HOW EVIL ENTERED THE WORLD
The cause of evil is SIN, not only personal sin but inherited sin from our first parents. Father Adam was created a perfect man with dominion over the earth and fellowship with God. He was given a simple test of obedience by his Heavenly Father. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2:16-17
Adam joined his wife in her transgression, when she believed Satan’s lie that Ye shall not surely die. (Gen. 3:1-12) As a result, man lost his fellowship with the Creator and was basically left to himself. The Apostle Paul calls Satan the god of this world. 2 Cor 4:4 As a result of the original sin, the entire human race was plunged into a spiral of mental, moral and physical disease, and finally death. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Romans 5:12) In addition, man lost his dominion over the earth. The calamities in nature are also a result of the original sin. For cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Genesis 3:17
WHY EVIL IS PERMITTED TO CONTINUE
God is our loving Heavenly Father and He created us in his own image with the ability to reason and make our own choices. God did not design the human race to blindly worship and obey Him, but to love and worship Him through trust and understanding. Jesus told us that true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. John 4:23
As loving human parents, we know the value of experience in teaching our children how to distinguish right from wrong. There are other ways of learning, e.g. by observation and by information. However, we know that no matter how much we want to protect our children from harm, experience is indeed the best teacher. Let us look back to our first parents as an example. Adam was created a perfect man, in a perfect environment and had fellowship with his creator. God gave him a simple test of obedience with the information needed to make his choice; i.e. the penalty for disobedience would be death. However, Eve was childlike, naive and easily deceived by Satan’s lie. Then Adam under perfect conditions, but without experience, knowingly disobeyed God and under Divine justice, the death penalty was enforced. God has permitted evil for 6,000 years, a brief time compared to eternity. This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. Ecclesiastes 1:13
During this period of time, man has been experiencing the results of doing things in his own way. Mankind’s endeavors, even with the best of intentions, have only led to more and more human suffering.
GOD HAS DONE SOMETHING
HE HAS PLANNED FOR MANS REDEMPTION
Knowing that Adam would disobey, God devised a
plan for mans escape from sin and death. The accomplishment of this plan was guaranteed by the Ransom sacrifice of His Son, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:5,6) The word translated Ransom in the Greek text means a corresponding price of release. Gods justice required a perfect life to be sacrificed for Adams forfeited perfect life. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22) In order to save mankind, God permitted His only begotten Son to be humiliated and tortured on the cross. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
GOD HAS PROMISED MORE IN HIS DUE TIME
Gods grand plan includes the resurrection of all mankind who are asleep in death and the restoration of all things lost due to Adams original sin. His thousand-year kingdom will be established on earth with Christ as King. Reigning with Christ will be his Church, those who have not only received, but also have answered the invitation to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:14) They choose to live righteously and share in Christs sufferings now and if faithful, they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Rev. 20:6
During the thousand-year Kingdom, Satan will be bound (Rev. 20:2) and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9) Mankind will be resurrected from the dead, brought back to perfection, and given a chance to live righteously under perfect conditions. Those who choose to be obedient will live forever. Those who choose not to be obedient will be destroyed in the second death (Rev. 20:12-15), from which there will be no resurrection. After the work of the Kingdom is completed, mankind will again have fellowship with their creator and dominion over an earthly paradise as did Adam. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Rev. 21:4
What a wonderful plan God has for man. When fully accomplished, ALL will come to know His true character. Man will then understand Gods Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power in providing for His creation. If you would like to pursue this subject in more detail, please request the free booklets The Permission of Evil, What Is This World Coming To? and Ray of Hope on a Troubled Sea. We also offer a free Bible correspondence course based upon The Divine Plan of the Ages magazine edition. A hardback copy of The Divine Plan of the Ages is also available at cost. Send for your copies today. You will be glad you did. question is on the mind of many people these days. Evil is everywhere; reports of horrific incidents dominate the media; Children are killing each other and themselves, parents are abusing and even killing their own children; sexual offenders are robbing children of their innocence and sometimes their very lives. Random shootings are becoming all too common place. People are murdered for no reason and world-wide terrorism is on the increase. Even with the advances of modern medicine, many are still dying of various diseases, such as AIDS and staph infections. The whole world is in a mess.
Almost daily we see a close-up view of the war in Iraq with insurgents bombing and fighting efforts to establish a democracy in their country by killing American soldiers and many of their own citizens. In Israel we see the Palestinians fighting against what they believe to be Israeli occupation. Suicide bombers strike when convenient, killing Israeli citizens, and Israel will retaliate by killing the Palestinians. Besides these events there are many hot spots throughout the world and the wars and rumors of wars continue.
So called natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and even wild fires, result in much human suffering, for instance, in 2004 an Indian Ocean earthquake caused a force equivalent to a million ton atom bomb to send a series of tidal waves, called tsunamis, surging 440 miles per hour across thousands of miles of water devastating a vast areas across eleven countries. Over 250,000 people were killed and a great number of bodies washed into the ocean not to be seen again. A picture of just a small area of the destruction is shown on the front cover of this letter.
HOW CAN A LOVING GOD PERMIT SUCH EVIL?
