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Why
Does God
Permit Calamities?
Chapter 2
Why
God Permits Calamities
To fully understand why God
permits evils—including calamities—we must go back in time
before man lived on the earth, before the mountains rose
majestically over plains, before the millions of galaxies
sparkled in orbit around and through each other, before the
angels graced the heavens, back, back before God began His
creative work. God
desired to have a family, to be a parent—a father or
life-giver—the Heavenly Father. All things were created for
God’s pleasure (Revelation 4:11). Evidently angelic children and
human children were the desire of His heart. Ephesians 3:14-15
speaks of God as the Father of “the whole family in heaven and
earth.” Raising children
entails suffering, both the suffering of the parents and of the
offspring. How much suffering does parental love demand? The
most loving parents are not overly protective; rather, they are
willing to permit hard knocks, realizing it will cost themselves
dearly in pain as they watch their children struggle to
maturity. Our Heavenly Father, the most loving and wise parent
in the universe, is willing to suffer to the ultimate degree for
the eternal welfare of His children. This He did in the gift of
His son. With great fatherly emotions, the Father sent His son
to earth on that errand of mercy to suffer and die at the hands
of sinful man.
How could utopia be attained for His children?
God desires mankind to live in
peace, harmony and happiness. He knows this will happen only as
each practices the principles of righteousness and love.
Otherwise, evil will result with its consequences of suffering
and unhappiness. Here we glean an insight into what may be
referred to as the “dilemma of God.” The planetary systems move
in mechanical obedience; the animal creation is driven mainly by
instinct; but God desired the human race to have a free will and
to “worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). God could
have programmed the ideal man—utopia would have been inevitable;
but man would be no better than a robot, without true happiness.
God knows it is only as man is
fully motivated by the principles of righteousness that he can
really attain happiness for himself and be in that attitude of
cheerful concern for the happiness of his fellows. This is the
true meaning of worshipping God “in spirit and in truth,”
possessing the spirit of God’s Law. God wants us to emulate His
principles not just to obtain His reward, but out of love for
His principles. God wants us to love Him and our fellow man
because of our sheer love for His principle of love.
Free will has a built-in dilemma. Man can rebel
against his Creator. The Lord was willing to bestow free will,
fully aware that it would cost Him dearly before man became
fully responsible for this freedom. Free will—what an awesome
power! Man can stand in stiff-necked rebellion against his
Creator. He can refuse to submit to His authority. He can refuse
to accept His favor. He can choose to avert the mercy of God and
adamantly stand upon his decision against God. For by free will,
man is man, created in the image of God—neither an animal nor a
machine. Put yourself in
God’s place to appreciate this dilemma. A parent will tell a
baby not to touch the stove because it is hot, but what does a
baby know about pain? Hot! Burn! Pain! Without experience, these
words are meaningless. The anxious parent knows the
inevitability of the baby touching the stove before learning the
consequence of heat. A wise parent will create a controlled
experience with heat, lightly and quickly placing the child’s
hand where the heat is not too severe. All through life parents
will admonish their children, knowing that they will only learn
certain lessons the “hard way,” by experience. Likewise, God is
giving mankind a controlled experience with sin.
As our Father, God knew man would not comprehend
His warning about the dire consequences of sin and
disobedience—sickness, suffering and death. Without experience,
these words were meaningless. So God formulated a plan whereby
man, by his own choice, might first experience evil and then
righteousness in God’s kingdom. This contrasting experience will
manifest, as no other educational process could, the wholesome
influence of God’s law and the dire consequences of its
violation. The process
of recovery from sin is called redemption in the Bible.
Redemption simply means the release from sin and death through
the payment of a price. The thought is similar to the release of
a person from prison when a benefactor pays the fine the
prisoner could not afford to pay. This release through the death
of Jesus is generally considered as an afterthought of God to
salvage some of the human race. However, the depth of God’s
wisdom is shown in His foresight to devise a plan that provides
for man’s free choice and experience with evil, redemption
through Christ, and ultimate eternal happiness. Thus Isaiah
46:9-10 speaks of God knowing and declaring the end from the
beginning. Jesus Slain
Before the Foundation of the World
Knowing man would disobey Him, God planned for
man’s redemption before He even created the earth and man. First
Peter 1:19-20 speaks of Jesus as slain before the foundation of
the world. God lovingly planned the best for His future human
children. This meant a plan that would deeply grieve His
fatherly heart, as He watched man trampled down into death by
the machinations of evil while learning the consequences of sin.
