November 21, 2017
Tuesday PM

For some, the presence of egregious acts of evil in the world convinces them it is impossible for there to be God. It is these same people who tend to classify moral lapses into two distinct categories, one reserved for those who commit the most abhorrent crimes, and the other for the rest of society who fail to honor the speed limit or merely cheat a little on their taxes. Their focus on the presence of the worst travesties allows them to assuage their own guilt when it comes to their ‘small’ wrongdoings which they believe pale in comparison to murder, rape, and other acts of violence. “It is the other guy who must be brought to justice and punished for his crime.”

These purveyors of hypocrisy tend to elevate themselves to a false status thinking they are somehow better than those horrible criminals because, after all, they have not committed such shocking acts which warrant prison or lethal injection. Which begs the question, who gets to decide/define what is right and wrong? Who decides what is morally acceptable? You? Me? And, by the way, how is it that your conscience came to recognize these acts of violence as morally wrong and heinous in the first place? Where did that standard come from? The world cannot answer those questions, yet they find it easy to dismiss the presence/existence of God. They do not know God, but they figure it is okay for them to question His existence or what He does and doesn’t do. 

The fact is none of us do right or are righteous, we have all missed the mark. We have all fallen away from the standard that only God can establish. It is that standard in which people the world over recognize as the foundation to a morally acceptable, just, and veracious society. We tend to forget that were it not for the presence of God’s sovereign intervention, we would all be committing acts of violence against our neighbor. To deny that is to deny reality. Yes, these flagrant acts of violence against humanity are indeed horrible and tragic and people need to be held accountable, but the truth is we all stand in desperate need of grace and mercy in the face of choices we make every day, choices that deserve punishment and demand justice. 

God has designed each of us with the capacity for free will. Otherwise, what would be the point? If we were designed to always do right and never do wrong, then we cease to be human. We would no longer be free to choose what to do, what to believe, or how to live our lives. The reality is that every single one of us can choose to pick up a gun to kill, drive a truck to maim, or pilot a plane to destroy, but we don’t.

Nevertheless, we are equally guilty, equally culpable, and equally responsible.
God’s standard defines what sin is, what wrong is, and He does not define it in terms of degrees as if one sin outweighs the other in how awful it is or how much punishment it deserves. All sin misses the mark equally, all sin is egregious before God equally, all sin must be atoned for equally and we are all equally there - smack dab in the middle of the foci of God’s judgment and condemnation for that sin.
You and I are left with the reality that we deserve every bit of God’s justice, and that is not a good place to be. You see, the wages of that sin condemns us because there is no way we can pay the price to be forgiven and reconciled to God. That is the bad news.

For Him to overlook our sin, He would cease to be God. If God were totally and completely a loving, benevolent God devoid of justice, He would cease to be God. It is because He is just and demands payment for sin that His expression of love is so great in sending His Son as a sacrifice to pay the price for our sin.

You can attempt to pay that penalty yourself, if that’s what you want. But you will never be successful. Your efforts will always fall short of what is required. A sinful person can never be or do good enough to keep from being held accountable for his or her sin. However, and this is the good news, God’s free gift of grace based on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross is yours by faith when you choose to repent and submit your life to Him. These are God’s terms for forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption.

There will be no arm twisting, no coercion, no stopping the violence around you while you make up your mind. The offer is yours for the taking in the midst of a world bent on destruction. He is ready to forgive and save you from your sins. The choice, though, must be made now while there is still time. A time is coming when there will be no more opportunity for second chances.

But many may ask, ‘why does He allow the evil?’ And the answer is and always will be because God is waiting on you. His patience is for your sake. He is giving each of us an opportunity to be restored and redeemed for the sin that we commit. You can die in your sins and pay for them yourself for all of eternity, or you can take the grace He offers and the payment that His Son Jesus Christ made on your behalf and by grace and faith receive the righteousness proffered to you.

The disregard for human life and the prevalent evil you see around you doesn’t take God by surprise. He isn’t aloof or asleep at the wheel. God’s patience in allowing the mass murderer to exist is no different than Him allowing you to exist, you who hate and show disdain for others also commit mass murder in your heart. He is not willing for any to perish but that everyone would come to repentance - the mass murderer, me, and you.

The presence of evil doesn’t reveal the absence of God, rather it points to our need for God, for a Savior. Take your focus off of the world and look carefully at your own heart. Don’t for a second think you are any better than the mass murderer. In God’s economy your sin, no matter how small you think it may be, deserves just as much justice and punishment.

The choice is yours. That free will is at your disposal. What will you do? Continue to point a finger at the rest of society and make demands for change, or look inward and repent and ask God for the forgiveness that only He can give and watch your own life become transformed from the inside out.

Then, and only then, will you find your ‘plausible’ reasons and confirmation for the existence of God.
 

Tim Livingston
Ketchikan, Alaska

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Editor's Note:

The text of this letter was NOT edited by the SitNews Editor.

Received November 19, 2017 - Published November 21, 2017

Related Viewpoint:

THE PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY OF GOD By David G Hanger

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