the end of the
next one hundred years? Perhaps not.

Man through the ages have resigned to the
inevitability of misery and death. A sample of the
following quotations will shed more light on this
matter.

"For suff'rance is the badge of all our tribe". --
Shakespeare.

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not
necessary; men alone are quite capable of every
wickedness." -- Joseph Conrad.

"Account ye no man happy till he die." -- Euripides.

"Out out brief candle/Life's but a walking shadow". --
Shakespeare.

"Vice increases, and men grow daily more and more
wicked."-- Berkley.

"To each his suff'ring: all are men/Condemn'd alike to
groan.... " -- Gray.

"Death! the poor man's dearest friend, -- The kindest
and the best." -- Burns.

"Death is here and death is there/Death is busy
everywhere/All around, within, beneath/Above is death
-- and we are death." -- Shelley.

". . . In this world nothing is certain than death and
taxes." --Benjamin Franklin.
"When life is woe/And hope is dumb/The world says,
'Go'/ The Grave says, 'come!' " -- Arthur Gutterman.

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls/It tolls for thee."
-- John Donne.

"Pale Death, with impartial step, knocks at the poor
man's cottage and the palaces of kings." -- Horace.

"Time goes you stay? Ah no! Time stays, we go." --
Austin Dobson.

"Life is not worth living. Existence is only a
burden." -- Mark Twain.

"When the gods want to punish us, they answer our
prayer." -- Oscar Wilde.

"We men are wretched things, and the gods, who have no
cares themselves, have woven sorrow into the very
pattern of our lives." -- Homer.

"Solomon Grundy/Born on a Monday/. . .Died on
Saturday /Buried on Sunday/This is the end /Of Solomon
Grundy." -- J.D. Halliwell.

The story of Solomon Grundy is the story of us all.
Somebody was once asked to define man; and he simply
said: "He was born, he suffered, he died."

The account of human suffering have elicited different
reactions from various victims. Some believe that God
is responsible for wickedness and human suffering. As
an example , one whose house was shattered by an
earthquake in a South American country said :" God,
see what you have done to us! ".

Yet, others feel that there is no God, or if he
exists, he doesn't really care about us. Asked a
World War I victim: "Where was God when we needed
him?"

The depth of pain that is caused by the wickedness and
suffering in this world cannot be fathomed. Said a
Nazi holocaust victim: "If you could lick my wound,
it would poison you".

Now the question remains: Why does God permit
wickedness and suffering? Does he really exist? When
would wickedness and suffering end?

But first, what is the origin of wickedness?

* * *

Wickedness has a long history. As old as the history
of man on this planet -- 6,000 years.

So, in a sense there is nothing happening now that has
not happened before. Long before the Twin Towers
collapsed, long before the war on terrorists, and long
before the Israelis and the Palestinians began to send
each other to untimely graves, the history of man
right from Bible times has been a tale of misery and
woes.

Consider our first parents, Adam and Eve. Their
suffering knew no bounds. Adam was to till and plough
the ground before he could eat. (0nly God knows how he
made his farm implements). And Eve was to suffer
terrible pains during child birth. That was not
enough. They would have to die!

Murder also was present in the beginning. Cain killed
his brother Abel. His offence? God accepted his
sacrifice. David, the King murdered Uriah and took his
only beautiful wife, Bathsheba. And this, despite all
the many wives of David! Add to this the killing of
Christian martyrs like Stephen, and God's prophets to
make the homicide scenes complete.

Also violence is not new. Nimrod the great hunter was
a violent man who opposed God. He even initiated the
construction of a mighty tower in Babel. And then came
the Nephilims. These were violent giant offsprings
resulting from the marriage between angels from heaven
and beautiful women on earth. In fact wickedness was
so rife in those days that God regretted making man in
the first place.

What of rape? When you hear about a serial rapist,
that one may be borrowing a leaf from Lot's daughters.
These beautiful girls had their father, Lot, drunk
with wine, raped him and had children for him (what
a shame!) And beautiful easy-going Dinah, too, was
raped by Schechem. And her brothers went on a killing
spree!

