We tend to be stuck in man centered thinking when it comes to human suffering, and death. We call it evil. It feels wrong to us because we are the ones it is happening to. The problem is that we are falling for a trick and a lie. The devil would have you judge God, when suffering, and death, are a judgment from God against us. You see, there was this thing that happened long ago in a garden. Adam and his wife Eve, decided to sin against God. They believed a lie too. When they ate of the one tree they were specifically warned, commanded not to eat of, they became the subjects of God’s righteous, just, and holy judgment. He placed them under a curse and punished them. All of their descendants would be born with sinful natures. All of their descendants would be sinners. The original sin was punished with more sin. Because of our sin, we deserve death and Hell. We deserve every bit of it.
So why is it that when something bad happens to us we automatically think it is unwarranted, unjust, and evil? We presuppose that God only does things to us, and for us that are pleasing to us. Our hubris knows no bounds. We are so man-centered (anthropocentric) that we can’t see we’ve inverted the positions. We’ve put ourselves in the seat of the Judge. We’ve put God in the defendants box. How on Earth did we get to this point? The primary answer is sin. I think in our fallen state we remain in ignorance of God’s word. In it, He tells us who He is, and who we are in relation to Him. He is our glorious Creator, Savior, and Master. He sustains us by the power of His word. He made a way for us to be reconciled to Him, by Him. We are His finite, sinful creatures who He made from dirt, in His image. We were made for His glory, for His pleasure.
Snyder's Soapbox 
I am a little surprised that you assume all folks blame God. God is not the source of evil. We are in a spiritual battle. Satan loves to main, kill, destroy God’s creation. Whether the person is a believer or not, satan takes delight in causing what ever damage he can. Yes, it’s undoubtedly within God’s permissive will; but God is not the source of evil.
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It appears that you have proved my point. I wonder if you truly read the article? At no point did I say that God was the cause of evil. You were wrong to say, “you assume all folks blame God.” I did not make that assumption. I don’t know how you could infer that from my article. I wonder, would you answer some questions? 1. Why did God kill a planet full of people with a flood? 2. Why did Moses send the sons of Levi through the crowd to slay 3000 of them with the sword? 3. Why do we all die? 4. What does the Bible say are the wages of sin? 5. Before a person is regenerated by the Holy Spirit are they in Adam, or Christ? 6. What does it mean to be in Adam? Do Christians still sin? Are they free from both temporal and eternal consequences, or just the eternal consequences of sin? Would God be just to kill everyone and send them to Hell?
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“So why is it that when something bad happens to us we automatically think it is unwarranted, unjust, and evil?” this line alone, coupled with other comments led me to believe that you were inferring that God “causes” the evil. I’m afraid I’ve forgotten the incident with Moses directing the sons of Levi, but as For directed Moses, it was obviously a justifiable, righteous act, despite how we may emotionally respond. Yes, as you stated, the people of Noah’s time were so flagrantly evil, that God preserved the one quasi-righteous man and his family (along with a bunch of animals). We die because we Really participants, so to speak, in Adam’s sin. Because of this our bodies will die. Our spirit is also dead until God regenerates it. We are not “in Christ” until we have been regenerates as a result of His amazing sacrifice for us.
Some of the evil we experience is a result of choices we have made. Some times we are casualties of a spiritual battle. Sometimes, it’s tough to explain the why’s other than today we live in a fallen world. We are all under the sentence of death until we are redeemed (praise God for redemption!). Would he be justified in sending us all to hell? –yes, but I’m sure glad He doesn’t.
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You would be making an inference from an alleged implication in my article that was not there. Again, I think you might be missing my point. Unpleasant, bad things that happen to us, are not necessarily evil. They are definitely not evil they are judgments from God. For instance, King David was guilty of sinning against God when he committed adultery and murder. God was not doing evil when He punished David by killing his son, and taking his kingdom from him. It isn’t evil for God to kill us. We are His creatures. I agree with most of what you wrote, providing I understood you correctly. God is merciful, and has made a way for us to be saved from the eternal consequences of sin.
1 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said,
“There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.
2 “The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.
3 “But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb
Which he bought and nourished;
And it grew up together with him and his children.
It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,
And was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man,
And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd,
To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him;
Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. 6 He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”
7 Nathan then said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.” 15 So Nathan went to his house.
Loss of a Child
Then the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. 16 David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. 18 Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm!” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 20 So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate.
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ 23 But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (NASB Strong’s) 2 Samuel 12:1-23
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Hi Snyder’s Soapbox Team,
My name is Anuj Agarwal. I’m Founder of Feedspot.
I would like to personally congratulate you as your blog Snyder’s Soapbox has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 50 Christian Book Review Blogs on the web.
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Anuj
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