Posts Tagged ‘beliefs’

Unnatural Disasters

May
28

I’ve been thinking about the tornado that hit Oklahoma a week ago, and I have read plenty of people’s comments who were trying to make sense of how a good God can allow innocent people, like those school children, to die.  I know people who have struggled with or left the faith because they couldn’t really understand that.  And I think that’s because there have been a lot of bad answers to this kind of problem.  Here are a few of the common bad answers that I hear:

1. God is in control, and no disasters happen unless God specifically makes them happen.  So there must be a really good reason for the disaster.  We’re just too ignorant/stupid to understand the wisdom in causing disasters that kill lots of people.

2. Everybody is a sinner (little kids included) so they all deserve to suffer and die anyway.

3. If there are any innocent people (like little kids), they’re in Heaven now.  So it’s ok that they died in a disaster.

4. God wanted those people in Heaven.  So he used a disaster to kill them off and get them there.

I think people who try to explain things with reasoning like that don’t know who God is.  God delights in kindness and mercy and grace.  It’s true that God does punish sin, and he can and will use fierce judgments to punish evildoers.  But his heart is one of changing people for the better whenever possible.  And he wants everybody to know that.

Jeremiah 9:24 says …”those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things.”

You can know God.  He wants you to know him.  So when people say we can never know why God does things because his thoughts are higher than ours, it’s a total cop-out.  Of course God knows more than us, and always will, but we can know his character and why he does the kinds of things he does.

There are plenty of evil people in this world who do deserve death and punishment, but there are also people who live their lives for God who have been restored and renewed by God’s grace  And there are truly innocent people like babies and little kids who don’t even know what morality is.  Yes, if a little baby dies, it will go to Heaven, but God doesn’t cause abortions just to get babies in Heaven.  And God doesn’t make disasters to do that either.  If God really wants somebody in Heaven right now, he just picks them up and puts them there.  He doesn’t put them through a tragic and painful death.

If you want a good reason for why disasters happen, it all comes down to sin.  Without sin, there would be no death and no suffering in this world.  If a person dies of old age or sickness we call it a natural death.  But the truth is, death is not natural.  Disasters are not natural.  They were never meant to be a part of God’s creation.

When people started sinning, they introduced death and suffering into the world.  Romans 5 talks about that.  People have continued to sin since Adam and Eve, and so people keep on dying.  And it even affects people who have never even had a chance to sin–i.e. babies that are aborted.

Breaking God’s law does nothing but hurt people.  Murder, theft, lying, sexual immorality, gossip, all that kind of stuff not only destroys the soul of the sinner, but does collateral damage to the people around them.  If it wasn’t for sin, we’d all live never ending lives without suffering and death.  But as it is, death has infected our very makeup.  We suffer genetic disorders and cancer and crippling disease because people all over the place have chosen to sin and perpetuated the degradation of what God created for good.

It’s like if you ignore the warning label and try to make toast while you’re taking a bath.  You’re not supposed to use a toaster in the bathtub because it will electrocute you.  In the same way, God designed us to live good lives.  When we ignore God’s warning label in our hearts and fill our lives with evil choices, it kills us.  And it hurts those around us too–like when a drunk driver hits and kills a sober driver.  Sin brings death and destruction every time people do it.

Scientists have said that our DNA is designed to replicate forever, and they don’t know why we grow old and die.   But the plain truth is that we get old and lose our health and eventually die because all of creation has been infected with death.  Even things like earthquakes and tsunamis and tornadoes can be traced back to sin.  It was because the world was steeped in sin that God struck the earth and flooded the whole planet in Noah’s day, and the entire face of the earth was torn apart and rearranged.  And still today we can feel the remnants of seismic and atmospheric instability that never would have existed, had it not been for sin.

So when bad things happen to good people, you shouldn’t blame God.  You should blame bad people.  Because if it weren’t for bad people, good people wouldn’t ever feel the effects of what bad people have done.  And when the innocent do suffer, God is even more brokenhearted than you or me.  That’s why we always tend to hear about little miracles in the midst of big disasters, because God is always at work to save people, to restore and heal, to build character and self-discipline, to shape us into good people. So all those small stories of good things that happen in the midst of tragedy…that’s God.

God is always at work to bring about good.  He might allow destructive forces to run their course, and it ought to be a lesson to all of us to repent and live good lives, because death in this world is just the beginning of blessings for the righteous and punishment for the wicked.

Of course God has used everything from fire to flood to invading army to render judgment on wicked people.  So he can use a disaster to punish the wicked and dissuade evil if he wants to.  But more often, he is finding ways to bring good out of tragic events and disasters and to transform lives in spite of the evil that people do.

So the next time you are wondering how a good God can allow death and suffering, you should instead think about how there would be absolutely no good in this world if it weren’t for God’s intervention and influence in the world, and there would be no death and suffering in this world if it weren’t for the influence of people making sinful choices.

