What God May Really Be Like – Misbeliefs About God

Does God Control The Day You Die?

Some may be comforted by the idea that God controls the day you are going to die to be with Him in heaven. Personally, I do not like the logical or relational baggage that goes with such a thought. You may want to reconsider certain beliefs if it is causing distance between you and God. God is not responsible for all the evil in the world that causes suffering and leads to premature deaths. Death was not God’s original intent but perhaps a Godsend, so we can be reunited with those who are murdered at the hands of others. Just because God does not control every event in our life does not mean God is not in control.

People say “God will take him or her on His timetable.” This implies God keeps some older folks alive longer for whatever reason. One may assume if they are in a great deal of pain, God is keeping them alive to discipline them or that God is not merciful. Families may begin to question God why their parent must suffer and someone’s relative dies without much pain or suffering. Many may be tempted to ask “why” rather than more helpful questions in times of suffering.

If you believe God controls the exact day one dies, this logically raises questions about when people die for reasons other than old age. Did God really appoint a person to be killed by a drunk driver on such and such day? For some that is just too much to bear. Now, don’t get me wrong. God knows a lot and is present everywhere. God knows a driver is drunk and is headed a certain way where someone is walking. He knows physics. He created it. Why doesn’t he stop it?

If God stopped all suffering to His preference as a loving Parent, then that would just make a mockery out of freedom. We would not be satisfied until God stopped all suffering.  God is not a Parent who enjoys seeing His children suffer any more than we do as a parent. There are understandable reasons why God created freedom and why He allows consequences of such a decision to play out. The truth is if God answers all my prayers and I never suffer, I am not necessarily a better person for it. If I could interfere everyday my children experience any suffering, that isn’t necessarily the most loving thing to do.

There are answers to suffering that don’t imply God is controlling, or that God causes suffering, or that God is pulling strings in heaven to teach us a lesson. We can focus on God being with us in the midst of suffering rather than why God isn’t interfering.

How Do We Love Our Enemies?

What was Jesus suggesting when He told us to not resist evil people and love our enemies? [Mt 5:38-48] We must be careful to not misinterpret Jesus’ words so to misguide or discourage others. Dissecting the meaning of the word love is not the solution. Jesus’ message of love was radical.  Jesus didn’t want His followers to always give “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” as is our natural reaction toward our enemies. This law was meant to protect the weak and ensure justice was fair, but Jesus followers do not necessarily always demand their rights.

Jesus surely is using hyperbolic language in Mt 5:39 to make a point.  Jesus says if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, give them the other cheek as well. Jesus would not advise a wife to accept continual abuse by her husband. When robbers invade one’s house, one can take action to protect their family. Nations can defend themselves against the attacks of enemies or seek to protect the rights of others. Loving one’s enemies does not mean always responding passively as Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple.

Jesus obviously did not always retaliate. Jesus’ resurrection proved He was the Son of God, but He did not always go on the attack when accused falsely. Jesus is challenging His listeners to respond differently to one’s enemies when appropriate. Any one can love back those who love you. [v.46] Loving one’s enemies means not returning “like behavior for like behavior.” Loving one’s enemies’ means being prepared to forgive others if they confess their sins, though we may not think or feel they deserve it. Most of us would not be the people we are today if not for God’s radical grace. Keep in mind when a person claims to be a Christ follower yet they are not receptive to the loving confrontation of others, tough love may be necessary. Sin sometimes in the early church was dealt with strongly in hopes of changing minds. [Mt 18: 15-19]

Don’t judge others how they best love their enemies. Let’s encourage each another to follow how God has convicted them to react to their enemies. Christians are responsible to God and not another person’s convictions. There may be a time for justice, tough love, or grace. Your enemy can be anyone mad at you. Road raggers are our enemies. Let’s not respond similarly though they may deserve it. Let’s not seek revenge but leave that in the hands of the Almighty and government. The situation may require we protect ourselves at times but let’s continue to pray and go extra miles with our enemies to possibly inspire them to change. Some may die for a good human being. Jesus died for His enemies to persuade and convince all of His love for us. Let’s follow in Jesus’ footsteps to change our world for the better.

