When God Allows Evil

A number of my Facebook friends asked how I responded to another friend who wanted to know my thoughts regarding a post about the Colorado movie theater shooting. The story we both commented on can be found here. It's an amazing story about one of the victims. My response to this post was to quote Psalm 139: 16:

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."                                                                                                                        
My friend wanted to know my interpretation of that scripture in regards to the shooting, as well as to share her views that if God manipulated events in this young woman's life to be saved from death in the shooting, then He must have also manipulated the lives of the others to die a horrible death in that movie theater. 


This is my response, followed by a few additional thoughts:
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I believe the passage in Psalm 139:13-16 tells us that God knows the day we will be born and the day we will die. God has never hidden the fact that death will come to us all. In Genesis 3:19 He makes it clear we will all return to the ground. How each of us will die, however, is a mystery. Some will pass peacefully in their sleep, which is what I'm praying will happen to my mom. Others, however, will experience pain and misery. Why the difference? I have no idea. Why would God allow some in that movie theater to die an awful death while others were spared? I have no idea. 

But I don't think it's our place to ask why. Rather, I think the more appropriate question is "Why not?" 

God allowed His only Son to die the most horrific death imaginable. As awful as the things those people in the movie theater experienced last week, it is nothing (I don't say that lightly) compared to what Jesus experienced on the cross and beforehand. So if Jesus, who was fully man when he died so he felt pain the same as we do, was allowed to go through such an agonizing death, why do we think we are too special to die in a manner that is painful and awful? Why do we think God should spare us when He didn't even spare His Son? Certainly, we would never go so far as to say God didn't love Jesus. We would never say that God didn't care about His Son. And we would never say that God didn't have a specific plan in place for allowing Jesus' arrest, beatings, and ultimate death to happen. 

We, of course, know that Jesus had purpose in dying on the cross. We have the benefit of looking back and seeing what it was all about. It was for our sakes He suffered. The people in the theater obviously weren't dying to save someone from eternal damnation. Some, though, did sacrifice themselves for their loved one. Those sacrifices affected countless other lives, even lives not yet born. Only time will tell in what ways. 

I do believe the girl in the story had a brain defect that God allowed to form, with foresight that one day a bullet would travel through her brain on that defective path. Why? I guess we'll have have to wait and see, but already her story has touched thousands of people. 

God loves us so much that He sent His Son to reconcile us to Him so we can spend eternity with Him. But no where in His word does He say our lives will be rosy and perfect down here on earth until that day. No where does He say we won't die a painful, awful death. The disciples and Paul and lots of other faithful servants of God through the years died really awful deaths. Being a believer in God doesn't spare us pain. He never said it would. Why do we, the folks living in modern 2012, think we shouldn't have to experience pain and suffering, when nothing in God's word says anything to make us believe that?

BUT He does say in Revelation 21:4 that "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." This world is NOT our home. We WILL experience bad and terrible things on earth. But once we get HOME, that will be no more. 

That is the promise God gives us. That is the promise I cling to every single day. Especially on days, like last Friday, when I don't understand. When I can't see the "why" of it all. 

So, I don't know if any of this answers your question, but it's what is in my heart.

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I honestly don't know why God allows evil to exist. I don't understand why He didn't stop that shooter before he even got to the movie theater. I don't understand why anything bad has to happen to anyone good. 

But my inability to understand it all doesn't affect my faith in the One True God who DOES understand it. Who DOES have a master plan. Who DOES see the big picture when we can't. Our lives are not our own. We were created by God and for God (Colossians 1:16). 

My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families. 

The Rich Man and Lazarus

A rich man died this week. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers, lost his battle with cancer. He was only 56 years old. Far too young to die in many peoples' eyes, including mine. I'm not that far behind him age wise. What an amazing mind he had! Such creativity and brilliance. His legacy will live on for ages.

But one question lingers in my mind as I think about Mr. Jobs.

Where is he spending eternity?


I've read that he embraced Buddhism several years ago but also that he wasn't necessarily a 'practicing Buddhist'. Obviously I don't know for certain what, if any, faith or spiritual beliefs he had. I haven't read any articles in the past few days that give a definitive answer about it. Which is telling to me.

There is a story in the Bible that speaks to us about life and death. It's found in Luke 16:19-31. It's about a rich man and a poor man. It's about heaven and hell. It's told by Jesus, who would certainly understand these things better than anyone else.