Even oppression and injustice are not new. The
Egyptians made the Israelites slaves in the land of
Egypt. They were makers of bricks and builders of
cities. And in order to suppress the Israeli
population, their male children were killed at child
birth! Naboth, a property owner in Israel also
experienced oppression and injustice when King Ahab
and his wicked wife, Jezebel had him killed, and
seized his vineyard.

What about hatred? Is it a new phenomenon? No. Two
fleshly brothers, Esau and Jacob hated each other to
death. And do you know the origin of the hatred? Jacob
buying Esau's first born birthright with a pot of
porridge. Ridiculous? Maybe.

Further down in this list, Joseph's brothers hated
him, sold him into slavery, and was taken to Egypt
because of jealousy. King Saul hated David to death
because he got more praises for war victories. And
Haman plotted the extermination of the Jewish race in
Persia during the reign of Ahaseurus. Why? Because
Mordecai, the Jew refused to bow down to him.

Even war as one historian said, has been "a constant
in history" . God himself destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrha. The Israelites fought many wars against the
inhabitants of Canaan and occupied their lands under
God's direction. Even God allowed the nation of Israel
to be later destroyed by Babylon, and Babylon itself
was later destroyed by the Persians.
Again, when the church Holy Fathers abuse children,
newsmen go to town. But do you know that the sons of
high priest Eli -- Holpni and Phinehas, who also were
officiating priests, were having sexual intercourse
with women right before the temple? The Israeli men
abused, maltreated and divorced their wives on flimsy
excuses in Bible times. Even some burnt their children
in sacrifice to idols, while others killed and ate
theirs!

What is more? Of course the list is endless: Delilah
betrayed Samson, her husband to the Philistines; Achan
stole dedicated spoils of war in Jericho; the sons of
Korah rebelled against the leadership of Moses; the
Gibeonites tricked the Israelites, and Ananias the
thief and Peter the Apostle, lied.

Now God has permitted and is still allowing these bad
things to happen in our time. Why does he permit it?
But before we answer that question, let us first find
out if God exists.

* * *

Does God exist? Or is he dead as some say? The answers
to these questions will help us to know why he allows
wickedness and suffering in this world.

As a starting point, note this: whatever is made
requires a maker. The chair you are sitting on now did
not fall from heaven . It was made by a carpenter.
The computer from where you downloaded this article
did not happen by chance. It was made by a genius. And
the article that you are reading now did not evolve.
It has an author.

These in themselves are small things. Now, consider
bigger and more complex things. Like what? you may
ask. Like the universe. Who made it?

It is very easy to say that the universe is without
cause. Think of the order among the 100 billion stars
in our galaxy, and the 100 billion galaxies in the
known universe! Consider the fact that these galaxies
are arranged in clusters and super clusters.

Imagine the fact that the universe is in a constant
state of expansion, and the likelihood of other
universes. Add the fact that even now scientists are
discovering new stars and galaxies that defy their
previously held opinions.

Reflecting on the order and intelligence in the
universe, proponents of the Big Bang theory have begun
singing different tunes.
Asked John Glenn: "Could this have just happened? Was
it an accident that a bunch of flotsam and jetsam
suddenly started making these orbits of its own
accord?" He answers his own question: "I can't believe
that . . . . Some Power put all this into orbit and
keeps it there."

Another scientist, Stephen W. Hawking agrees:" The
more we examine the universe, we find it is not
arbitrary at all but obeys certain well-defined laws
that operate in different areas. It seems very
reasonable to suppose that there may be some unifying
principles, so that all laws are part of some bigger
law".

Now, consider the earth -- our home, a store house of
food and "the greatest of all cosmological scientific
puzzles" according to Levis Thomas.

It is positioned at the right distance from the sun
(to make life possible), it revolves round the sun (to
make for change of seasons), it rotates once very 24
hours (making day and night to happen), and it has an
atmosphere (to protect us.) Was it made, or did it
come about by chance?

Well, what about the brain, which in the words of
Henry F. Osborne "is the most marvelous and mysterious
object in the whole universe"

Do you know that as you read this, some 100 million
messages are pouring into your brain every second? But
how you may ask, does it make it possible for you to
focus on what you are reading right now?

