As we approach the third anniversary of the attack on Sept 11th, 2001, the vivid images of terrorists ramming planes into the World Trade Center towers still haunt my mind. The evening news is primarily a report on the bad things which have happened during the day: a young wife is murdered by her husband; a woman drowns her innocent grandchild. A list of people doing evil acts could fill this article. Why doesn’t God always intervene to protect the innocent?
I think part of the answer about God allowing evil is that he generally lets people live out the consequences of their actions. God has given people what some theologians have called free will. Although the serpent (representing the devil) tempted Adam and Eve, they still had the choice of whether or not they were to obey God. We are in a sense living out the consequences of their actions.
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God could have made us robots, but he did not. He gave individuals the ability to choose. Inherent within the ability to choose, is the risk of individuals acting out in evil ways. The ability to make moral choices is what separates us from the animal world. It is one of the results of the image of God created in mankind. As God has intellect, will and emotion, He has given them to us. This image was marred in the Fall, but not destroyed. People can and should think independently.
Individuals can choose to do evil. Whether it is from misguided religious zeal or others sources, there are consequences which naturally flow from these actions. It is especially tragic when those consequences flow over to hurt innocent people. While God could intervene every time we make poor choices, bad choices, & evil choices, He generally does not. He wants
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people to choose to respond to Him and others by love.
Jesus described the choice of Love this way: “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)” Love is only be genuine if it is a choice made from our free will. People can reject that, but they still have the choice.
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