"There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus...longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table...The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side." (v. 19-22)


Already we can make some assumptions about how these two men lived their lives. The poor man didn't have much material wealth to show for his time on earth. But clearly he  lived his life in obedience according to God's word because he is now receiving his reward: A life in heaven. The rich man, however, is in hell. He had everything the world can offer, but no amount of money will ever buy a ticket out of hell.

The rich man goes on to ask Abraham to send Lazarus down with a drink of water because "I am in agony in this fire' (v. 24). But Abraham makes it clear there is no going back and forth between heaven and hell. "...between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us." (v.26)


What you do on earth matters! How you live the life God has given you matters! Your choices matter. Your heart-beliefs matter. Your words matter. Your actions matter. We are only given one chance to get things right. One life to live and be the person God intended us to be. We are created by God and for God's purposes, not to fulfill our own ideas about what our lives should be.

There is no question Steve Jobs was a brilliant man. His ideas and inventions have benefited millions of people, myself included. But if he didn't acknowledge God and accept Jesus as his Savior, none of those things matter. He'll be remembered on earth as a great man, but his eternal life will be lost.

Now don't misunderstand this post. I am not saying Steve Jobs is in hell. I have no idea what his last months, weeks, days of life were like. I'm sure he contemplated life-after-death in the quiet moments when he knew his body was dying. I hope he sought spiritual guidance and found the Truth that is Jesus Christ.

It's too late now for Steve Jobs to change his mind if he didn't. It was too late for the rich man in the story too and he wants to warn his loved ones.

"...I beg you, father [Abraham], send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment." (v. 27-28)


I wonder, does Steve Jobs wish he could send a warning to anyone? His family. His friends. The world. You.

He can't, but like Abraham told the rich man, we already have the warning! It's called the Bible!

"They have Moses and the Prophets, let them listen to them." (v. 29)


Are you listening??? Please do before it's too late. I don't want to look over the great chasm from heaven and see someone I love in hell. ='(

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This week's Prayer Shout-Out countries are:
USA, Russia, Paraguay, Latvia, Germany, Ukraine, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, France

Heaven and Hell: The Debate Continues

You may have heard about a new book called "Love Wins" by Rob Bell. Bell is the pastor of mega-church Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's written a number of books--none of which I've read, including his latest. I'd never heard of Bell until the controversy arose over his new book. Apparently--and I'm only going off of what I've read in the news--Bell doesn't believe in the traditional Christian view of hell and who goes there. Which is his choice. No one is forced to believe anything if they don't want to. And truthfully, I understand Bell's position. I've had questions on the subject myself. Does everyone--literally billions of people--really, truly go to hell if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their God and Savior?

As with everything else in life, we have to go to the Bible for the answer.

In John 14:6 Jesus said: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

If we believe what the Bible says, then we understand that the Father is in heaven. So, if no one comes to the Father except those who go through Jesus--meaning those who believe He is who He says He is and accept his sacrifice on the cross to atone for our sins--then everyone who does not believe in Jesus will not be permitted into heaven. That is what Jesus himself is saying. They are not my words. They are not some pastor's words. They are the words of Jesus.

Back in January I wrote a blog called When the Cross is Not Enough. Basically I was talking about people who claim to be Christians yet continue in their sin. Jesus suffered and died upon the cross, spilling his blood as the ultimate sacrifice, so that we can be freed from the bondage and eternal death sin offers. When we question God's word and the validity of Jesus' claims, then basically we're saying the cross is not enough.

Chad Holtz, a pastor in North Carolina, was recently fired from his church because he agreed with Rob Bell. A married Navy veteran with five children, Holtz spent years trying to reconcile his belief that Jesus Christ's death on the cross redeemed the entire world with the idea that millions of people — including millions who had never even heard of Jesus — were suffering forever in hell.

"We do these somersaults to justify the monster god we believe in," he said. "But confronting my own sinfulness, that's when things started to topple for me. Am I really going to be saved just because I believe something, when all these good people in the world aren't?"

Yikes!! That last statement is a doozie! Me thinks Pastor Holtz has more issues that merely questioning who's going to hell!

To me, what Pastor Bell and Pastor Holtz are saying is that Jesus' death on the cross was not enough. If anyone can still go to heaven without believing in Jesus, without accepting his sacrifice on the cross, then what was the point of the cross in the first place? Why would God come to earth in the form of the Son and die a horrific death on a cross if it was pointless? If we didn't need that blood to wash away our sins?

Heaven is a real place. Hell is a real place. Jesus spoke about both of them. It is through Him that we will go to one and avoid the other.

It's your choice.