How Does God Interfere With Suffering?

We may accept that God does not cause suffering and that God allows suffering by creating freedom, but we may still struggle with why God doesn’t interfere more with suffering. I believe some answers are more satisfactory than other answers. There are rational and relational answers as to why evil and suffering exists even though God is in control. There are answers to suffering that don’t imply God causes suffering or that God is pulling strings in heaven to teach us a lesson. Satisfactory answers can enable us to focus on God being with us in the midst of suffering rather than why God isn’t interfering. It is clear to most that God does not interfere with a great deal of suffering through miracles.

Jesus’ miracles only turned heads not hearts. The truth of the matter is sufferings, not pleasures, is what changes the most lives.  We depend more on God in time in times of adversity than prosperity. God doesn’t ask for dependence for selfish reasons. Those who depend on God the most are less selfish. Can you imagine a world where all treated family and friends like they want to be treated? Jesus came as a suffering servant than ruling king for He understood that was best how to influence in the long run. God not interfering with suffering all the time may be necessary to change a person’s heart after sin entered the world. Suffering may be the only megaphone that can reach people about what really matters in life.

When evil was chosen suffering became part of God’s story to lead us of our own volition to a paradise appropriate for free beings.  It isn’t always wise to prevent our children from suffering consequences, whether self-inflicted or the result of a fallen world. Suffering enables us to not fall in love with temporal existence and love what the world offers. We are more likely to look to God, who desires our everlasting happiness, during adversity than prosperity. God doesn’t interfere to allow suffering as a megaphone to distract us from our own selfishness.

Did Martin Luther King have to suffer to move the scales from the eyes of many how they tolerated bigotry? Jesus’ personal sufferings rather than His miracles changed more hearts. Personal tragedies or undeserved suffering can make us more sensitive to others. Undeserved insults can make us more sensitive to others in similar situations. Sufferings enable us to be trusted by others, because we have “walked in their shoes.” God doesn’t interfere to allow suffering as a megaphone to enable us to better serve others.

Should parents never have children because they may inflict suffering on others or could potentially suffer at the hands of others? God can be accused of not always intervening miraculously, but He does not provoke evil actions or pick and choose who may suffer more than others. God interferes by trying to change the souls and ways of people. God will hold our hand during difficult times and work to bring good from evil in us and for the world, if we desire and are able to receive His help.  Our time here on earth cannot compare to our time in eternity after death. Justice delayed does not mean justice will not be served one day. God is the perfection of the human parents we have always desired. God intervenes in suffering but perhaps not in the way we think He should sometimes.

Is Our Answer To Suffering Helping?

Can anyone really know if they are prepared for suffering until they meet it head on and see how they respond? I have suffered very little so I am not an authority on the subject, but I want to be prepared. Suffering is inevitable in this fallen world. Will my understanding of my Creator’s role in my suffering help or hinder me in difficult times?

My wife this past year did go through and heal from a bicycle accident. She will never be quite the same but it could have been worse. My beliefs about God and suffering helped me to not go certain places. I didn’t question God why He didn’t change her mind that morning to go for a bike ride. She debated whether to really go. A different decision was all it took to avoid an accident. Why didn’t God bring to my attention the brakes on the bike had been repaired to tight? Does God really sit in heaven yanking strings as to who does and doesn’t suffer? If God had prevented this accident, I would just ask Him to prevent all accidents. Our demands for God to manipulate a free world would never end.

Does our answer to suffering draw us closer to God or create distance? If you believe God controls all things, you may question why God doesn’t interfere more. If you believe God doesn’t control all things but is in control, than you may be better able to rely on the Creator during tough times and ask Him to empower you to bring something good out of a tragedy. Jesus asked God to intervene at the Cross, but God allowing Jesus to suffer and die changed billions of lives. Jesus’ miracles did not have a lasting impression. Miracles just cause us to be more dependent on difficult circumstances being made easier.