Also, it would cost the ultimate in fatherly suffering—watching
His only begotten son suffer the agony of being vilified and
crucified. God’s gift of Jesus was the greatest demonstration of
fatherly suffering in history.
The Unfinished Earth and
Calamities Since
Adam and Eve disobeyed, mankind is learning by experience the
bitter consequences of moral sin and evil that results in death.
Additionally, they were cast out of their Edenic paradise into
the unfinished earth, where the components of nature were still
unbalanced. Here mankind has “toiled by the sweat of their brow”
and are subjected to sporadic upheavals of nature. These
upheavals of nature are gradually preparing the earth to become
the Edenic paradise in the 1000-year Kingdom of God on earth.
Remember, our earth is yet an unfinished planet.
Being much closer to completion, planet earth has fewer and far
less severe eruptions than other planets.
Often parents who remand a
disobedient child to their room for the evening have loving
thoughts of their continued relationship when the period of
punishment is over. God has remanded His human children to their
room—the unfinished earth. He has wonderful loving thoughts
recorded in the Bible prophecies concerning their restoration to
His favor. Yes, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “as in Adam
all die,” but he continues, “even so in Christ shall all be made
alive.” Why? Because Jesus died “a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:6;
Heb. 2:9). Because of
Adam’s sin of disobedience, the whole human race, symbolically
speaking, yet in Adam’s loins were condemned by God to death—Adamic
death, not eternal death. Whether one dies of cancer, a
heart-attack or other illness, a car accident, train wreck,
plane crash, murder, war, tsunami, earthquake or other disaster
of nature, these are simply the consequential incidents of God’s
death sentence upon the descendants of Adam. God does not
directly kill each of Adam’s children. These executions are the
natural consequences of the effects of both inherited moral sin
in all mankind and the harsh realities of the unfinished earth.
Remember, whether one lives an hour or 130 years, this is but a
“moment” compared to eternity.
Only Christians who have
accepted Jesus as their savior and dedicated their life to the
Lord now enjoy fellowship with the Heavenly Father. After
learning their lessons now during the “permission of evil,” the
non-Christians as the “remainder of men” will come forth from
the grave to their trial for eternal life.
Natural Calamities Over-Emphasized
Many natural calamities are not a question of
“Where is God?” or “What’s wrong with God?”—rather, “What’s
wrong with man?” Take, for example, the train of catastrophes
around the world periodically spawned by an El Ñino. A monster
El Ñino could not exist without a large hole in the ozone layer.
There would be no hole in the ozone layer without pollution.
From where did pollution come? It came from diverse sources that
are all rooted in man’s greed for profit. Many natural disasters
before and after the 1997 El Ñino also find their cause in
global warming—the mischief of ultra-violet rays escaping
through a hole in the ozone layer.
The extreme toll of human life accompanying other
natural catastrophes have often been aggravated by man’s
selfishness. Over 4,500 lives were devoured in the 1988 Armenian
earthquake. Such high casualties were due largely to shoddy
construction of high-rise apartments over a well-known fault
area, again illustrating human callousness. The same was true of
the devastating 2004 Bam earthquake in Iran. Californians
dwelling over a huge fault area are hoping it won’t happen in
their lifetime. When that “BIG ONE” does strike, you will hear
the cry, “Where is God?” but it will be man’s gamble and loss,
not God’s. Man has long
observed and recorded the patterns of natural calamities such as
floods, monsoons, hurricanes, etc., yet frequently he chooses
not to respect the danger of these killer patterns. It is well
documented that certain rivers will periodically—every 10, 15,
25 or 50 years—swell over their banks into an ocean of
destruction. Yet thousands continue to rebuild in the path of
the inevitable ruin. Hurricane paths have temporarily
obliterated shorelines and coastal isles. Yet the vanity quest
for the ultimate in oceanfront luxury and prestige continues to
provide a path of future victims.
Some disasters could have been eliminated or
minimized if the recommendations of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers had been followed. Yes, the killer force of natural
catastrophes spirals numerically thanks to human selfishness and
greed. This is one of the many lessons man is learning from the
permission of evil.
