God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty (9 page)

God created a world that runs by laws, and He allows real decisions to be made by men and angels. The ability to make good choices and to perform heroic acts also gives the opportunity to do the opposite, which is evil. God gave us His
moral
laws to reveal His character and nature, which are pure and spotless. “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). He also gave us His laws so that we would function properly as people and could minimize the damage to our lives that breaking those laws results in. “In reality, moral rules are directions for running the human machine. Every moral rule is there to prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a friction, in the running of that machine. That is why these rules at first seem to be constantly interfering with our natural inclinations.”
²⁸

T
HE
B
EST
P
OSSIBLE
W
ORLD?

When we see evil and suffering in the world, we are compelled to ask, with
mathematician
and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, “Is
this the best possible world?” He believed that in light of all the contingent factors, this was the best possible world.
²⁹
This is not to say by any means that it is a perfect world.

Christopher Hitchens would strongly disagree, citing a world with disease and collapsing stars as evidence of poor engineering.
³⁰
He and others feel that the imperfections in the universe point to the absence of an intelligent Designer. However, anything
created
that is finite is subject to death and deterioration. God did create us as humans with an eternal
spiritual
dimension
. At our core we are spiritual
beings
who live in physical bodies. Though these bodies decay, the spiritual parts will live forever.

As the apostle Paul said in the first century, “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The short lives we live on this planet don’t even register in significance, if this life is all there is. In light of the vast eons of time and the ominous backdrop of eternity, we are less than a drop in a bucket. This existential crisis has gripped people for centuries. There are primarily three worlds God could have created:

1. Control
God could have created us without the capacity or option to do evil. No choices, just programmed goodness. As I just mentioned, if this were the case, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. We as humans would be nothing more than the animatronic characters at Chuck E. Cheese. We tend to demand our freedom and then curse the fact that we have such a thing. Though God is in control of history, He has allowed us real choices that have real consequences.

2. Chaos
God could have created a world with absolutely no intervention on His part. He creates everything and lets it take its own course. An individual can do whatever he or she wants without consequence. Without any intervention at any time, it is truly the survival of the fittest. I don’t think anyone really would want to live in a world where there is no hope for any help beyond human effort.

3. Cooperation
God could have created a world in which He gives us real choices to make. He works among us and acts according to His purposes and promises. By making a covenant with humanity, He enters our lives as we invite Him to come in. That’s the reason we pray and ask Him for help as well as choose to follow His commandments.

Option 3 seems to be the world God has created. There are real choices with real consequences for our actions. At the same time, God is able to interact in His creation. He is not just the playwright who sits and watches, but is an actor in His own story. As the great writer C. S. Lewis pointed out,

God created things which had
free will
. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I can’t. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth
having. A world of automata—of creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating.
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W
HY
D
OESN
’
T
G
OD
R
EMOVE
E
VIL FROM THE
W
ORLD?

There could be no
knowledge
of what good is without the contrast of evil. How could you know what light is without the existence of darkness? Hot without the existence of cold? God allows us to comprehend reality through His use of contrasts.

By creating
beings
that were spiritual and not physical and giving them the right to choose as well, God gave the possibility for unseen evil beings to exist. Somehow these beings have the capacity to inflict harm as well as inject disease into the human condition. By allowing free will into the universe, God knew He would give these creatures the option to commit evil, but He prepared us with spiritual
weapons
, insight, and
prayer
to combat the evil.

God
defines
evil. He tells us what it is. His commandments aren’t burdensome but are there to protect us. Like warning signs on the highway or warning labels on chemicals, God’s laws are acts of mercy not anger.

God
denounces
evil. He commands us to avoid and abstain from evil. No one is against evil more than God. His very nature is the opposite of evil. He calls us to turn away from evil, yet He allows us the choice and opportunity to disobey Him.

God
defeats
evil. By His life and death on the cross, Christ came to break evil’s power over mankind. At His crucifixion, He absorbed the punishment for our evil and provided forgiveness for it and
freedom
from it.

God
destroys
evil. Just as evil had a
beginning
, it will have an end. Hugh Ross explained that God allowed the possibility of evil in space and time so that He could eliminate it for all eternity in a new creation that will replace the universe:

As an expression of his love for humanity, God created the universe the way he did to protect us from a future touched by evil. He made this cosmos to serve as an arena in which evil and suffering can be rooted out, finally and eternally—while simultaneously maintaining the human capacity to exercise free will and, thus, to experience and express love.
³²

By allowing evil a momentary presence in human existence, He not only defeated it on the cross but also will ultimately remove it forever.
³³
Because of this, in eternity, we will be able to exist with our free wills intact without the presence of evil.

