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

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Title: WHY DOES GOD PERMIT WICKEDNESS & SUFFERING?(Part 4)Author: Arthur ZuluContact Author: mailto: [email protected]: Copyright © Arthur Zulu 2002Word Count:651Web Address: http...
Title: WHY DOES GOD PERMIT WICKEDNESS & SUFFERING?(Part 4)Author: Arthur ZuluContact Author: mailto: [email protected]: Copyright © Arthur Zulu 2002Word Count:651Web Address: http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/10975Publishing Guidelines: Permission is granted topublish this article electronically or in print as long as thebylines are included.A courtesy copy of your publication would beappreciated.WHY DOES GOD PERMIT WICKEDNESS AND SUFFERING? (Part 4)By Arthur ZuluOur first parents, Adam and Eve are the source ofwickedness and suffering in this world. The wholestory is in the Bible book of Genesis Chapters 2 and3.God made them perfect and put them in the beautifulgarden of Eden.
They were to live happy, begetoffsprings and take care of the earth by expanding theborders of the paradise, with a prospect of eternallife.But take note. All these were not just offered on aplatter of gold.
There was a condition -- and this isvery important -- they were to eat all the fruits ofthe trees in the garden, excerpt one -- the fruit ofthe tree of knowledge of good and bad. Disobediencewould bring death! Simple instruction.So man was not created like a robot.
He was createdwith the right to make choices, the freedom to makedecisions.Now this gift of free will -- the right to choose --either good or bad, life or death, is not to beoverlooked. So although we were created free, thisfreedom is not total, but relative.
We are subject toGod’s laws. And what are those laws?you may ask.First, we are under the physical laws of gravity.
Manmay decide to climb the highest peak of Mt. Everest,ignore this law, and take a giant leap to the foot ofthe mountain.
Or he may close his eyes to all therisks, and go swimming in the angry waters of theAtlantic Ocean. He has the free will.Also God has moral laws.
These involve our life stylewhich includes the use of alcohol and illicit drugs,tobacco and sexual promiscuity. Man may choose to havesexual relations with an AIDS infected prostitute withthe belief that he will never catch the dreadeddisease.
He has the free will.Then there are social laws. Man can choose his type ofclothing, art, and music.
He also has the right tochoose his type of friends and marriage mate. He maydecide to live all alone in the jungle, away fromcivilization, or to walk naked in the streets of NewYork.
That is his free will. And lastly, there are health laws.
A sick man has theright to refuse medical treatment. He can also decideto 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 oursubjection to the laws of the State -- man’s laws. Thelaws of the nations recognize the citizen’sfundamental human rights.A citizen for instance has freedom of movement.
Butthis does not mean that he should drive his car rightinto the President’s bedroom. That is a ride toprison.
So you can see that there are limits to human freedom-- those rights have to operate within the confines ofthe rule of law.A man who disobeys the laws of the State is in effectchallenging the authority of that State -- thesovereignty, which means the right to rule. Now, whenAdam and Eve decided to eat the forbidden fruit inexercise of their free will after being deceived to doso by Satan, they were in effect challenging God’slegal right to rule.
They were effectively saying toGod: “We can tell good from bad. It is better for usto be independent of you.
We can rule ourselveswithout you.”That was an affront -- a rebellion against theirCreator. So God has allowed man the past 6,000 yearsto see if he can do without his creator.
In thoseyears, man has tried every political and economicsystem. And the result?Helmut Schmidt, former German Chancellor tells us: “Wehumans .
. .
have always only partially governed theworld, and most of the time very badly . .
. .
We havenever governed it in total peace”. Do you agree withhim? With all man’s best efforts, do we have peace orpieces of peace? (I am not playing with words.)But how are we the children of Adam and Eve who didn’thave a bite at this fruit, concerned in this matter? It is because of the law of genetics.
When our firstparents disobeyed, they became sinners -- imperfectpeople. And imperfect parents cannot give birth toperfect children.
So we have all inherited the resultof sin -- suffering and death from Adam and Eve.Here comes the questions: why did God plant aforbidden tree in the garden? Did he know or not thatAdam and Eve would eat the fruit? Why did he allowSatan to deceive them? Why did he not destroy thesinning trio? And who made Satan the Devil in thefirst place? Questions. Questions.
Questions.The answers to these questions in the next installmentwill surprise you as we consider the consequences ofthe 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 :http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/10975For FREE writing helps, mailto:[email protected] Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .