Q...Why do bad things happen to us if God apparently loves us so much?

A...Sooner or later everyone is faced with Life's difficult questions. There are many that are very similar to these, and the answers are all tied together.

The other similar questions are:
--If God is good and perfect, then why is there evil in the world?
--If God is love, then why does he send people to hell?
--If God knew Adam and Eve were going to sin, then why did he create them?
--If God made Adam and Eve perfect, then why did they sin?

The answers to the questions are found within God's Word. The central issue here is God's love. Yes, he knows exactly what is going to happen and when. And yes He is good, and He also has the power to stop it. But God is also love. And his love for us means-here is the crazy part-that He has given you and I the ability to choose. We can choose God's way, or we can reject him and live however we please. Each choice has consequences. In Littleton, the consequences were tragic. For Christians, the consequences hold an eternity of joy. It's simple, but its still very difficult to understand.

Here are a few things to consider as you work to discover some answers for your questions:

1. God's Complete Knowledge.
God does have complete knowledge. He sees the present, He sees the future, and He even sees our thoughts. To say anything less is to limit God, and deny what the Bible says about him.

2. Defining Good.
God is good. Beyond this, God determines what is good and what is bad. An object or action cannot be examined by itself to discover its goodness or badness. It must be compared to a set of standards or values. An object is judged bad or good according to some external authority. For Christians, that authority (ought to) rest only upon God.

Without God, people make up their own authorities; usually based upon feelings, opinions, and experiences. This leads to all sorts of problems.

For example, let's talk about murder. Why is the act of taking another life bad? Because God says its wrong. He is the ultimate authority, and His standard never changes.

Others will look to other authorities like civil law, social theory or opinion. The only authority that is absolute is God's authority. Everything else leads to inconsistency and confusion. Which authority should be followed? The one everyone votes for? Why? Why does the majority rule? You see, God's authority is greater than the majority. Hitler was in the majority in Nazi Germany. Does that make what he did right? Not at all! God's standards are the only standards that count!

3. Free Will.
People make decisions; we have the ability to choose freely. God made us like this. He did it because He wanted to love us, and He wanted us to love Him back. If He wanted us to love Him, but never gave us a choice, that wouldn't be love at all: it would be slavery. If God didn't give us free will we wouldn't even be people: we would be robots. This is the key to understanding this whole thing. God's love means we choose Him, or we reject Him. For a choice to be real, it must carry consequences. Without consequences, a choice is illusionary.

4. Foreknowledge and Choice.
God's complete foreknowledge does not mean our steps have been determined. When your parents had you as their child, they foreknew you would grow up and one day break their rules. Of course their foreknowledge is not perfect like God's . . . but the point is that your parents don't force you to break their rules-they just knew you would. And God doesn't force anybody to break his rules. The choice is ours. God simply knows what we are going to choose, because he is God.
5. Love, Choice, and Consequence.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It was good and without the effects of sin. God created everything perfect, without sin, in love. God's love for Adam and Eve meant that they had the ability to choose between obedience and disobedience. Without love, Adam and Even would have had no choice and thus been robots without a will of their own. [Catch this: Without choice, God is inconsistent because gave them a command and then made them break that command.]

Now the choice wouldn't have been a real choice if it was without consequence. The choice that God presented them with was this: Obey God, and live forever in bliss with all of your needs being met, or disobey God and live a hard life away from the presence of God. Adam and Eve chose to live apart from God. It was humanities first sin. The consequences of the first sin were devastating.

God never wanted Adam and Eve to disobey him. But God also loved them so he presented them with a choice. Remember that God determines what is good and thus his love required choice, and that choice carried consequences. God did not create sin. He created choice. He knew that this was a risk. But God decided that love was worth the risk.

6. The Consequences of Sin.
God was clear when he commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree. He said that disobedience would mean death, a spiritual death, apart from His presence. That is exactly what happened. But it didn't just affect them.

God created Adam and Eve in his own perfect image. But they passed on a broken image to their children, and ultimately to the entire human race (Gen 5:3; Rom 5:12-19). Once sin entered the world, people were condemned to live painful, imperfect lives. The very nature of living against God's way is destructive. Of Adam and Eve's first two children, one was murdered and the other, the murderer.

