Why God? Answer by Paul Johnson

Here's a question from a young student: I have recently read a book called night. The story talked about a Jewish person's experience in the concentration camp. It was horrifying how the Nazis slaughtered these poor people. The infants were burned alive. People was mercilessly killed. The problem is that these Jews were all religious. They have been constantly praying for the God's mercy on them. And obviously, the almighty God did not do anything to help these poor people. You might say, the Jews did not believe in Jesus, the real Bible, the Real God. However, these people were not much more sinful than the Nazis, were they? Why were they punished so cruelly? Why didn't the God throw them a miracle to just stop the brutal killings?

I read that book too – by Elie Wiesel? He's a fine thinker/writer. I often quote his delightful statement: "God made humans because he loves stories."

You've stumbled upon the great dilemma, one of the most significant questions in life. Sometimes it's worded this way, "If God is love, why the pain and suffering? If God is all-powerful, why doesn't he stop it?"

Maybe the main reason people turn from God and reject his invitation to love im: pain and suffering. I remember talking with a woman in V'ver about God – she'd done exactly this, turn from God. She was Dutch and saw firsthand the horrors of WWII, evil let loose, and decided there can't be a God, or certainly can't be a loving God. Case closed – she didn't want to dialogue – I respected her choice.

Yes, an important question, and not always an out-there academic one – pain and suffering may impact us or those we love. It will, in fact.

I can't promise a comprehensive answer, but I can give some thoughts:

First, a step way back; Why's the world like this? Why do Nazi death camps happen? Why are they "allowed"?
Answer: this world of ours isn't the world/environment God planned for us – this is the world we picked – this is one of the first insights the Bible gives us. That is, we had a choice: God or ourselves? We chose a life independent of God – we wanted to be 'god' – very intoxicating, that possibility, even today for each of us!

However, the choice had consequences. One of them: evil was unleashed into our lives and world. Sometimes mild evil (meanness, nastiness) and sometimes raw evil (like the Nazis…). Sadly, this is the reality we're born into, the dark side of our culture, of life; Worse, it's our own inner reality too: pride, critical spirit, anger against others, unconcern (the "I don't care and I don't care that I don't care attitude) – we have in ourselves seeds of evil (like anger, which can become a murderous rage and result in a death; or the independent "I'll do what I want" attitude which can cause a drunk-driving fatality; or ego, which can become racism and prejudice).
Sobering: at the trial of Adolph Eichmann, one of the architects of the Nazi's "Final Solution" to kill the Jews, people were sickened to realize he wasn't a "monster", not a psychopath – no, he was a normal human being, like everyone else in the courtroom, who chose to be evil, do unspeakable evil things
Sometimes that darkness in us, in our cultures, becomes profound, lethal – that's what you referred to in your question…

- and the damage is indiscriminate – that is, the Nazi concentration camps contained Jews (6+ million), homosexuals, gypsies, other ethnic groups, handicapped, and yes, faithful Christians too – God didn't exempt Christians from this evil;
- one famous Christian was Dietrich Bonheoffer – he was hung by the Nazis days before his camp was liberated (his book "The Cost of Discipleship" was formative in my life.)
- another was Corrie ten Boom, who survived, but her sister Betsy didn't – she was beaten savagely, and died in the camp (these people are heroes of mine)
- so the question, "Why doesn't God throw them a miracle?" applies to a cross-section of humanity in those camps, including Christians who are Jesus-followers…

- again, your question may be the deepest question: why does God allow pain and suffering? How can he be Love? And why doesn't he stop it? How can he be powerful?

- let's start this way: God's high respect for this creation, these humans He made.
- which begs the question: why did God even make humans?
- answer: to have a being with characteristics like himself (creativity, community, ability to relate, freedom) , a being who can respond freely to him in love; companions who would delight in him and communicate with him voluntarily

- two key words are free and love:
- God took a staggering risk: the risk that in giving us freedom to choose, we'd choose not to love Him.
- God took that risk, because love is never forced, never coerced; we had freedom to love Him, or not; (you can't make someone love you, right…)
- what did we do? took the freedom to turn from Him; the first parents, Adam and Eve, did (the story's here – a "must" story to understand our present world's mess)
- and each of us has our own "Garden of Eden" experience; we know what's right, what God says; we choose another way, our way – we want to be "god", to make our own rules ("I'll lie if I want to…"), be in charge of our own universe (I'm #1") – we all do this, and it's the sin and evil
- so this is our world, the one we got when we chose to push God out (and we've pushed Him out of most everything in our culture – like the Nazis did…)