Much of suffering results from personal evil, whether self-inflicted or inflicted by others. C.S Lewis suggested that wars, crimes, and injustices – evils that come through bad choices make by cruel and lawless people – account for at least 80% of humankind suffering. God doesn’t interfere most of the time because that would just make a mockery out of freedom.  Natural evil is much harder to explain than personal evil but surely human accumulated mismanagement of the earth over thousands of years has brought destruction such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, and earthquakes.

God doesn’t cause suffering. Suffering results from either personal or natural evil. Where there is evil there is suffering. No amount of good resulting from evil justifies the evil actions of others, but was God’s risk in allowing freedom necessary to obtain the highest good in relationships? Most agree forced love is neither authentic nor desirable. Asking God to control all our circumstances is to ask God to negate or manipulate freedom. When evil was chosen suffering became part of God’s story to lead us of our own volition to a paradise appropriate for free beings. Jesus’ life and death was an attempt to persuade us of our own volition.

I have thought if I just could convince skeptics that God is a respecter of freedom and not a control freak, this may open their eyes to the loving Creator we have. But, the answer to suffering may be more important to Christians.   Isn’t it important we understand God’s role in suffering, so we can receive His comfort in these times? Tragedy is hard enough without wondering “why is God doing this to me” or “why doesn’t God care about me to intervene.”

Jesus’ miracles attracted crowds but rarely encouraged long-term change. Humans have short attention spans. Constant miracles do not lead to changed lives. Suffering can enable me to depend on God more, which leads to greater character change. I am better off God not answering most of my prayers. Difficulties can grow us. This doesn’t mean God causes or desires I suffer. God just doesn’t think it is always wise to interfere in a free world for our own good. Isn’t it true if God interfered miraculously a lot more than He does, we would want God to interfere always!

If God is always immediately rewarding us or alleviating suffering, wouldn’t we always do good to get good? This doesn’t change us really when no one is looking. Doing good for the right reasons leads to our becoming more the person we secretly desire to be. The truth is since God can stop all suffering, God ultimately allows all suffering. We don’t have to be masochists, but suffering may be necessary to change the world for the better.

Suffering can serve as a megaphone to distract us from our own selfishness. Suffering enables us to not fall in love with temporal existence and love what the world offers. We are more likely to look to God, who desires our everlasting happiness, during adversity than prosperity. God allowing suffering can serve as a megaphone to enable us to better serve others. Did Martin Luther King have to suffer to move the scales from the eyes of many how they tolerated bigotry? Personal tragedies or undeserved suffering can make us more sensitive to others. Undeserved insults can allow us to help others in similar situations.

God doesn’t secretly will evil so good can be accomplished. He rather people from the beginning look to His ways. Do we really think God determines which women are raped or get breast cancer, which children are sexually abused or contact a fatal disease, which soldiers steps on an explosive device, or which people died from the fallen towers? God can be accused of not always intervening miraculously, but He does not provoke evil actions or pick and choose who may suffer more than others. God interferes by trying to change the souls and ways of people. God will hold our hand during difficult times and work to bring good from evil in us and for the world, if we desire and are able to receive His help.

Is There A Time To Not Forgive?

I always fear being misunderstood when writing on this topic. God’s grace and forgiveness is central to His character and message. I would never advise one they must not forgive those who do not regret their actions. For others it is nonsensical to even consider forgiving when there is denial or no remorsefulness for wrongdoing. Today, when forgiveness is discussed among Christians, those seeking forgiveness and those not seeking forgiveness are often not differentiated.

Does the Bible really teach always forgiving those who don’t admit any wrongdoing? The Bible is abundantly clear we must forgive those who seek forgiveness, for this is exactly what our God does for us.  Can you imagine a world where there is no forgiveness? Must we though pretend that repenting doesn’t matter? Can forgiving those who don’t seek forgiveness cause even more psychological trauma for victims? We don’t want to be held hostage to our bitterness against those who have sinned against us, but insisting to forgive those who deny any wrongdoing isn’t always the biblical mandate.