Because the brain censors incoming information and
scans itself every tenth of a second thus making it
possible to focus on the important ones.
Imagine the complex electrochemical transmission and
the quadrillion connections between the 100 billion
neutrons or nerve cells in the brain. And imagine the
fact that these connections are several times more
than all the communication systems in the whole world!

Commenting on the information storage capability of
the brain, Carl Sagan said that it "would fill some
twenty million volumes, as many as in the world's
largest libraries". Do you think that it evolved, or
was it made by a Superior Intelligence?

Said the neurosurgeon, Dr. Robert J. White: "I am left
with no choice but to acknowledge the existence of a
superior intellect, responsible for the design and
development of the incredible brain-mind relationship
-- something far beyond man's capacity to understand .
. . . I have to believe all this had an intelligent
beginning, that someone made it happen."

Who is that Someone? He is God, the creator, the one
who has no beginning and no end. His power and
intelligence is seen from the complexity of the things
he has made -- from the terrifying cosmos to the small
atom.

So since there is God, why does he permit wickedness
and suffering?

* * *

Our first parents, Adam and Eve are the source of
wickedness and suffering in this world. The whole
story is in the Bible book of Genesis Chapters 2 and
3.

God made them perfect and put them in the beautiful
garden of Eden. They were to live happy, beget
offsprings and take care of the earth by expanding the
borders of the paradise, with a prospect of eternal
life.

But take note. All these were not just offered on a
platter of gold. There was a condition -- and this is
very important -- they were to eat all the fruits of
the trees in the garden, excerpt one -- the fruit of
the tree of knowledge of good and bad. Disobedience
would bring death! Simple instruction.

So man was not created like a robot. He was created
with the right to make choices, the freedom to make
decisions.

Now this gift of free will -- the right to choose --
either good or bad, life or death, is not to be
overlooked. So although we were created free, this
freedom is not total, but relative. We are subject to
God's laws. And what are those laws?you may ask.

First, we are under the physical laws of gravity. Man
may decide to climb the highest peak of Mt. Everest,
ignore this law, and take a giant leap to the foot of
the mountain. Or he may close his eyes to all the
risks, and go swimming in the angry waters of the
Atlantic Ocean. He has the free will.

Also God has moral laws. These involve our life style
which includes the use of alcohol and illicit drugs,
tobacco and sexual promiscuity. Man may choose to have
sexual relations with an AIDS infected prostitute with
the belief that he will never catch the dreaded
disease. He has the free will.

Then there are social laws. Man can choose his type of
clothing, art, and music. He also has the right to
choose his type of friends and marriage mate. He may
decide to live all alone in the jungle, away from
civilization, or to walk naked in the streets of New
York. That is his free will.

And lastly, there are health laws. A sick man has the
right to refuse medical treatment. He can also decide
to go on hunger strike -- without food and water.
After all, it is his free will.

Now, our being subject to God's laws is similar to our
subjection to the laws of the State -- man's laws. The
laws of the nations recognize the citizen's
fundamental human rights.

A citizen for instance has freedom of movement. But
this does not mean that he should drive his car right
into the President's bedroom. That is a ride to
prison.

So you can see that there are limits to human freedom
-- those rights have to operate within the confines of
the rule of law.

A man who disobeys the laws of the State is in effect
challenging the authority of that State -- the
sovereignty, which means the right to rule. Now, when
Adam and Eve decided to eat the forbidden fruit in
exercise of their free will after being deceived to do
so by Satan, they were in effect challenging God's
legal right to rule. They were effectively saying to
God: "We can tell good from bad. It is better for us
to be independent of you. We can rule ourselves
without you."

That was an affront -- a rebellion against their
Creator. So God has allowed man the past 6,000 years
to see if he can do without his creator. In those
years, man has tried every political and economic
system. And the result?

Helmut Schmidt, former German Chancellor tells us: "We
humans . . . have always only partially governed the
world, and most of the time very badly . . . . We have
never governed it in total peace". Do you agree with
him? With all man's best efforts, do we have peace or
pieces of peace? (I am not playing with words.)

