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WHY DOES GOD PERMIT WICKEDNESS AND SUFFERING? (Part 5)
By Arthur Zulu
A 12-year-old boy is dying of cancer in Columbia. His father is held by fighting rebels. The dying boy begs the rebels to release his father so that he could see him before he dies. The rebels refuse. Sympathizers volunteer to exchange places with the imprisoned father in order to fulfill the wish of the sick and dying boy. The rebels refuse. The boy dies without seeing his father. And his father is killed by the rebels.
A mortuary attendant in Bosnia has the unenviable task of counting the dead in the senseless killings of the war in that part of the world -- the worst of its kind since World War II. Among the corpses brought to him for enumeration were those of his son and relatives.
Pathetic images like these continue to be replayed in bloody scenes around the world. Just switch on the radio and listen to the world news at this hour and tell me what good news you may have heard. In fact one character in one of Charles Dickens’ books says that he doesn’t read the newspapers. His reason? Because the news is always the same -- someone is always murdered somewhere.
And that’s true. About 12 wars are going on around the world today, and if you live in the United States, someone has either been robbed, raped, or killed this very second! Everywhere, people are in fear of some kind of evil. Says Harold C. Urey: “We will eat fear, sleep fear, live in fear and die in fear.” These are the fruitage of the rebellion of our first parents, Adam and Eve -- political, economic, religious and social crisis. Not even the UN has come to the rescue.
If you read the Bible books of Matthew chapter 24, Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21, you will find a comprehensive list of features of our days -- war, food shortages, pestilences, earthquakes, and lawlessness, amongst others. People are suffering and dying in the millions, and there is no end in sight. In fact if you read Second Timothy chapter 3, you will find out that things are going to get worst. We haven’t seen anything yet!
This fact is supported by Human Development Report 1999 saying: “All countries report erosion of their social fabric, with social unrest, more crime, more violence in the home .... Global threats are increasing, outgrowing national abilities to tackle them, and outpacing international responses”. And that’s the plain truth.
It is either happening in Rwanda, Liberia, Sudan or Somalia. Or in the Middle East, Columbia or South – East Asia. If it’s not ethnic cleansing, it is war against terrorism. If AIDS is not on the rampage, it is Ebola. And when it is not a hurricane or a tornado doing its thing, it is a flood or drought that is causing havoc, or it is an earthquake of major proportions, or a volcano is suddenly spitting fire.
All these are happening to us because Adam and Eve, our original parents ate the forbidden fruit? Yes; the matter transcends eating of fruit. They took what belonged to God; they challenged God’s Universal Sovereignty -- His right to rule over mankind, and sought independence from their Creator.
Thinking that their punishment was too much, some have asked the following questions, and you may wish to find out the answers.
Question: Why did God plant a forbidden tree in the garden? Answer: Because he has the right to do so, and nobody can challenge him.
Question: Did he know or not that Adam and Eve would eat the fruit? Answer: No, he did not know. For God can choose not to know.
Question: Why did he allow Satan to deceive them? Answer: God did not allow it. Satan desired worship, and deceit was his tool.
Question: Why did he not destroy the sinning trio? Answer: Because God’s purpose of populating the earth will be defeated, and the sovereignty issue will not be resolved.
Question: Who made Satan the Devil in the first place? Answer: It was not God, because God made perfect angels. One of the angels made himself Satan, meaning resister, and Devil meaning liar.
Are you surprised to read this? Do not be amazed. That is the Bible fact.
But now you may ask: Who then causes wickedness and suffering? What has been proved over the millenniums? When will suffering end? And what will God do?
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 : http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/10975 For FREE writing helps, mailto: controversialwriter@yahoo.com