The Old Testament says on several occasions that God is not willing to forgive the rebellious who have no desire to change. [i.e. Joshua 24:19-20; 2 Kings 24:1-4] Did God perform some type of forgiveness ritual before punishing evil behaviors? In dealing with sin in the church, it doesn’t say forgive the unrepentant on the way out the door. [Matt 18] In the same chapter the servant in debt drops to his knees and begs for mercy. The Master forgives his debt. Then, when the servant doesn’t forgive his fellow servant the Master, who is described being like God, takes back his forgiveness and shows some tough love.  People may only truly change for their own good and those around them when their sins are not ignored.

The parable of the prodigal son is surely a story of easy forgiveness. Wait! The father didn’t forgive the son on the way out the door with his inheritance. The son was not expressing any regrets. He was trying to avoid stepping on his old man throat on the way out. But, the son returns and admits his sin and confesses he is no longer worthy of being called his son. Bingo! Dad instantly forgives and the other brother gets mad. In Luke 19 people were upset because Jesus was forgiving Zacchaeus, the tax collector. What is Jesus supposed to do?  Zacchaeus told Jesus he planned to give right now half of his possession to the poor, and those I cheated I will repay fourfold. The Bible just doesn’t talk much about forgiveness when folks are not repentant.

There are even times where Jesus talked about not forgiving. In Mt 6:15 Jesus made a point of the importance of forgiving others if you wish to be forgiven your sins by God. God’s grace is easy but not foolish. Certain blasphemy will not be forgiven if one is not repentant. [Mt 12:31:32] Our eternal destination is our choice. God is not going to force anyone to be with Him in heaven against their will. Does God perform some type of forgiveness ritual before condemning the unrepentant to eternity without Him? Most passages only discuss forgiveness when repentance or confession is present. Luke 17:3 says: “If a brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” I John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.”

It is true Jesus taught His followers to love their enemies. [Mt 5:38-48] Jesus’ love is radical, but He was not saying soldiers on the battlefield could not defend themselves against their enemies. Jesus was not saying repentance isn’t important. He was saying pray for your enemies. Forgive your enemies if they confess their sins, though we may not feel they deserve it. Don’t seek instance justice. Anyone can hate their enemies back and demand an “eye for an eye.” Many of us would not be the people we are today if not for God’s radical love. In Acts 7 Stephen forgave his stoners as he was dying, but this isn’t necessarily applicable in every situation according to biblical teachings.

The biblical emphasis suggests with forgiveness it takes two to tango. If one confesses their wrongdoing, God is always willing to forgive.  I would never discourage one if they forgave their transgressor despite their lack of regret, if this rest best with their soul. I can think of no biblical example where humans are advised to not forgive. Stressing forgiveness in these situations for some though can cause more psychological stress for the victim. The guilty may need to face the harm they have done others to stop the cycle of victimization. Sinners must recognize how their selfishness is ruining their lives and the lives of others they impact.  Some people are only brought to their knees for their own good when dealt with realistically and honestly.

Not forgiving the unrepentant is not the same thing as being bitter. All agree no purpose is served by allowing another person’s sins to continue to hold one hostage. Look to God and those who have successfully dealt with bitterness to move on.  Prepare your heart if the unrepentant seek forgiveness. If they don’t confess, you don’t have to pretend it doesn’t hurt. God made us for relationships. Don’t seek revenge. God is able to handle revenge without being vindictive. Please do not conclude from what I have written that one can earn forgiveness by paying back what they have taken from someone (i.e. childhood with appropriate parental love, sexual purity). Christians don’t forgive because others deserve it; Christians forgive because God forgave us, but confession is an integral aspect of how we receive God’s grace.

How Does God Really Bless Us?