But how are we the children of Adam and Eve who didn't
have a bite at this fruit, concerned in this matter?

It is because of the law of genetics. When our first
parents disobeyed, they became sinners -- imperfect
people. And imperfect parents cannot give birth to
perfect children. So we have all inherited the result
of sin -- suffering and death from Adam and Eve.

Here comes the questions: why did God plant a
forbidden tree in the garden? Did he know or not that
Adam and Eve would eat the fruit? Why did he allow
Satan to deceive them? Why did he not destroy the
sinning trio? And who made Satan the Devil in the
first place? Questions. Questions. Questions.

The answers to these questions in the next installment
will surprise you as we consider the consequences of
the rebellion.

* * *

A 12-year-old boy is dying of cancer in Columbia. His
father is held by fighting rebels. The dying boy begs
the rebels to release his father so that he could see
him before he dies. The rebels refuse. Sympathizers
volunteer to exchange places with the imprisoned
father in order to fulfill the wish of the sick and
dying boy. The rebels refuse. The boy dies without
seeing his father. And his father is killed by the
rebels.

A mortuary attendant in Bosnia has the unenviable task
of counting the dead in the senseless killings of the
war in that part of the world -- the worst of its kind
since World War II. Among the corpses brought to him
for enumeration were those of his son and relatives.

Pathetic images like these continue to be replayed in
bloody scenes around the world. Just switch on the
radio and listen to the world news at this hour and
tell me what good news you may have heard. In fact one
character in one of Charles Dickens' books says that
he doesn't read the newspapers. His reason? Because
the news is always the same -- someone is always
murdered somewhere.

And that's true. About 12 wars are going on around the
world today, and if you live in the United States,
someone has either been robbed, raped, or killed this
very second! Everywhere, people are in fear of some
kind of evil. Says Harold C. Urey: "We will eat fear,
sleep fear, live in fear and die in fear." These are
the fruitage of the rebellion of our first parents,
Adam and Eve -- political, economic, religious and
social crisis. Not even the UN has come to the rescue.

If you read the Bible books of Matthew chapter 24,
Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21, you will find a
comprehensive list of features of our days -- war,
food shortages, pestilences, earthquakes, and
lawlessness, amongst others. People are suffering and
dying in the millions, and there is no end in sight.
In fact if you read Second Timothy chapter 3, you will
find out that things are going to get worst. We
haven't seen anything yet!

This fact is supported by Human Development Report
1999 saying: "All countries report erosion of their
social fabric, with social unrest, more crime, more
violence in the home .... Global threats are
increasing, outgrowing national abilities to tackle
them, and outpacing international responses". And
that's the plain truth.

It is either happening in Rwanda, Liberia, Sudan or
Somalia. Or in the Middle East, Columbia or South -
East Asia. If it's not ethnic cleansing, it is war
against terrorism. If AIDS is not on the rampage, it
is Ebola. And when it is not a hurricane or a tornado
doing its thing, it is a flood or drought that is
causing havoc, or it is an earthquake of major
proportions, or a volcano is suddenly spitting fire.

All these are happening to us because Adam and Eve,
our original parents ate the forbidden fruit? Yes; the
matter transcends eating of fruit. They took what
belonged to God; they challenged God's Universal
Sovereignty -- His right to rule over mankind, and
sought independence from their Creator.

Thinking that their punishment was too much, some have
asked the following questions, and you may wish to
find out the answers.

Question: Why did God plant a forbidden tree in the
garden? Answer: Because he has the right to do so, and
nobody can challenge him.

Question: Did he know or not that Adam and Eve would
eat the fruit? Answer: No, he did not know. For God
can choose not to know.

Question: Why did he allow Satan to deceive them?
Answer: God did not allow it. Satan desired worship,
and deceit was his tool.

Question: Why did he not destroy the sinning trio?
Answer: Because God's purpose of populating the earth
will be defeated, and the sovereignty issue will not
be resolved.

