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The
Problem of Evil
3. A Workable Solution?
A
series that considers the problem of evil and suffering
in the world
Contents
Introduction
This is the third of a series of pages on the problem
of evil in the world. We hope you'll read them all through thoughtfully
and carefully and come to see the reality of how things are and why
you can be secure in God's love.
In
the first page we asked, “What is Evil” and saw that it is anything
that causes wrong harm to us.
We
saw that the vast majority of harm to human beings is caused by human
beings.
In
the second page we faced the problem of asking God to do something
about it.
One
solution, to remove evil, would require Him to remove the free will
of every one of us, turn us into robots - and we wouldn’t want that!
Another
solution would be to provide a set of rules for us to follow - but we’re
not good at keeping rules!
We
need some other alternative.
An
Academic Problem?
Change
only comes about when we face up to failure and are genuinely open to
the possible solutions.
If
you are approaching the subject of evil out of purely academic interest,
or because you’re angry about something that hurt you in the past, you
have to ask yourself, “Do I want to DO something about the evil in the
world, or will I just talk about it?”
Three
Approaches 
Now
there are three ways you can go about this:
•
Keep it on an academic basis and do nothing, or
•
Go and find some way of 'doing good' and helping other people
(which doesn’t deal with your own root problem), or
•
Consider the Christian solution which claims to be unique and starts
from inside me and works out in the world around me.
Solution
Two: You can be good
The
second approach, of 'doing good', is a possibility
if you want to have a superficial solution.
You
can be a real help to people and Society, but it doesn’t deal
with that potential for evil within you, it just covers it up.
Solution
Three: The Christian Solution
The third solution starts from the point in the Bible
where we’re told that God loves us (see the separate series “God’s Love
for You”).
He recognises that we are powerless to change on our own. What
He then does is provide a possible way for us to change. He does
this in Stages:
Stage
1: Removal of Guilt 
The first problem that we each have is the problem
of guilt.
We
cover it up by justifying what we do, but this is just a cover.
Deep
down each of us struggle with the awareness that on a bad day we realise
we’re not nice people!
The
penal system that every country in the world has declares that as human
beings we believe bad people should be punished (see what you think
about serial killers or paedophiles of whoever it is that upsets you).
But
as we’ve seen previously 'bad' goes on a sliding scale with murderers
at the top and so-called 'good people' at the bottom.
It
may be that we do have genuinely serious wrongs we’re covering up, crimes,
but more likely we’re just covering up what we’re like on a bad day
- self-centred, argumentative, verbally abusive, or whatever!
So
where on the sliding scale do we say people shouldn’t be punished, and
why do we make that our cut-off point? (Probably because it leaves us
free!).
No,
deep down we feel guilty and guilt means punishment deserved.
Imagine, after death, standing before an all-powerful, all-knowing,
perfect God. He knows exactly what we are like. He sees
right through us. There’s no hiding anything. We’re like
small children caught in the act. We’re in for trouble!
But
supposing He says to us now, it doesn’t have to be like that.
Supposing
He says, "I’ll
forgive you on the condition you let me love you, guide you, help you
for the rest of your life."
You’d
probably say, ”What’s the catch?”
"There
isn’t one."
You
might say, “So what about justice, what
about all I feel about my guilt and deserving punishment?”
Supposing
He says, "That’s all right someone
else has already taken your punishment, you can be free. It just requires
you to believe it."
You
might say, “How can that be?”
He
replies, "It just is. My
Son, Jesus Christ, took all your punishment when he died unjustly on
the Cross nearly two thousand years ago in your time. All you have to
do is believe that and I’ll forgive you and you’ll never again have
to fear facing me."
That
sounds too good to be true, but that’s how it is.
Stage
2: Adopted as a Child of God 
When that happens - and it happens when we pray and
ask Him for it to happen - God declares that we are then His children,
not because we’ve tried hard, not because we are religious, but simply
because He’s said we are!
When
the wonder of that sinks in, we realise we no longer have to live a
life of trying to achieve, trying to reach certain standards, trying
to be religious or whatever else it was we were doing previously.
Suddenly
instead of struggling to achieve self worth - we‘ve been given it!
We
ARE now somebody, and that’s a tremendous release, but please realise
you’ll never feel that until you have genuinely gone through
stage 1 above.
Stage
3: A New Power Source
If the first two stages weren’t wonderful enough,
this last one is staggering!
The
Bible tells us, and millions through the centuries have proved it, that
when we come to God and receive His forgiveness, receive His adoption
as His children, He then puts some of His own power actually in us;
it’s like a part of Him is living in us.
We
don’t lose control, we don’t have any weird or spooky feelings or experiences,
we just suddenly find that there is a power there that transforms. 
One
lady in her late fifties, who had smoked throughout her life and had
the most terrible bronchial cough, simply came to God as we’ve described
above, received forgiveness, received the sense of being His child and
suddenly found she no longer had any desire to smoke.
Not
only that her cough completely disappeared and never returned. That’s
an example of the power that God imparts.
But
it’s more than that, suddenly as we pray and exercise this new relationship
we find guidance comes, wisdom comes, an enabling to cope, a sense of
purpose and direction.
This
is what being a Christian is all about.
Not
about trying to be good, not about being religious, not about trying
to be pious or whatever; it’s about having a relationship with God through
Jesus Christ which brings a transformation.
Christians
are what they are not because they’re good, but because they realised
they weren’t and went to God in surrender and received His love and
power.
Holy
Joes? 
I
thought this was all about dealing with evil, not about creating 'Holy
Joes'?
That’s
right it is. But what did we say happened in these three
stages above?
The person in question gets released from guilt and is freed to live
without constantly focusing on failure.
They
take on a new basis for self worth and feel good about themselves, and
are freed to start to become the person they were designed to be.
They
receive a new power source and find they are being released (sometimes
immediately, sometimes gradually) from the things that tied them down
in the past, their failures.
As
this takes place, they frequently find a new concern for other people.
Thus
it is that in history, most of the great reform movements - in education,
in health, in employment, in prisons - were initiated by Christians.
As
the Bible says, “Overcome evil with good.”
Summary
We’ve
accepted that trying to follow the rules just doesn’t work.
What
the Bible reveals is God’s method of helping us change. 
Instead
of imposing change upon us, instead of bringing heavy authority to bear,
He brings His love to us with the possibility of our receiving forgiveness,
receiving identity in eternity, receiving a new power and purpose.
He
wins our heart with His love!
It’s not a struggle to love when you are loved, it’s a joy.
We
change more when we are loved than in any other way, and that’s what
God offers us - His love, in tangible, practical, down to earth, everyday
terms.
Yes,
evil is still there in the world and will continue there until we die
and go to face Him, but instead of passively accepting it we can speak
against it (with honesty and integrity) and work against it.
If
we do that on our own we find increasing frustration, but if we do it
as forgiven children of God with His empowering and His directing,
we find a new sense of fulfilment and achievement.
God
won’t make us conform, He won’t make people nice,
to stop evil, but He reaches out a hand and offers His transforming
love and power to whoever will receive it so that they will be transformed
from the inside out and, like the Bible says, “overcome evil with good.”
Can
we help?
This page is one of a series. The four in this series
are:
1.
What is Evil?
2.
Why doesn't God do something?
3.
A Workable Solution
4.
On the Receiving End of Evil
Perhaps you would like to talk further about these things or even have
someone pray with you. If that is so then the leaders of Rochford Community
Church are available to help you.
Remember, if you want to e-mail Tony, it's tony.thomas@rochfordcc.co.uk
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