Sin is like a poison which infects and ruins every shred of our being, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). We exchange the truth of life for a lie, our vision clouds over, we run from God, our emotions become tainted, and our best judgments are poor.

This is where Jesus enters the picture! God solves this whole human mess by sending His Son. Paul recognized this truth, and it caused him to write, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom 7:23-24)

7. Conclusions.
God did not want sin to enter the world, but he allowed it to happen. The reason for this is that He created us in love with choices that held consequences. People are responsible for their own decisions, and all people sin. Jesus Christ is the answer. He takes away your sins and my sins. And ultimately, the entire world will be returned to its original, pre-sin state. Ultimately, all the wrongs will be righted.

God did not put bad people on Earth, he created perfect people who chose to fall from grace. Because Jesus paid the price for the sins of the world, it is easy to see that God does not send anyone to hell. If people go to hell, it is because they have chosen to reject God, and the salvation that He offers.

For "[God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" 1 Tim 2:4
"God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16.

God is good, and He loves You! If this has only made you more confused (which is entirely possible, and thoroughly unfortunate), then please pull one of me aside, or call this week, because I'd love to talk to you.

Here are three CLEAR evidences of God's love:

He created us perfect, and this means without sin, without being separated from him, this is LOVE.

He created the ability for us to choose whether or not we wanted to be in a relationship with him, this is LOVE. A forced relationship, one without choice, is not a love relationship.

In spite of us rejecting his presence, his gifts, etc., he has enabled a FREE way for us to enter into the relationship we (he did this through Jesus), and this is LOVE.

Q...How do I pray and how do I read the Bible?

A...Prayer is talking to God. Your relationship with God is the same as any other relationship you may have. It is strengthened through communication. God isn't impressed with eloquent words or phrases. He just wants to hear from your heart. You can pray anywhere and at any time. It's best to find somewhere alone and just talk to Him! Share the good things that have happened, apologize for the mistakes you've made. Ask Him to watch over friends and family, and to intervene in situations where you know people need His help. Like any friend you may have, God just loves it when you spend time with Him.

The Bible can be pretty intimidating. You can't really read it like a normal book by starting at the beginning and working your way through. In fact some of the toughest parts of the Bible to grasp are those first few books at the beginning! Don't abandon it, though, as it is full of so much truth about God and practical tips on how you can get more out of your life. In fact unlike any other book you read, God can use the Bible to speak to you about specific things you are dealing with right now. It is God's way of speaking to you personally.

A good start is to buy a version of the Bible that is easier to understand. The New Living Translation or The Message are great. They say the same thing as every other version of the Bible, but in a more contemporary way. Once you've found a Bible start with James in the New Testament. This is a real practical book full of good Godly advice. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John will tell you all about the life of Jesus, and Acts will tell you how the church began after Jesus' death.

Quality is always better than quantity. It's better to read one page of the Bible a day and grasp what it means than ten pages that meant nothing to you. If you want to know more come and ask one of the FAZE leaders. We can help you purchase the right Bible, and then give you a reading plan that will help you know where to start.

Q...If God gave us the Bible so that we could understand him better, then why are some parts of it VERY, VERY confusing? Why didn't he just make everything clear?

A...There are parts of the Bible that are confusing. To say this isn't true is foolish and prideful. (some people do say this!)

You know why the Bible is confusing...God wrote the Bible, but he used human authors, and they wrote from very specific contexts that existed a long time ago. They used different language, and every language organizes thoughts a little differently. They had different historical and cultural contexts. For a history example: in the New Testament times, they lived under in a country that was occupied by another nation. Imagine if the empire of Australia came over to America and put the president, congress, and other authorities out of power and ruled our country....things would be very different!

Culturally, things were also very different. For example the individualism we feel as Americans really didn't exist back then. People realized their strong connection with their families and communities.

Anyhow, there are lot's of examples that we could look into. The best thing is to start with a specific passage and figure out exactly what's happening there.

While there are parts of the Bible that are very difficult to understand, it is important to note that objective interpretation is possible. Just because it's tough, this doesn't mean that everyone can just find their own meaning.

Also, it is more important to realize that the essential messages of the Bible are very clear, and without dispute. Mark Twain is often quoted as saying, "It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me, it's the parts I do understand."