We typically pray for blessings in terms of material prosperity or personal comfort. The Bible never promises such things or a life without problems. The disciples’ devotion did not prevent a martyr’s death for believing Jesus was who He claimed to be. Christians are persecuted all over the world. In fact that was a promise God did make to those devoted to Him. (2 Tim 3:12) God also promises His presence and comfort during suffering and that one day there will be no more suffering. Death can take our bodies but not our souls.

The truth is supernatural blessings in the way we mostly think about them don’t last. Enjoy your toys while on earth because you aren’t taking them with you. Natural blessings last. When you treat others with kindness, you have friends for life.  We can even take them with us after death. Those who don’t gossip are trusted by others. We know they always have our back instead of always talking behind our back. Speaking honestly leads to genuine respect from others. A person who tells the truth does not fear being caught. A righteous person can be remembered for generations and for eternity because of their positive influence. The wicked will die with nothing. You reap what you sow!

Blessings flow naturally when we follow Jesus’ teachings in our relationships with others. God’s ways lead to blessings you don’t have to pray for. God promises us real joy if we seek His wisdom.  Be slow to anger. Imagine all the regrets we save in life because of how we treat others if consistently slow to anger. Be self- controlled. Imagine all the pain we spare spouses and children due to sexual purity if we control where our eyes wander.

God desires we become more like Christ for our own good. If we spend time with God, He will rub off on us.  When we come to understand how much God loves us, we naturally want to return that love in return. It is just how relationships work. Older kids often rebel less or at least not as long based on the depth of their relationship with their parents. It is not really a matter of trying harder to please God. It is just hanging out with God and the transformations flow. I am such a different man with God than without.  God is not a selfish lover. He always encourages us to follow Him for that will lead to our happiness and the happiness of others we come in contact with.

It is okay to pray for supernatural blessings, but accept God’s answer. It is not easy overseeing a free world! God cannot always interfere in our suffering or that just would make a mockery out of freedom. Why should God interfere with your undeserved suffering and not everyone’s suffering? Fewer miracles may be necessary to change more of the world by its own volition. Suffering can serve as a megaphone to distract us from our own selfishness. Also, witnessing miracles in the lives of others only turns heads not hearts.  Did Martin Luther King have to suffer to move the scales from the eyes of many how they tolerated bigotry? Personal tragedies can make us more sensitive to others. Suffering can serve as a megaphone to enable us to better serve others

What really will make this world a better place? Seek God’s wisdom and help in all you do. “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” [Gal 5:19-23]

Is God Controlling Or In Control?

C’mon! God can be in control. Who spoke into existence light, water, land, vegetation, animals, and humans? It takes faith to believe in a Creator or that stuff just evolved somehow from nothing. After observing the birth of my children, it is easier for me to believe there was a Beginner. God created freedom though. God, unlike humans, doesn’t have to control to be in control. If you love something you set it free. If it comes back it is yours. Besides, who desires a forced lover?

Why does this matter? Evildoers, not God, are responsible for suffering in this world. Asking God to control all our circumstances is to ask God to negate or manipulate freedom. God doesn’t interfere with the freedom of others to inflict suffering. God didn’t even protect His own Son from suffering. God doesn’t promise physical protection but that the grave doesn’t have to be our final destination. Evil people can destroy our physical bodies but never our souls, even in death. God promises the protection of our hearts if we desire to live with Him for eternity.

When evil was chosen suffering became part of God’s story to lead us of our own volition to a paradise appropriate for free beings. Instant healing or richness leaves us wanting to be healthier or richer, neither of which lead to true happiness. Dependence on God than circumstances changes us for the better. Martin Luther King removed the scales from the eyes of many that tolerated bigotry. Jesus’ sufferings, not His miracles, really changed hearts. God’s lack of interference in suffering can be to our benefit and empower us to serve others. God does not impose His will on us; God does not destroy or annihilate people at the first sign of opposition. God is patient, hopeful, and forgiving

Why Did God Really Come In The Flesh?