A T
RUE
P
ICTURE OF
O
URSELVES

People who are delusional think they are something they aren’t. The question is, who decides what reality is? When you look in a mirror, you see an image that corresponds to what you know to be true. Seeing yourself as you really are is the beginning of improving your life. On the other hand, ignoring reality leads to futility. As Christian philosopher Ravi Zacharias noted, “That is why atheism is so bankrupt as a view of life, for it miserably fails to deal with the human condition as it really is.”
³⁴

Sitting on an airplane at thirty-five thousand feet is one of
the best places to have a discussion about God and
spiritual
things. Maybe it’s the turbulence or just being a little closer to
heaven
. Regardless, when you are seated next to a stranger for a few hours on a plane, you can speak more honestly than in any other place on earth. I have had some remarkable, unforgettable moments on airplanes when it comes to sharing the gospel. These encounters have ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime.

One of those took place when I was next to a man in seat 14D. As soon as we started talking and he found out I am a minster, he loudly stated that there was no way God could exist because of “all the evil in the world.” Whenever this issue is raised, I’m careful not to trivialize evil and suffering because bad things may have happened to the people I’m talking to or to the ones they love. It’s important to ask discreetly about the other’s pain.

In this case I felt the evil excuse was more of a smokescreen. I told the man in 14D, “God could get rid of all of the evil in the world in a moment. All He would have to do is kill everybody.” Think about it. That’s exactly what happened in the biblical account of Noah and the flood. God “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the L
ORD
was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Genesis 6:5–6). He eventually destroyed the majority of living things and saved one family of eight. The virus of evil was in them as well, though not fully manifested, and it has grown into the world we have today.

I continued, “God has a plan to get rid of all the evil in the world without having to destroy us.” The man was now somewhat stunned that his reason for rejecting God was being critiqued.
“He wants to remove all the evil in your heart without having to destroy us for being a carrier of this virus. God wants to get rid of all the evil in the world, starting with seat 14D.” The problem was the passenger wanted to get rid of others’ evil, but he wasn’t willing to give up his. The truth is, we want God to stop evil consequences but not our own evil actions. We want evil to stop happening to us, but not through us.

While in New Orleans a few years ago, taking my three boys to a basketball game, we passed the table of a palm reader promising to “read your palm and predict your future.” Feeling a tug on my heart from the Lord, I asked my friend Troy to wait for a moment with my sons while I talked to this palm reader.

I introduced myself, sat down at his table, identified myself as a minster, and asked if I could ask him some questions. My first one was, “Why did you become a palm reader?”

His answer surprised me. “I was a Christian and spent a lot of time at a revival in Florida searching for the power of God. When I couldn’t seem to find it, I started dabbling in the occult and even voodoo. All that scared me, and I decided to study palm reading because it seemed safer.”

I continued asking him questions and genuinely listening to his answers. I purposely refrained from challenging him too quickly. After fifteen to twenty minutes, he looked at me and said, “Now tell me, why do you do what you do?”

“I preach the gospel for two primary reasons. First, the gospel is the only thing on this planet that can tell a person what is really wrong with him or her. A few years ago my wife was sick, and we couldn’t figure out the source of her pain. While in Israel a sweet little doctor at Hadassah Hospital diagnosed her condition,
and that
knowledge
brought us great hope that she could now be properly treated. You see, the gospel tells us that the source of our pain is our separation from God because of sin. As we have broken God’s moral laws, it has resulted in our lives and our souls becoming broken.”

John (let’s call him) was genuinely listening as I explained the gospel. Like a doctor delivering tough news, I did my best to be kind while honestly telling him his real condition. I didn’t soften the message in the name of some twisted version of being loving. I then concluded, “The second reason I preach the gospel is because it is the only thing on this planet that can tell us what to do to heal our condition.” I then stated the gospel clearly and offered him God’s answer for his life.

He thanked me and allowed me to pray for him. He then said, “I have a mother in Nashville who is praying for me every day. I bet you are sitting here because of her prayers.”

S
UMMARY

The
moral
law is written on every human heart. Good and evil are very real and only truly understood in light of the existence of a transcendent authority. This is because there are moral principles that are universally true, regardless of culture or context. The existence of evil is not evidence of God’s absence in the universe but evidence of His absence from our lives.

Yes, the world is filled with evil and suffering, but humans are the only creatures to realize this and the only creatures capable of an intrinsically evil or good act. Man is moral, yet atheism cannot really explain why. Naturalism offers no help in
answering the question of why evil exists, outside of the belief that man, unlike other animals, simply has this inborn proclivity.

As Dr. William Lane Craig said in his debate with Sam Harris at Notre Dame:

Thus, Dr. Harris’s naturalistic view fails to provide a sound foundation for objective
moral
values and duties. Hence, if God does not exist, we do not have a sound foundation for objective morality, which is my second contention. In conclusion then, we’ve seen that if God exists, we have a sound foundation for objective moral values and objective moral duties, but that if God does not exist, then we do not have a sound foundation for objective moral values and duties. Dr. Harris’ atheism thus sits very ill with his ethical theory.

What I’m offering Dr. Harris tonight is not a new set of moral values—I think by and large we share the same applied ethics—rather what I’m offering is a sound foundation for the objective moral values and duties that we both hold dear.
³⁵

This same offer for a solid moral and ethical foundation is available to every person. That is why believing God exists is so vital to
our
existence. As we have looked to the moral law within to see the evidence for this Creator, let’s now turn our gaze to the starry skies above as Kant suggested.