This is another question on the minds of many. Because they can find no satisfying answer to this perplexing question, people are losing faith in God and His precious promises. Day by day they observe the suffering of seemingly good, innocent people and they see and hear flagrant misrepresentations of the character of God as taught by the religious leaders of today. Many people believe that all who die in unbelief are sentenced to an eternity of torture in a burning hell of fire and brimstone. But we ask, how could a God of love torture His own creation? Could You do that to your disobedient children? The Bible tells us that Gods true character is one of a loving, just, powerful and wise Heavenly Father. We also know that evil is a reality and human suffering seems to be intensifying. How can we find harmony between these two statements as we witness tragedy after tragedy? What Is This World Coming To?
First of all, we need to define evil. Per Webster, evil is 1. anything morally bad or wrong; 2. anything that causes harm, pain, misery, disaster, etc. Thus all sin is evil, but not all evil is sin, for example, a natural disaster is not a sin. Secondly, we must realize that there is a difference between permitting evil and causing evil. God has permitted man to have a temporary experience with evil, so that all will learn first hand the difference between living righteously, or selfishly in disobedience. God has a grand and glorious plan for man and just as an architect cannot be judged by a partially finished structure, God cannot be judged by His unfinished work with mankind.
HOW EVIL ENTERED THE WORLD
The cause of evil is SIN, not only personal sin but inherited sin from our first parents. Father Adam was created a perfect man with dominion over the earth and fellowship with God. He was given a simple test of obedience by his Heavenly Father. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2:16-17
Adam joined his wife in her transgression, when she believed Satan’s lie that Ye shall not surely die. (Gen. 3:1-12) As a result, man lost his fellowship with the Creator and was basically left to himself. The Apostle Paul calls Satan the god of this world. 2 Cor 4:4 As a result of the original sin, the entire human race was plunged into a spiral of mental, moral and physical disease, and finally death. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Romans 5:12) In addition, man lost his dominion over the earth. The calamities in nature are also a result of the original sin. For cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Genesis 3:17
WHY EVIL IS PERMITTED TO CONTINUE
God is our loving Heavenly Father and He created us in his own image with the ability to reason and make our own choices. God did not design the human race to blindly worship and obey Him, but to love and worship Him through trust and understanding. Jesus told us that true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. John 4:23
As loving human parents, we know the value of experience in teaching our children how to distinguish right from wrong. There are other ways of learning, e.g. by observation and by information. However, we know that no matter how much we want to protect our children from harm, experience is indeed the best teacher. Let us look back to our first parents as an example. Adam was created a perfect man, in a perfect environment and had fellowship with his creator. God gave him a simple test of obedience with the information needed to make his choice; i.e. the penalty for disobedience would be death. However, Eve was childlike, naive and easily deceived by Satan’s lie. Then Adam under perfect conditions, but without experience, knowingly disobeyed God and under Divine justice, the death penalty was enforced. God has permitted evil for 6,000 years a brief time compared to eternity. this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. Ecclesiastes 1:13
During this period of time, man has been experiencing the results of doing things in his own way. Mankind’s endeavors, even with the best of intentions, have only led to more and more human suffering.
GOD HAS DONE SOMETHING
HE HAS PLANNED FOR MANS REDEMPTION
Knowing that Adam would disobey, God devised a
plan for mans escape from sin and death. The accomplishment of this plan was guaranteed by the Ransom sacrifice of His Son, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:5,6) The word translated Ransom in the Greek text means a corresponding price of release. Gods justice required a perfect life to be sacrificed for Adams forfeited perfect life. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22) In order to save mankind, God permitted His only begotten Son to be humiliated and tortured on the cross. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
GOD HAS PROMISED MORE IN HIS DUE TIME
Gods grand plan includes the resurrection of all mankind who are asleep in death and the restoration of all things lost due to Adams original sin. His thousand-year kingdom will be established on earth with Christ as King. Reigning with Christ will be his Church — those who have not only received, but also have answered the invitation to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:14) They choose to live righteously and share in Christs sufferings now and if faithful, they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Rev. 20:6
During the thousand-year Kingdom, Satan will be bound (Rev. 20:2) and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9) Mankind will be resurrected from the dead, brought back to perfection, and given a chance to live righteously under perfect conditions. Those who choose to be obedient will live forever. Those who choose not to be obedient will be destroyed in the second death (Rev. 20:12-15), from which there will be no resurrection. After the work of the Kingdom is completed, mankind will again have fellowship with their creator and dominion over an earthly paradise as did Adam. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Rev. 21:4
What a wonderful plan God has for man. When fully accomplished, ALL will come to know His true character. Man will then understand Gods Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power in providing for His creation. If you would like to pursue this subject in more detail, please request the free booklets The Permission of Evil, What Is This World Coming To? and Ray of Hope on a Troubled Sea. We also offer a free Bible correspondence course based upon The Divine Plan of the Ages magazine edition. A hardback copy of The Divine Plan of the Ages is also available at cost of $4.00 post paid.
Send for your copies today. You will be glad you did.
Miami Valley Bible Students 