Can God intervene with miracles to counter evil? He can, and has at times, but…
- if God intervened every time there was evil (evil mild or severe), we would no longer be human; we'd become robots , robo-slaves
- imagine: if God zapped us with a divine taser, every time we lied, or hated, or thought something wrong… we might cringe before Him, conform in fear, but it wouldn't be love, and we wouldn't be free to respond to Him

- so although God at times has intervened and done miracles for people (the Bible has such stories, and Christians have experienced more through the centuries), He generally doesn't – He lets us experience the results of our choices
- and they have brought real, horrible consequences into our world, like your Nazi camp illustration.

- but that's not the end of the story – God didn't just abandon us and walk away, like an absentee landlord, letting evil take over.
- and He didn't just exterminate us as a failed experiment; no, He interacted with us (the many stories in the Old Testament show this), and then in Jesus, He Himself stepped into history to share our mess, our troubles

- perhaps this is the best of this whole sad saga of human history: God decided not only to share life with us, He chose to jump into the pool of our suffering and pain; He is an incredible, incredible God for doing this!
- in Jesus, you see God addressing pain and suffering – first, by pushing it back (all his miracles to feed and heal and cast out evil spirits…), and then by voluntarily stepping into the evil of military, religious and government leaders, who captured and tortured and give Him an unjust trial, then killed Him in the most painful way they knew how – God was in Jesus, in the midst of this evil and suffering we all experience.
- on the cross, it is God-in-Jesus looking down on us in love, having been subjected to raw, dark evil; He joins us in our suffering

That's God – that's love I can't get away from (don't want to get away, now!)
- He gave us freedom, but loved us so much, He takes our suffering on Himself thru His Son Jesus, and absorbs it by dying for us, forgiving us, coming alive with a new life, and giving it all to us a sheer gift – that's this incredibly kind God we get to meet in Jesus!

- so God doesn't stop evil (not yet – someday he will!) – to do so by force would be to stop humans from being "human"
- instead, He offers us a choice: stay in the "pool of evil", doing damage to ourselves and others and being twisted by the darkness, or step into his Light, to Jesus, and get a new life, break the cycle and help others too; sadly, many choose to stay in the dark

-again, it doesn't mean Christians won't experience pain – no, Christians suffer too – there were Christians in the Nazi camps. And Jesus suffered too, even before the cross (vicious words against Him, His family rejecting Him, friends abandoning Him).
- what it does mean: God promises to be with us, promises that the evil around us won't conquer us – instead, God will put us in dark places where his Light will shine through us, and we'll turn the evil back
- you can also this with the abolition of slavery, such a monstrous evil – the recent movie Amazing Grace shows how Christians were in the frontlines of stopping slavery
- and I see it in the story of Corrie ten Boom's family, in the book The Hiding Place shows this; she and her dad and sister helped many Jews hide from the Nazis and escape, only to be captured themselves; later, in the death camps, they brought light and hope and God's life to many there amid the horror and suffering
- perhaps I'll give Corrie the last word, for she survived the Nazi death camp: "No matter how deep our darkness, he is deeper still."

That's the God we encounter in Jesus! That's why I'm a Jesus-follower; that's why I've staked my life on this Father-God who sent Him to rescue me. You too – He was sent for you…

Some thought, to a deep, complex question – I certainly haven't answered comprehensively and you may see flaws in my answer I can't see> I'd appreciate your feedback if so.
Again, this isn't God's original, ideal world. It's the one we picked when we said, "Push off, God! We're god, not you." When we have a planet full of self-centred "gods", this is we get: nasty, brutal, "man's inhumanity to man". But God has given us a way out, a way to escape, first with a new life from him, powered by love and not self-centredness/evil; and then, with promise of a new world He'll give us, where evil will be gone, gone, gone!

Thx again for the chance to help you think thru this…
Paul