Why Does God Permit Wickedness and Suffering? (Part 4)

Title: WHY DOES GOD PERMIT WICKEDNESS & SUFFERING?
(Part 4)
Author: Arthur Zulu
Contact Author: mailto: controversialwriter@yahoo.com
Copyright: Copyright © Arthur Zulu 2002
Word Count:651
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WHY DOES GOD PERMIT WICKEDNESS AND SUFFERING? (Part 4)
By Arthur Zulu

Our first parents, Adam and Eve are the source of
wickedness and suffering in this world. The whole
story is in the Bible book of Genesis Chapters 2 and
3.

God made them perfect and put them in the beautiful
garden of Eden. They were to live happy, beget
offsprings and take care of the earth by expanding the
borders of the paradise, with a prospect of eternal
life.

But take note. All these were not just offered on a
platter of gold. There was a condition -- and this is
very important -- they were to eat all the fruits of
the trees in the garden, excerpt one -- the fruit of
the tree of knowledge of good and bad. Disobedience
would bring death! Simple instruction.

So man was not created like a robot. He was created
with the right to make choices, the freedom to make
decisions.

Now this gift of free will -- the right to choose --
either good or bad, life or death, is not to be
overlooked. So although we were created free, this
freedom is not total, but relative. We are subject to
God’s laws. And what are those laws?you may ask.

First, we are under the physical laws of gravity. Man
may decide to climb the highest peak of Mt. Everest,
ignore this law, and take a giant leap to the foot of
the mountain. Or he may close his eyes to all the
risks, and go swimming in the angry waters of the
Atlantic Ocean. He has the free will.

Also God has moral laws. These involve our life style
which includes the use of alcohol and illicit drugs,
tobacco and sexual promiscuity. Man may choose to have
sexual relations with an AIDS infected prostitute with
the belief that he will never catch the dreaded
disease. He has the free will.

Then there are social laws. Man can choose his type of
clothing, art, and music. He also has the right to
choose his type of friends and marriage mate. He may
decide to live all alone in the jungle, away from
civilization, or to walk naked in the streets of New
York. That is his free will.

And lastly, there are health laws. A sick man has the
right to refuse medical treatment. He can also decide
to go on hunger strike -- without food and water.
After all, it is his free will.

Now, our being subject to God’s laws is similar to our
subjection to the laws of the State -- man’s laws. The
laws of the nations recognize the citizen’s
fundamental human rights.

A citizen for instance has freedom of movement. But
this does not mean that he should drive his car right
into the President’s bedroom. That is a ride to
prison.

So you can see that there are limits to human freedom
-- those rights have to operate within the confines of
the rule of law.

A man who disobeys the laws of the State is in effect
challenging the authority of that State -- the
sovereignty, which means the right to rule. Now, when
Adam and Eve decided to eat the forbidden fruit in
exercise of their free will after being deceived to do
so by Satan, they were in effect challenging God’s
legal right to rule. They were effectively saying to
God: “We can tell good from bad. It is better for us
to be independent of you. We can rule ourselves
without you.”

That was an affront -- a rebellion against their
Creator. So God has allowed man the past 6,000 years
to see if he can do without his creator. In those
years, man has tried every political and economic
system. And the result?

Helmut Schmidt, former German Chancellor tells us: “We
humans . . . have always only partially governed the
world, and most of the time very badly . . . . We have
never governed it in total peace”. Do you agree with
him? With all man’s best efforts, do we have peace or
pieces of peace? (I am not playing with words.)

But how are we the children of Adam and Eve who didn’t
have a bite at this fruit, concerned in this matter?

It is because of the law of genetics. When our first
parents disobeyed, they became sinners -- imperfect
people. And imperfect parents cannot give birth to
perfect children. So we have all inherited the result
of sin -- suffering and death from Adam and Eve.

Here comes the questions: why did God plant a
forbidden tree in the garden? Did he know or not that
Adam and Eve would eat the fruit? Why did he allow
Satan to deceive them? Why did he not destroy the
sinning trio? And who made Satan the Devil in the
first place? Questions. Questions. Questions.

The answers to these questions in the next installment
will surprise you as we consider the consequences of
the rebellion.
(To be continued)

Copyright © 2002, all rights reserved

About the Author:

ARTHUR ZULU, The Most Controversial Writer in the World, presents the above article as an example of topics that make best-sellers. If you want to write a best-seller, download a copy and free excerpt of his best – selling book, HOW TO WRITE A BEST-SELLER at :
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