He is optimistic because He is doing it by Himself alone...
On a recent quiet Friday night my wife and I fled the TV for a visit to the county fair. I love to see the astonishing variety of God’s created animals, as well as the skills he has given humanity in arts, crafts, cooking… And don’t forget tractor pulls!
There were rows of dazzling varieties of clucking chickens, floppy-eared rabbits, and proud roosters. The petting zoo brought furry lambs and bony goats within reach. These animals bring me more joy than silly sitcoms on TV.
When I see a skillfully crafted quilt with geometric design and vivid colors, I feel good and praise God for sharing his creativity with us.
But when I got home and turned on the TV news I realized what a frightful mess humanity is in. In spite of a closing feel-good story on how Sally won the spelling bee, the previous 20 minutes of deadly vehicle crashes and videos of bombed cities, featuring vignettes of new and greater missiles and bombs that make all this bloodshed possible, leaves me sickened and scared.
How can God allow all the savagery? How can anyone speak of joy in life with all the wars, deaths, catastrophes and hatred?
The age-old question remains. Philosophers frame questions and then pose answers --all the while questioning the existence of a good God. Ancient philosophers who saw such death and evil wrote that God is either not omnipotent or not good. They say he can’t be both. So they say there is no God. The universe must have created itself.
I, personally, find no comfort in an accidental creation, which is all that is left if there is no God. After all, the horrible death and destruction caused by so-called civilized man, as well as all the added sufferings of the natural world, remain unchanged within that godless universe. There is nothing gained. And, more importantly, all hope is lost.
So what is the evolutionist’s answer to the problem of evil? It would have to be: get ready for more of the same! Some philosophers actually suggest that the quicker the "unfit" are killed off, the quicker evolution can progress. Yes, some even apply that to humans. Destruction, chaos, and death reign. Evolution cannot exist without “survival of the fittest”, which is just a euphemism for “death of the weakest”. The evolutionist says, "Get used to death and horror and accept it for what it is."
The world of the evolutionist turns out to be worse than a world in which God allows evil. It is pointless and hopeless violence ad nauseam, forever. The evolutionist, as if to justify himself, argues, “Well if God did allow all this evil, I won’t serve him. He’s horrible.” So what kind of life does he choose instead? He lives as he pleases, using other people for his own pleasure, striving to be the survivor and to eat before he is eaten, until he dies. In his own mind, he is god and the world is his playground. There is a moral disconnect here when a person can feign moral outrage at a God who allows evil, while committing the same evil himself.
In everyday life most people are not strictly following the survival of the fittest philosophy. That is because God made them with a conscience-- even if they won’t admit it. They say, “Can’t we all just get along?” Violence all the time is not all that much fun. Maybe we can “evolve” to be better?
Looking at human society in the past one hundred years we can see that evolution is not succeeding very well. Murders are up, genocide is up, and casualties among humans are up to the hundreds of millions in the 20th century. Humankind’s potential for killing itself only grows greater by the day. Are we far from the capacity to kill a billion people?
In evolutionary theory there is no remedy for what ails human society. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ does provide an answer. Fear among the children of Earth for the God who is good is now restraining some of the Earth’s evil. God should get credit for that.
The sinfulness of humankind is the cause of the evil that encapsulates us so mercilessly. Adam and Eve were given the Earth as their kingdom, to organize it in their image, so that when they sinned their corruption infected the Earth as well. If you find a vicious dog at the animal shelter, your first thought is that former owners were vicious.
God’s answer is the Kingdom of Heaven which he is bringing to Earth at the return of the Resurrected Savior. In the Bible, Paul wrote that the whole creation is groaning while waiting for the unveiling of the mature children of God. God is bringing holiness back into fashion among those who repent and believe in Jesus. He has a plan.
Now is the time to seek Him before He separates the "sheep" from the "goats." God is working now and that is good. Jesus taught many parables about the coming of the Kingdom of God, and several of those speak of two kingdoms interwoven for a time before they are separated. He is optimistic because He is doing it by Himself alone, and not relying on humanity. Thank God! It is the only chance we’ve got.
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