Removing Stumbling Blocks:
"If God is so Good then why do people starve, why are their wars and why do babies die?"
This is the age old question but a very important question. How many of us have taken sufficient time to wrestle with it? In this paper I want to take a quick look at some very interesting answers. I want to look at 3 items in life: 1) The ability of the planet to produce food, 2) why wars happen and 3) Nuclear Power.
1) The Ability of the Planet to Produce Food:
Have you ever considered that the planet is capable of producing more than enough food for all of our inhabitants? America alone produces more food than it can give away. Consider for a moment how the U.S. shipped food to Russia in the 80s (and other countries). There were several incidence reported that the grain was delivered but actually rotted on the docks! Why? Governments comprised of individual people and their free will choices took that set of circumstances and chose not to distribute the food. Why? Because they wanted to retain power in those sets of circumstances. This has happened in other parts of the world also. Try taking food to Africa. There are times when some tribes will receive food and other tribes will attack to keep them from growing stronger because they want to retain power.
Although those are special cases it demonstrates a point. People die of starvation not because the planet cannot produce enough food but because some people choose to starve other people. It is human choice not God.
The fact is that more than enough food is produced to feed everyone in the world. No one need ever starve. Why do they starve? Because human beings with free will choose not to manage the distribution of food to other people. We refuse to make it happen. Human choice is to blame. So why do we raise our fists at God and accuse Him?
2) Arguments and War:
We see it every day. Tommy, age 4, and his darling sister Laura, age 5, are playing with their toys. At one point Tommy wants Laura new shiny toy. He grabs at it but she is quicker and pulls it out of his reach. So dear little Tommy picks up a random toy and smacks her over the head with it. As she wails and cries he walks over and picks up his new prize! That is just the way it is with War. One nation covets another nations natural resources (oil or gold etc...), geographic position (for ports for ships, or proximity to another country) or economic well being. Therefore the attack is on and millions die horrible deaths. Was it God that instigated this? No! What madness makes us even ask the question? It is nothing less than human free will choice to sacrifice lives at the expense of obtaining the thing we covet. Or there is a quarrel and a disagreement and the next thing you know two young boys are on the ground wrestling trying to draw blood. How often has this happened in world history? Someone offends the other and bloodshed is the result! And there is nothing to blame except human choice! Yet we accuse God!
If it wasn't so horrible it would be silly! The madness of our thoughts against God.
3)Why do Babies die?
I want to present one quick thought here. We have had a cure for Malaria for decades. Yet all across the world especially Africa and other poor nations babies die from this disease? Why? There is absolutely no reason for this. We can organize groups of people to work together to build Typhoon Class Submarines, The Space Shuttle, The Hubble Space Telescope, The Eiffel Tower and other feats of co-operation and engineering but we choose not to make sure that the cure for Malaria is distribute across the world. Again, it is human nature and human choice. We choose to do what serves our own selfish desires. Often that is money related. There are exceptions. And these are wonderful people given as examples of caring. But let's not blame God for babies dying when we could stop many of them from dying and do nothing.
4) Another Random Thought: Nuclear Power
Has it occurred to anyone that we have developed the ability to liberated virtually unlimited power? Granted we need to learn to dispose the waste products. But has anyone stopped to think that the only reason anyone in Africa doesn't have air conditioning or anyone in Siberia doesn't have heat is because we refuse to manage the distribution of energy around the globe? Human choice. Yet we accuse God.
There is no reason why anyone on the earth doesn't have abundant food, peace and energy! We have the resources at our hands. The only reason is that we don't chose to do it. We refuse to manage and distribute the abundant resources that we have. Human free will choice. And that is why babies die, people starve and war happens.
Lest you say "Well, Governments are to blame for all this suffering in the world,..." lets consider them for a moment. Governments are merely gatherings of individual people. I have a friend who accuses governments of all the ills of the world. Where does she think governments came from? There was a time when their were few people. These people banded together over time to form groups. These groups organized themselves and then and their we began experimenting with different types of governments. Governments are merely the extension of millions and millions of people making billions of individual choices every day. Everything that we buy, sell, watch, argue for or against goes into the swirl of creating, sustaining and maintaining or changing governments.
Example of Government: 4 - 5 kids play in an outdoor pool in their back yard. They only fill the water knee deep. They start by walking around in a circle. Then, as the water gets moving with them, they begin to run faster. The water picks up the momentum. There is a point when they are running in the knee deep water as fast as they can but suddenly the water rushes over them and pulls them down!
This is such a clear picture of Government. We gather with a few people and begin to develop culture by our choices. We influence this or that. We buy this or that. We fight against this but fight for that. Soon other people are influencing us and we are influencing them. Soon or later our culture sweeps out and does something we don't expect. It could be good or bad depending on all our little choices that went into creating the culture... billions of choices by millions of people create culture.
You may ask why don't humans choose to distribute food or energy? Sometimes it does happen. But on the whole there is one reason: Money! It is like many people who don't believe in God say, "Money - it makes the world go round".... i.e. it makes this current world culture go round. It doesn't have to be this way and sometimes it isn't the way it happens. But on a world scale that is the reason. Human nature on a world scale doesn't distribute food or energy because it does not put money in their pockets. And that is one of the primary reasons that God said that He will destroy the world at the end of the age. Everything is done to get money. Things aren't done for love or because we care about each other... but just for money! And He hates that.
So why do we attack God's goodness and accuse Him of being evil. Isn't that odd when you realize that the bottom reason for much of the suffering in the world is human choice? Accusation against God is deep in the human spirit.
There is a proverb that actually addresses this:
"A man's own foolishness ruins his life,
yet his heart rages against the LORD."
Proverbs 19:3
I think that proverb says it all. The foolishness of humans ruins our lives yet in our hearts we blame God! Perhaps we can realize that we are doing this and stop it? Perhaps we can believe that God is good and that He is looking for our response to His loving pursuit of us. Perhaps we can receive the forgiveness He freely and wonderfully offers us in Jesus and rest? Perhaps then, knowing that we are forgiven and safe eternally, we can find the freedom from fear to actually care about someone else? Perhaps then we will share our food, promote peace and share our energy with others? Perhaps?
Conclusion
To the age old question, "If God is so Good then why do babies die, why do people starve, why are there wars," we answer: Human Free Will Choice. People can choose otherwise but often they don't. However as we are secure in God's acceptance through the cross of Christ we become free enough and safe enough to reach out and care about others.
