Fruit of the Spirit

For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth...Eph 5:9

Winter 2002                                                            Volume 3, Issue 1

The Fossil Record

The Fossil Record      Studies in Christian
     Evidences

         By Carl Garner

Why?

The what and the when are easy. The where is easy also. But the question everyone is asking is why? The deaths of innocent men, women and children in New York last year has angered and frightened all of us, and has caused us to look for ways to understand the minds of those who would perpetrate such a terrible crime.

It has also prompted many to ask some fundamental questions. Why does God allow evil men to exist? Why does God allow innocent children to die? Why does God not merely eliminate all evil? We are not surprised, having viewed the scenes from the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, that such questions are being asked.

However, those who would charge God with the responsibility for these and other violent deaths also have some questions to answer. What would they have God do? Should He have refused to allow the child to have been conceived that grew into the criminal? Or should He have forced the child to grow up with "gentle feelings" toward his neighbors? Should God have never allowed man to discover innovations which could be misused to cause destruction? Or in some miraculous way should He have protected the innocent ones from the blast? But who among us would like to decide who is "innocent" and who is not? And what about man's free will; must God make automatons of us?

Atheism has sought to place the responsibility upon God for any and everything that man sees as evil, as well as all pain and suffering. In fact, persuasive arguments have been formulated that seek to force us to the view that God cannot be a loving God, and at the same time allow pain, evil and suffering to exist in

a world over which He has ultimate power. The problem atheism has had in sustaining this argument is that they must attempt to prove the existence of objective evil without the benefit of an objective standard. Without such a standard, no one can say that any act is truly evil, for a subjective standard cannot result in the confirmation of objective evil.

While that is a problem for atheists, it does not remove from theists (those who affirm the existence of God) the responsibility of showing why God allows evil and pain to continue. Perhaps the following can help to do so:

Pain Is Not Evil

In a book entitled Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants, Dr. Paul Brand reminds us that "Pain is an ally placed in our makeup to protect us, to warn us of our fallibility and even help to build character." We may not want to feel pain, but it warns us of unseen dangers, reminds us to be careful where we put our hand near a stove, and forces us to take measures to discover the cause of the pain. In the 70s, doctors were made aware of a child whose pain threshold was so high that she had virtually no feeling of pain. Her parents discovered this fact when they smelled the burning flesh of her hand as it was touching a heated grill on a stove. She felt nothing and was unaware of the danger. Pain can be a friend, not an enemy.

Some Pain Our Own Fault

One who commits murder and is sentenced to life imprisonment suffers self-inflicted pain. When one deliberately drives his car at reckless speeds, the crash and the painful consequences are his fault, not God's. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," (Galatians 6:7). Your pain may be your fault!

(continued on page 10)


Inside...
Page 1 - The Fruits Of The Spirit | Page 2 - Gossip |
Page 3 - Prison Report | Page 4 - Old Testament Studies | Page 5 - Winning A Friend To Christ |
Page 6 - Mission News | Page 7 - Christian Evidences | Page 8 - Hearing Of Their Faith |
Page 9 - The Christian Home | Page 10 - Continuations | Page 11 - The Children's Page |
Page 12 - Announcements |

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