God came in the flesh in the person of Jesus but not for reasons you may think. Jesus’ death was a depiction of how far God will go to have a relationship with us, not how far God will go to make sure sins get paid for. God did not intend from the beginning for Adam and Eve to be in awe and scared to be in His presence. When God visited in the garden to converse with Adam and Eve, they hid among the trees. [Gen 3:8] Did their sin made them feel unworthy to be in God’s presence? Did they underestimate God’s grace and willingness to forgive?

Our relationship with God did not get better with time. The Israelites continue to feel they needed to keep their distance from God. They continue to live in fear of God. Fearing God in the Bible is only necessary when evil is on the loose to hopefully deter evildoers. God desperately wanted an open relationship as He started too with Adam and Eve but sin does strange things to us humans. God knew He would need to come in the flesh and not necessarily in a spectacular fashion or relational barriers would remain.

Jesus eased into the lives of His disciples beginning as a baby rather than as a powerful man such as Moses; otherwise, Jesus would have been greeted with just more awe and standoffishness. No one initially suspected a baby was God incarnate. The disciples may not have eventually accepted Jesus as a friend had they fully understood He was God from the beginning. God has always desired a friendship. Jesus didn’t want us to coward from Him. Jesus wanted to show God could be the most faithful friend a disciple and others could imagine. [Jn 15]

We may assume Jesus became a man to save us from our sins for legalistic rather than relational reasons. The actions on the Cross have been interpreted to imply Jesus died to appease God’s sense of justice rather than to convince us of His love for us. If Jesus’ death was absolutely necessary so God could forgive us our sins, how come Jesus was able to forgive sins before His death? Do we really think God was so mad at sinners that He had to kill someone? God did not need to be appeased by human sacrifice like the other OT gods. The Cross was not to satisfy some need of God’s but to satisfy some need in us.

God wants us to feel comfortable in His presence despite our sins. Isn’t this the desire of any parent? The Cross enables us to know God sees us as Christ as our sins are nailed to the Cross. The Cross allows us to have a free conscience so we can have a relationship with our Creator. The Cross empowers us to be comfortable with God despite our guilty feelings.  God knew we would have a hard time accepting His incredible offer of friendship, so He went to great lengths via the Cross to prove His love and Himself. Jesus’ death was God’s attempt to win our hearts over to follow in Jesus’ footsteps than in the footsteps of sin that can destroy.

The truth is there is no price for sin where the sin doesn’t matter or have consequences. Sin offerings in the OT were not for God but to illustrate a price is always paid when forgiveness becomes necessary in relationships. John 3:17 says: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” If someone wronged me and the only way I could satisfy my anger and forgive was to kill my child, what does that say about me as a parent?  Sin is blinding.  Jesus’ death was to persuade us to run from sin and toward God. How better to possibly persuade one than to be willing to die for uncommitted sins. God wants to empower us to overcome the power of sin in our lives.

Whose Convictions Live By If Disagree?

A misunderstanding of Romans 14 has provoked anxiety for Christians in how they should treat their fellow Christians when having different convictions about amoral activities. God wants us to feel free in Christ, rather than in bondage, so Paul advises one best live according to their own convictions. Some Christians feel you shouldn’t drink alcohol and other Christians feel the freedom to drink as long as avoiding drunkenness. Some Christians have certain convictions how Sundays should be observed both now and in Paul’s times.

In this passage the weak are the Jewish Christians who felt personally obligated to still live under certain Jewish dietary laws they had grown up with. Paul doesn’t condemn their belief but simply advises how Gentile and Jewish Christians can live in peace with one another. It seems the main points of Paul’s message are: accept one another whether your convictions allow certain freedoms or require certain restrictions (1-4); live according to your own convictions with God to be truly content (5-9); stop judging one another’s personal convictions with God (10-12).

Christian can’t always avoid offending others. Jesus didn’t go out of His way to offend, but Jesus confronted at times and did not live under the slavery of the opinion of others. Jesus frequently reprimanded the Pharisees for their misguided emphasis on rules and obedience rather than a relationship and God’s unconditional love. The Pharisees were only serving themselves for status reasons in society.  The Pharisees’ self righteousness obscured their need for God’s grace. By the way grace doesn’t lead to more sin but less sin when understanding God’s amazing love for us.

