Mad at God? Read this

MAD AT GOD?

If you have ever been mad at God, you are in good company. Most honest believers will admit that God has seemed--at times--distant, uncaring, unhearing, unjust or simply slow to react.

Given our human nature, it is understandable that these perceived shortcomings of the Divine One might outshine the things we are thankful to Him for.

We all know of Mark Twain. Born Samuel Clemens, he is the well-known author/creator of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. What is not as well known about this famous humorist is how he felt that the Almighty had utterly failed him. After he buried his son, two daughters and his beloved wife, he wrote the following:

“...a God who could make good children as easily a bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave is angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell--mouths mercy, and invented hell--mouths Golden Rules and foregiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship him!”

--Mark Twain, No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger

“The best minds will tell you that when a man has begotten a child he is morally bound to tenderly care for it, protect it from hurt, shield it from disease, clothe it, feed it, bear with its waywardness, lay no hand upon it save in kindness and for its own good, and never in any case inflict upon it a wanton cruelty. God's treatment of his earthly children, every day and every night, is the exact opposite of all that, yet those best minds warmly justify these crimes, condone them, excuse them, and indignantly refuse to regard them as crimes at all, when he commits them. ”

-- Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth

Twain’s concern is not complicated. He reasoned that God could make the world a happy, loving place without hunger, disease and death. Twain then rails at the Lord for His utter failure to do so. We all agree that we, like him, see our world darkened too often by famine, pestilence, pain, suffering and death.

None of us would dare to address the deeply personal pain and loss that this man bore. Darwin buried a daughter too early, as did Descartes. All three of them turned against the Lord. None of us know how we might react. However, when he took on the very character of God, Twain missed a critical fact.

The God of Scripture did—in fact—create the very world Twain imagined
He should have!

In the beginning, we are told there was a perfect environment, with plenty to eat, and no sickness, striving, suffering or death. That is not just a Sunday School story, it is history. The Fall of sinful man ushered in the age of struggle, sickness and our own mortality.

The truly remarkable thing is that a Holy God, so rejected by his children, would sacrifice his Only Son to rescue them from the results of their own sin. That, actually, explains why we celebrate that baby in the manger, and His atoning death on the cross. Jesus came to undo what we did. You can spend your life being angry with God, if you wish--much like a spoiled child who rebels against a loving parent, who has provided sacrificially for him.

But God made a Way for you to come home to Him. This Christmas, before you read the Christmas story that solves the sin and death problem, please read Genesis 1-3, so you will know what the sin and death problem actually was. Who knows what would have been different in the lives of those three men who buried children too early, if they had. As they are all long dead, they know the Truth. If you are reading this, there is still time for you.

creation vs. Evolution Part 3- death and the Haiti earthquake

CREATION vs. EVOLUTION

PART 3 of 12

DEATH – No Second Chances

As I write this, people in Haiti are still struggling to recover from the massive earthquake that toppled most of their homes and buildings. Many tens of thousands are dead, and the actual numbers may never fully be known.

Everyone’s heart goes out to the victims, the orphans, the widows, the amputees and the lost. Heroes of all walks of life and nationalities sacrificed to free survivors from the rubble, render aid to the injured and to reunite the disconnected.

Compassion has prompted millions from all over the world to donate their time and resources. Christian relief agencies are at the forefront of this relief effort, along with secular groups and various military assets.

Every time there is a major disaster, such as an earthquake, tsunami or a flood, people ask an ancient question: “How can a good, all powerful God let evil and suffering happen?”

Interestingly, it is Biblical Creationism that holds the answer.

Death is an intruder. It was never part of the original plan. Our bodies fight to their last breath to live, shutting down blood to the least vital organs first. When a child dies before his parents do, or when a loved one dies in the “prime” of life, it seems wrong deep in our innermost being. When someone, even a stranger, is in peril, we instinctively want to help. Multiplied billions are spent to preserve life and resist death in hospitals and nursing homes. The elderly often spend their wealth to try and reclaim their health. We donate organs to help preserve the lives of those will never even meet. Life itself is at the heart of impassioned debates of capital punishment, euthanasia and abortion. At our core, we recognize the importance and value of life, and resist death at almost any cost. Why?