My heart breaks for the people who lost their homes and loved ones.  But God’s heart breaks more.  2nd Peter 3:9 says God does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.  Every single life is valuable to God.  He created them all, and he wants to see them all lived good and filled with his blessings.  But even more important than the short life we live on this earth is our eternity.  I certainly pray for all the people who were affected by that terrible tornado.  And I hope they will be even more affected by the love of a God who wants to save them from even worse disaster caused by sin and rejection of God.

Jesus died on the cross to make it possible for us to find forgiveness if we walk away from sin and walk with him instead.  And the tragedy of his gruesome death on a cross is meant to be the biggest warning label of all time: End your involvement with sin, because it is an indiscriminate killer, and every time you sin just brings more death and suffering into the world.

 

Don’t Be Such a Baby

Apr
7

What does it mean that Jesus died for you?  Why would somebody else dying a couple thousand years ago make any difference for your life–or your eternity?

Have a listen and find out.

The Pinocchio Problem – Election Day 2012

Feb
20

Who do you put your faith in to help change our country and solve our political problems?  Republicans?  Democrats?  A third party?  Guess what.  None of them are the solution to our nation’s problems.  Click on the link to hear why this election is no big deal!

Romans 8:1-4 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

 

The Man, The Myth, The Legend – Part 2

Mar
17

There are some people, who obviously haven’t ever studied the teachings of Jesus, who say he was simply a good, moral teacher, which is just goofy, because if they had read the things Jesus said and still didn’t believe that he was the Son of God, they would have to call him a total nut-job or a wicked deceiver.  The religious leaders of Jerusalem didn’t kill Jesus because he was a good teacher.  They killed him because he claimed to be God, and people were following him and believing in him and that made the leaders extremely jealous.  And then Jesus went and rose from the dead and made things extremely inconvenient for the establishment.

Obviously, Jesus was a moral teacher, but it’s impossible to leave it at that…unless of course you have an agenda to deny any truth that might cause you to have to face the reality of your personal responsibility for your choices to break God’s law and live a sinful and selfish life.

Just sayin’.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend – Part 1

Mar
16

I’ve heard people talk as if the Bible were just a myth, to be compared to fantasy works such as Homer’s Odyssey or On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.  But the Apostles wrote specifically to give evidence for their faith.  John said he wrote so that the reader may continue to believe.  Luke said he wanted to write down a detailed history of the life of Jesus and the early church.  The writers certainly weren’t presenting myth.  But I have found that when people are presented with a truth they don’t like, they often try to find ways to reject it.  So it would make sense that people who live their lives in opposition to the Bible would try to discount it.

Unfortunately for such people there is an abundance of evidence to support the truth of Scripture, and one day truth will come crashing down upon them like a ton of brimstone.  I hope that doesn’t describe you!

Use Your Brain

Mar
12

Judge not lest ye be judged.  Ever heard that line before?  I’ll bet when you heard it, it came from somebody who didn’t want to be held accountable for their choices.  But do you think an out of context Bible verse is the best defense of irresponsibility?  Listen to the podcast and you be the judge…

Litmus Test

Mar
11

Here’s a good test of faith:

Listen to the podcast to hear the secret.

Keep the Faith

Dec
12

I think Winston Churchill’s “Never Give in” speech was a great shot in the arm for the students at Harrow School–and for many who heard or read it later.  It was back in 1941 that he delivered it.  So there were 3 more years of hard fighting and being bombed on a regular basis before there was any real hope of victory over the Nazis in WWII.  In it he said:

“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated.

“Very different is the mood today. Britain, other nations thought, had drawn a sponge across her slate. But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, though we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say that we can be sure that we have only to persevere to conquer.”

As Christians, we live in a world of sinful people and the pain and hardships that are a result of sin.  So take a note from Churchill, my brothers and sisters, and remain strong in your faith.  Never give up.  Never give in.  Remain strong in the Lord, and you will find victory in your perseverance!

Farewell to God

Oct
30

It seems like Christianity is becoming less and less popular in pop culture and mass media.  So maybe all of us Christians should just give up and become atheists. They’re even killing off our brothers and sisters in Africa and the Middle East.  Now’s maybe a good time to get out before it gets that bad in the U.S.  Then again, Jesus did warn us that following him wouldn’t be easy.  Maybe we should take him at his word, count the cost, and live out our faith with some real commitment.  Just an idea.

Don’t Throw That Away

Jul
29

Have you ever noticed that when you run into problems that it’s a whole lot easier to look down than it is to look up?  We all get thrown some curve balls in life.  And when the going gets tough, we like to feel sorry for ourselves and wish things were easier.  But when you come to the place where you hit bottom, you finally look up and see the direction that you should have been going all along.  It takes work to climb out of a hole.  And the truth is, it’s a whole lot easier to climb out before you hit bottom.  But regardless of how deep you sink in your sorrows, it’s not until you look up, that you can start climbing in the right direction.

Some people will look at this world and see all the evil that people do, and be hopeless because of it.  But if you look up, and turn your eyes upon Jesus, there is always hope.