Another observation must be made on the destructive forces of
nature. Since the days of Voltaire (1790s), atheists and
agnostics have seized on nature’s catastrophes to call into
question, “Where is God?” What a distortion of proportions.
Numerically, the victims of natural disasters pale into
insignificance compared to man’s inhumanity to man. Actually,
these atheists and agnostics need the lessons of the permission
of evil to explode their naive view of evil. At the beginning of
the 1900s, they were predicting that Darwinism and social
evolution would usher in a 20th century utopia. What has
happened? It Is
Horrific In his book
Out of Control, Zbigniew Brzezinski notes that the 20th century
became the century of insanity in which 175 million were
slaughtered in the name of “politics of organized insanity.”
It is horrific — “175 million slaughtered” in one
century because of mankind’s hate, greed and ruthless craze for
power. Total all the deaths from natural disasters in the 20th
century and what do you have? It is a drop in the bucket
compared to man’s killing machine of the insane 20th century.
This is what the schooling of the permission of evil is all
about. Eden, A Closer
Look To fully
appreciate the fairness of Adam’s trial, it is necessary to take
a closer look at Eden. God created Adam and Eve and established
them in Eden—a perfect paradise. There they enjoyed a perfect
home. Eden provided an abundance of food containing all the
wholesome nutrients to sustain their perfect life. Adam was
given dominion over the whole earth and all the animals therein.
The crowning feature of this experience was Adam’s close
fellowship with his Creator and God (Genesis 1 and 2).
The third chapter of Genesis details the history
of man’s free will choice. God instructed man that if he
practiced righteousness, he would live forever. If he disobeyed,
then “dying thou shalt die” (Genesis 2:17). Death would be a
process of sorrow and suffering culminating with the grave. Note
well that death, not eternal torment, is the penalty for sin
(Genesis 2:17; Ezekiel 18:4).
Like the child and the hot
stove, Adam did not know what suffering and death would mean.
These were mere words to him. By information he knew that his
disobedience would lead to his own death. No matter how many
times God reiterated “dying thou shalt die,” these were only
words devoid of meaning. Adam never saw anyone die. The dying
scenario was never played out. Adam could not look down through
the corridors of time and visualize all the suffering and death
that would be brought about by human sin and selfishness, all of
which would have their beginnings in his own disobedience.
Set aside his eating of the fruit for a moment
and focus on the principle. Something far more weighty was
involved here. Adam of his own free will chose not to continue
in the fellowship of God. This important detail is recorded in
Genesis 3:8. And they
heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool [breeze] of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden. This account
indicates that a very familiar routine had developed between the
Heavenly Father and our first parents. “They heard the voice of
God walking in the garden in the cool (Hebrew, breeze) of the
day.” Evidently, God spoke to Adam frequently, perhaps daily—“in
the breeze of the day.” A familiar pattern developed by which
they knew when God was approaching. Now that he had disobeyed,
Adam heard God approaching to fellowship with them and knew the
consequences of his actions. By his disobedience, Adam realized
he had willfully chosen to withdraw from God’s fellowship;
therefore, he hid from the presence of God. Notice that even
before God cut off fellowship with him, Adam hid or withdrew
from fellowship with his Heavenly Father.
A Fully Responsible Choice
Ponder well Adam’s choice. Just think, Adam
enjoyed perfect communion and fellowship with the Heavenly
Father. Communion with his Creator was not just a momentary
experience. Some teach that from Adam’s creation to his
disobedience was a short time—a few minutes or a few hours at
the most. No wonder many are repelled by the absurdity that a
momentary decision by a minutes-old Adam plunged the human race
to long centuries of horrific tragedies. The record in Genesis
2:7-9, 15-23, allows for a much longer period of time. It
elaborates on the events that occurred between Adam’s creation
and Eve’s. After Adam’s
creation, God planted a garden in Eden and put Adam in it. Adam,
after receiving instructions from God, worked in the caring of
the garden. This took time. There was extensive communication
pertaining to things Adam could and could not do. Then Adam was
instructed to name all the birds and all of the living
creatures. This took time. And, during this time of extensive
responsibility in caring for all the plants and naming all the
animals, Adam enjoyed communion with God. Then Eve was created
and became the wife of Adam. Now Adam had time to spend with his
wife and enjoy her companionship. All of these events covered a
period of time. Other scriptures indicate a period of two years.