The weaker, who did not eat certain foods and the stronger, must not judge one another. (vs3-4) Christians are ultimately accountable to God and not each another. No Christian, regardless of their convictions, should condemn one another. Christians must allow each other to make their own choices. Both the weaker and the stronger should not badger one another to become like them. This is creating a stumbling block for one another in their relationship with God.

I feel freedom in my relationship with God, so I wish Paul had badgered the weak to get over their stupid rules and live under God’s grace than law. I am not encouraging orgies and drunken feasts but can’t others stop making up human rules that are not explicit in Scriptures? But, the rest of the chapter seems to encourage those who feel free to act in peace with the weaker brother. (vs13-23)  It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong. Love one another as best you can. This may mean when eating with others you abide by certain rules. You certainly don’t constantly harass your brother or sister to accept your convictions against this own. It isn’t always easy. It seems the weaker are always trying to impose upon others, which Paul disagreed with as well.

Paul’s main message is obviously peace concerning differences over amoral matters. Is food more important than spiritual matters? Christians must allow one another to follow their own personal convictions. Christians certainly should not badger non-Christians to abide by their personal convictions. People of all faiths or no faith can surely agree on moral law. It is not true that you should never do sometime to offend someone. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. It may be wise to give up freedom sometimes to promote unity but never give into legalists who insist on rules for people to obey rather than a relationship with the Creator.  In Gal 2: 11-21 Paul reprimanded Cephas for worrying about what people thought and trying to appease Jewish Christians.

Why Did God Create And Allow Freedom?

How we answer “Why, God?” in times of distress is critical to our relationship with God. We must avoid any misconceptions or mistruths about God’s role in suffering resulting from evil. Evil is not some grand scheme by God. God is not responsible for choices His creations make any more than human parents are responsible for the decisions of their offspring. Our need for an all-powerful, invulnerable God often comes at the expense of freedom. Even God cannot create and guarantee life without death, violence, suffering, and struggle and yet there be genuine free will. 

The overwhelming evidence is that God chose to be vulnerable, even putting Himself spread eagle on a Cross, to respect individual freedom.  A genuine relationship is only possible if one is free to choose to return one’s love in return. As long as there is freedom, there must be the opportunity to love or hate. God is a respecter of freedom and does not manipulate or override such a choice. The biblical writers didn’t attempt to explain evil, because they understood God gave people the choice to live out their own selfish desires or the selfless desires of God.

God obviously does not intervene by preventing freedom. From God’s perspective three murders are not better than four murders, two women raped is not better than three women raped, and one child abused is not better than two children abused. If God rid of everyone who has caused pain by an act of selfishness, no one would be left. All evil is not the same, but if God was to stop evil before it happens and to be true to character, He would have to stop any wrongdoing. God’s total or constant interference would make a mockery out of freedom. Where there is a free will apparently there will always be evil.

God obviously does not intervene by destroying or annihilating people at the first sign of opposition or when there is continuous, severe rebellion. Future generations after Noah’s proved beginning anew does not destroy evil permanently. At the first sign of rebellion, are we going to destroy our children? Aren’t parents going to attempt to influence and win a child back without denying the freedom to choose? God tolerates evil, rather than instantly judges, in hopes of change and a relationship. Justice though is eventually served for victims. God is extremely patient, merciful, forgiving, and perseverant. God is always seeking to “break through” to human beings to restore what has been lost.

Once evil was chosen suffering become part of God’s story to lead us of our own volition to a paradise appropriate for free beings. Parents, as God, are always attempting to persuade their children to reciprocate their love for their own benefit. If you love something you must set it free. If it comes back it is yours. If it doesn’t, it was never yours in the first place. No amount of good resulting from evil justifies the evil actions of others, but God’s risk in allowing freedom was necessary to obtain the highest good in relationships.  Should parents never have children because they may inflict suffering on others or could potentially suffer at the hands of others?