I’ve talked to many people over the years who are atheists, and if you’re looking for that sort of thing (as I sometimes am), you can encounter a lot more of them on this Interweb thing. One of the most common themes is, “If there was a god, and if he was the loving god you seem to think he is, why is there so much violence, disaster, agony, mayhem and death on this planet?”
Fair question. Its point is valid: aside from nature, there appears to be a lot of evidence that there either is no God, or that if he does exist he certainly doesn’t care about us. So why should we care about him?
That often leads directly to rejection of the Bible for much the same reasons.
Ironically enough, those should be the very same reasons people turn to the Bible, not away from it. Why? Open the Bible at page one and it won’t take you long to realize that it’s a record of man’s rejection of God. If you reject God, too, this is your book! Of the first four humans to walk this planet, says the Bible, three of them by their actions told God to take a hike. The record goes on to tell the stories of countless people who believed in him, and plenty of others who didn’t.
But what’s recorded in Genesis is a key to understanding a huge issue: why is there so much tragedy? Is there no god? Or does he simply not care?
Think back to what happened in Eden. Let’s take it at face value: one of god’s “assistants” mutinied. He told Eve and then Adam that their creator was no angel, so to speak. They were persuaded. Now what? Zap Adam and Eve and the rebel instigator and start over? What would that prove? Nothing. In fact, it would lend credence to the charges.
It would be similar to someone telling you he’s stronger than you are. That’s simple enough to prove or disprove. But what if he said he was a better parent than you? You couldn’t just blast him with a shotgun. That would prove nothing – well, nothing good. Many situations over a considerable length of time would be needed to settle the issue. Satan, the rebel in Eden, made a similar challenge: the rightness of God’s rule. It would take time to answer that challenge.
God was magnanimous enough to say be my guest. Knock yourself out. I’ll step aside temporarily. He certainly knew the human self-rule experiment was doomed from the start. But he also knew it was really the only way to settle the issue. And he also knew that when all was said and done and sufficient time had been allowed to conclusively settle the issue, he could undo or reverse all the effects of this ill-conceived experiment. There’s even a mini-drama of exactly this entire scenario in the Bible book of Job. Satan made charges against Job and God said, feel free to test him. Job’s integrity did not break, and by the time the credits rolled, Job’s health, wealth, and reputation were restored to a condition better than at the outset of that drama.
So when you think about the often dismal state of the world, don’t view it as evidence that God doesn’t exist, or that he doesn’t care. View it as the opposite: that he cared enough about Adam and Eve’s opinion that he allowed their rejection of him to stand, and stand long enough to conclusively prove the point – something that couldn’t be done in their lifetime, or even in ancient times, for that matter. The story of Adam and Eve also tells us that mankind’s troubles are largely self-inflicted, not God’s doing. And the Bible contains tons of references to a future reversal of fortune, promises in writing. Who hasn’t read that “He will wipe every tear from their eyes and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain.”
There is a myth people repeat often, that God can do anything. That is untrue. The Bible says he cannot lie. So his promises are as good as done the moment he makes them. As humans, however, it’s tough to wait for their fulfillment. Our concept of the passage of time is different, limited by our short lifespans. The creator who lavished such attention on this planet – even inspiring written messages recorded in a book that is the runaway best-seller of all time, available in hundreds of languages – obviously that is someone who cares about us deeply, someone who will keep his word.