Question: Who made Satan the Devil in the first place?
Answer: It was not God, because God made perfect
angels. One of the angels made himself Satan, meaning
resister, and Devil meaning liar.

Are you surprised to read this? Do not be amazed. That
is the Bible fact.

But now you may ask: Who then causes wickedness and
suffering? What has been proved over the millenniums?
When will suffering end? And what will God do?

Let's find out.

* * *

"Where was God when the Twin Towers collapsed?" "Where
was God when Israeli military tanks rumbled through
Palestine?" If you have asked such questions, you will
now have understood the cause of wickedness and
suffering in this world: It was because our first
parents sought independence from God. And remember
that God did not know that things will be this way.
And remember also that man has no right to challenge
God, his Creator.

Yet, some doubters continue to use the "D" word,
"Design". Now, ask yourself this question: If it was
God's plan for us to suffer and die, why did he send
his son, Jesus Christ from heaven to die a shameful
death in order to save mankind from the sin of Adam?
Yes, why? Does this not prove that he is a loving
father?

But looking at this matter closely: Who is it that
causes wickedness and suffering in this world?

Although, the Bible says that Satan the Devil is the
ruler of this world, you must know that not all evils
are caused by him. Why?

Most wickedness and suffering are caused by man. It
was not God that flew the airplanes that destroyed the
Twin Towers. It was man. It was not God that drove
tanks into the refugee camps in Palestine. It was man.

Also, God is not the man who rapes his six-year-old
daughter, nor is he the robber that breaks into
peaceful homes, nor is he the church priest that
abuses children. Nor is he the student turned gunman
who runs amuck shooting and killing his teachers and
fellow students. Yet when these bad things happen, we
blame God!

The fact is that man's heart -- his thoughts and
desires, is evil most of the times. It has been so
from the beginning --since Adam's rebellion.

Another cause of wickedness and suffering are factors
beyond man's control. Some of these events include war
which causes starvation, not to talk of the problems
of refugees; and diseases the cause of
underdevelopment and death.

Also consider natural factors like flooding,
earthquakes, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions. Which
man has control over these? Yet, these are other
causes of suffering to mankind.

So, what has been proved over the millenniums? That
man cannot rule himself. That independence from God
means woes to man. That God is the only Universal
Sovereign -- He has the legal right to rule mankind.

When, therefore, will all these sufferings end? Or is
it going to last for eternity?

No, it will not go on forever. Since God has proved
his case that man has not been able to solve his
political, economic, social and religious problems for
the past 6,000 years without his guidance, he is soon
going to destroy the wicked world.

And what will he do after that?

True, man has had his fair share of trouble. Our
suffering in this planet can be likened to the sick
man who elects to go for a painful surgery. At the end
of the excruciating experience, the patient emerges a
healthy man.

In like manner, the whole world of mankind will soon
regain the perfect life and the wonderful privilege of
living on paradise forever -- a prospect that Adam and
Eve lost when they sinned against God. For God has not
changed his mind -- it was his original plan.

Only righteous people will live there. All those who
are doing wicked things and perpetrating injustice and
suffering in this world will not be there. In that new
world, there will be no war and violence, sickness and
death, earthquakes and floods and other natural
disasters. Those who had suffered at the hands of
wicked people will be resurrected to enjoy eternal
life with an international brotherhood where there
will be no Black or White, Jew or Arab.

Also Satan, the cause of all the hate and wickedness
in this world will be destroyed. Why not read about
this thrilling account in the Book of Revelation
chapters 20 and 21.

So if you have been a victim of injustice and
wickedness, know that your salvation -- your true
freedom is just around the corner. You are going to
live in peace and security with plenty to eat, and in
wonderful surrounding, without dying. All these unjust
regimes will soon go; to be replaced by God's kingdom.
They have been allowed to exist by God to prove a
point -- that independence from God is injurious to
man.

Therefore, when next you hear the __expression: "Why,
God Why?", remember that God is not the cause of the
atrocity in question. It is evil men, and not God,
that do bad things. He is only allowing it in order to
prove a point: who has the legal right to rule?

God has proved that he has the Sovereign right. He is
not the cause of wickedness and suffering.