In his talks with God in the “cool of the day,”
Adam should have realized there was something vastly different
about his God compared to himself and Eve. He was such a loving
Father. God not only practiced benevolence, kindness, love,
justice and mercy, but God also loved these qualities. They were
the very fiber of His being. He loved them so much that He
wanted to exercise them in every relationship with His
creatures. This was the “spirit” or “essence” of God’s holy
principles which He wanted to crystallize in the human heart. If
God had programmed these qualities into man’s heart, man would
have been a mere robot, devoid of fulfillment and happiness. But
in order for mankind to live eternally in peace, harmony and
happiness with each other, they must have these qualities
crystallized in their heart.
The only way this moral
crystallization of God’s likeness could have been developed by
Adam, would be by Adam choosing (free will) to maintain close
fellowship with his God and daily choosing to learn and
practice—obey all of God’s holy principles. God was the epitome
of holiness, wholesome benevolence. Due to a lack of experience,
Eve chose the way of self-interest, selfishness. The Apostle
Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2:13-14 that Eve was not fully
responsible, but Adam was. Adam was faced with a choice between
loyalty to God and His benevolent ways or loyalty to Eve and her
ways of self-interest.
Over a period of time, Eve evidently had become a rival to God.
Adam not only disobeyed God, but chose loyalty to Eve before
loyalty to his Creator. He loved Eve more than he loved God. Man
had to learn this basic principle. It is only as he loves the
Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with
all his strength, and with all his mind, that man will be
enabled to love his neighbor (fellow man) as himself.
Educational Process Changed
The crystallization of God-likeness in man ended,
but only temporarily. Before God pronounced the death sentence,
withdrew His fellowship and expelled the first pair from Eden,
He did a remarkable thing. God slew an animal and clothed Adam
and Eve with its skins. What a ray of hope! This pointed to the
shedding of Jesus’ blood that would cover the sins of Adam and
all his children who would be born in sin—inherited from father
Adam. “As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive”
(1 Corinthians 15:22) in God’s Kingdom. Then they will
individually be given the opportunity to crystallize
God-likeness in their hearts. Meanwhile, the educational process
has changed. Adam and his descendants would first learn the
bitter consequences of sin—disobedience to God’s law
(Ecclesiastes 1:13; 3:10). Man would reap the dire results of
the ways of selfishness that Adam chose when he cast his lot
with Eve and her ways.
The Consequences of Sin
Sin literally means “missing the
mark”—disobedience to God’s principles. When Adam and Eve
disobeyed, God withdrew His fellowship. This was devastating!
Alienated from God, man also became alienated from his human
companions. Rivalry and jealousy raged, and soon murder
shattered the first family. Cain in a passion of anger killed
his brother Abel. The dying process had begun, and man became
alienated from himself.
Man’s inharmony with himself and struggles within himself added
to his mental anxiety. Loneliness, stress and depression
overwhelmed him, rendering both mind and body prone to disease.
Fear, hostility and aggression became the norm. Exploitation,
crime and violence were the inevitable consequences.
Man was learning the dreadful consequences of sin
and its resultant evils. Yes, Adam’s children, the human race,
were born sinners (Psalm 51:5) worthy of death (Romans 6:23).
This “permission of evil” is “the sore travail God hath given to
the sons of man to be exercised therewith” (Ecclesiastes 1:13;
3:10). Original Sin
Some will say, “Don’t tell me you still believe
in original sin! Just because Adam and Eve were disobedient, the
whole human race are sinners?” In 1 Timothy 2:13-14; 1
Corinthians 15:21-22; Romans 5:14; and John 8:44, both Jesus and
the apostles refer to this event in Eden as an actual historical
event. What better proof can we have that the Genesis account of
Eden occurred?
Unfortunately, the logic of the original sin concept has been
obscured by Dark Age superstitions that have been attached to
it, such as “hell fire” and a vindictive God who must be
placated. Modern man is rightly repelled by the superstitions
contained in some church theology, but these superstitions are
not taught in the Bible. Shorn of Dark Age theology, there is no
better explanation of man’s miserable plight than the Scriptural
teaching of original sin and its penalty, death—extinction, not
eternal suffering.
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