Is God Dead? Series: The Evil of Others

This week, we continue looking at five biblical reasons why God may allow evil to exist. As part of our survey to better understand the Christian perspective on suffering, we began last week to look at the biblical concept of suffering and evil as punishment for sin. Undoubtedly, suffering and evil as punishment for sin is far and away the most common reason given for God allowing evil and suffering presented in the Bible. In fact, it appears throughout the Bible, from Torah to the prophets, the wisdom to the Gospels, and the epistles to Revelation. Over and again, the Bible presents two paths down which man makes their own free will choice to travel. There is no coercion to the left or to the right. God tells the Israelites, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing” (Deut 30:19). Therefore, the choice is simple: “Choose this day whom you will serve” (Josh 24:15). It is truly a free will choice. Even so, the Bible also speaks of evil and suffering that comes about as the consequence of other people’s sin. In our daily lives, much of the evil and suffering we experience is of this tribe, both direct and trickle-down evil perpetrated by others. Just recently, it was reported that a US retailer lost $45 billion due to shoplifting. The consequence of this evil is that the innocent has to make up for this loss through higher prices. That is evil suffered as a consequence of other people’s sins. The young mother killed by the drunk driver, the man mugged by the drug addict, the innocent child shot at school by a classmate. What about the rape, murder, and torture of Ukrainians in their own land. The list is at once horrific, and extensive. The story of Cain and Abel is the first biblical account of evil suffered as a consequence of another’s sin. As the story goes on, Cain becomes jealous of his brother because Abel “found favor with God,” while Cain does not. As a result, Cain kills innocent Abel, who suffers as a consequence of another’s sin. But this barely touches the hem of the garment; the biblical text is full of examples of sinful people hurting innocent people. Perhaps it is because of the sheer volume of human suffering caused by the sins of others that how people treat one another is one of the most critical topics in the New Testament. In fact, according to Scripture, Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was. Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37ff). Make no mistake, how people treat one another ranks so high in God’s economy. It should come with little surprise that the first code of conduct handed down by God, The Ten Commandments, explicitly describes man’s relationship horizontally among fellow men in six of the ten commandments. Within the Christian motif, it is well understood that dishonoring one’s parents, committing murder, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and coveting incorporate, in some form or fashion, every evil that one man can commit against another, including the crucifixion of an innocent man. And yet, the Bible testifies that this is what human beings do. And it is not just the Bible; secular law across the board criminalizes most all of these commandment violations as well. These are, it would seem, universal laws written upon the heart of mankind regardless of religious belief.