God created us in perfect world, called Eden. Note that God did not create a world of death, disease, and suffering. The Bible explains in Genesis 1-3 that death came into creation because of sin. Death is the enemy.

Most Evolutionists often will agree that the earthquake was a tragedy. If they argue that death in any scale is somehow evil or “out of place” acknowledges, at a very basic level, that death is the enemy. However, a true and consistent evolutionist would have to agree that death is not only natural, but also fundamentally necessary. You see, unlike creation, the theory of evolution takes a LOT of death to happen! Carl Sagan, a famous evolutionist, explained:

“The secrets of evolution are time and death. Time for the slow accumulations of favorable mutations, and death to make room for new species.”

-Carl Sagan, Cosmos, program entitled “One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue.”

Darwin’s theory requires death and lots of it over long periods of time. Time for evolution to occur and death to remove the weaker forms not able to survive. This allows the “strongest” to survive. Atheistic Evolution can only explain that tragedies like earthquakes should promote the bettering of all of mankind, since death is the means by which “progression” is made. Death, according to evolution, certainly is not all bad.

That does not mean that Evolutionists do not recoil at the scenes of death and suffering. Evolutionists are likely there working right beside others in Haiti helping those injured. Compassion is a human trait that an atheistic worldview does not usually fully remove. I was once a holder of the atheistic evolutionary view and still personally felt moved by suffering and death. The Bible teaches that death is the end of earthly life, and there are no second chances after we breathe our last. In fact, we are all in a second chance here on Earth that God gave the world through His Son.

Atheistic Evolution teaches that all matter and energy merely transforms itself randomly through death, and this life is all there is. But, if there is no Heaven or Hell, no eternity, no God, no final judgment, why does Death seem so…“wrong?”

The Bible teaches that are all one human race in a broken and fallen creation where death has invaded. Evolution teaches that human life is only that of smarter monkeys. God says He sent His only Son to die in our place and to offer Heaven after death. God initially called everything he made “good.” It was not a godless, mechanically random series of death and suffering that gave us the fossils we find. It was the massive flood of Noah’s day that gave us the “second chance” to be here now and laid down the fossil record.

Don’t fall for the claim that Evolution is just science. Don’t believe that it is just some bookish philosophy. It has serious implications. It is incompatible with the clear reading of the Bible. For instance, Carl Sagan implied that death is permanent and necessary.

Ready for some good news? Death, for the Christian, it is but a doorway to Heaven. And, Death is a not even a permanent part of this world. Prior to sin in the Garden, it did not exist. One day in the future, there will again be no death. God will one day “wipe away every tear from our eyes” (Revelation 21:1–8) and restore perfection.

As Brad Paisley wrote in his hit song, “When I Get Where I’m Going”, we will be able to “leave our heart wide open; [we] will love and have no fear.” We will have no fear of loss, no death, no sickness, no famine, no earthquakes, no sin, and no pain. Believers will be those who have used humanity’s second chance to trust Christ. Don’t allow the hollow philosophy of evolution to dilute your faith. Creation provides answers to not only the past, but our present.

Is There any Sin but Idolatry?

Recently, I was guest preaching at an Assisted Living Center in Memphis, and I felt lead to show how all the ten commandments could probably be restated as: "Because you love your neighbor, you shall not bear false witness..." or "because you love your God, you shall have no other gods before me.."

This thought came from verses suggesting that love is the root of all the commandments, to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

In a similar thought, I looked at each commandment in its relation to the first and second commands, about idolatry.

If one becomes one's own idol, you may bear false witness against your neighbor. If pleasure becomes an idol, you may commit adultery. The disturbing thing about this line of thought is that all idols demand sacrifices. In adultery very clearly, the adulterer sacrifices his wife, children, reputation and witness on the altar of pleasure.

Since pride seems to place our desires first, it is indeed idolatry. It is pride that cast down Satan.

Other verses even combine these two thoughts, such as "it the love of money that is root of all kinds of evil." Note it is the love of it that makes it an idol.

Would that we would love Him who first loved us that much.

David Peel