Darth
Vader, Stephen King, and Harry Potter
Since September 11, 2001, probably
the most frequently-asked question and challenge to those of us who attempt
to work in the area of Christian apologetics has concerned how God's existence
can be squared with the tragic realities of life on planet Earth. If the
God of the Bible is a God of love, justice, compassion, peace, and concern
for every human being; then why does He allow war, violence, disease, injustice,
pain, and wanton destruction to happen to the creature supposedly created
in His image? This is an emotionally loaded question, and one that is not
easily answered. We would not be so presumptuous as to offer a simple explanation,
but there are certain points that must be included in any explanation for
any sense to be made of the question, and those we would like to explore.
We would like to begin by suggesting that those who say we should not even
attempt to deal with this issue are simply evading the issue, making God a
scapegoat and a "God of the Gaps" being that thinking people are going to
reject. Just because a question is hard does not mean that it is not worthy
of consideration, and dismissing this issue by saying it "is God's domain
and we should not set foot in it" will not convince someone whose world is
shattered by the things that happen to them and to those they love. Here
are some fundamentals that we would like to suggest must be a part of our
understanding to deal with the realities of life.
Evil is a real and personal force. The origin of evil
can be understood as a consequence of the existence of God. If God exists
and God is good and love, then the absence of good and love must also exist
and we call this evil. If this was the end of the discussion then evil would
be impersonal, but God has created beings other than ourselves who have voluntarily
embraced and chosen evil as their vehicle of existence (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). 
These beings have the conscious ability to use evil to inflict humans (Job 1-2).
This means that evil is not a dualistic force because in and of itself evil
has no power, but beings that are in a higher dimension than are we who have
embraced evil make it personal.
What is interesting to this writer is that science fiction and fantasy
writers have made this point and used it from the beginning of literature.
If Darth Vader is not the epitome of evil, then what is he? Why is it that
people will accept Harry Potter or Stephen King and never bat an eye, and
then when the Bible comes along and says, "yes, evil is real," people want
to go into denial?
There is a war going on! The forces
of evil are not benign. There is a conflict raging that involves real struggle,
and weare a part of it. Ephesians 6:12 makes this so clear: "For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places." The book of Job gives us a "fly on the wall" participation in the
discussion of God and Satan about Job. I would suggest to the reader that
you can take Job's name out of the book of Job and put your name in place
of it. We are all Job! Just as every player in every sci-fi book ever written
had a role to play in the final outcome, so do we!
The purpose of our existence is rooted
in this spiritual warfare. In Ephesians 3:9-11,
the Bible tells us that God had an eternal purpose in His creation of the
Church, and it uses the same words and pictures of Ephesians 6:12
and Job to make the point. The battle that we are a part of will be played
out. God assures us that good will win over evil through the Church--but
obviously many in the world and many spiritual beings do not believe that.
When God allows Satan to kill Job's children or September 11, 2001, to kill
ours--the pain is real and the reality is sure. What we ultimately have to
realize is that our purpose in being does not allow God to stop the consequences
of Satan's actions on the earth. This is hard to do. Job finally did it,
and explained "Lord, before all of this happened to me I had heard of thee
by the ear, but now mine eye sees you." We too must see God by understanding
the power in the spiritual world around us. Pain and suffering cannot be
explained by clever human clichšs or by saying "this is God's will."
God cannot violate His purposes in creating
us, nor can He fail to fulfill His promises. God's ultimate purpose in creating
man is to allow the forces of good to have a total victory over the forces
of evil. I do not pretend to know all there is to know about what that statement
actually means. I do know that even humans will give a trial of an idea or
a concept in a blueprint form before the ultimate product is produced. We
may passionately want our idea or concept to be successful, but more ideas
fail on the blueprint than succeed. We test an idea on a two-dimensional
surface before we try to make it reality in a three-dimensional form. I
would suggest to you that our existence as humans is very much the same.
We exist as three-dimensional beings in a creation that has four dimensions
that affect us directly. We engage the struggle of good and evil in our world,
but that struggle has significance in dimensions far beyond the ones in which
we exist.
God has told us that we will be judged and that there will be an ultimate
total separation between good and evil. The Church and each component of
it--each person--are the prime participants in this struggle. God cannot
prevent the logical consequences of evil without violating the purposes He
had in creating man. He also cannot violate promises of consequences of actions.
When God says "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7) we
have to believe that God will not prevent that from happening. When God says
"It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27)
we cannot expect God to renege on it. One of the reasons we are disappointed
in answers to prayers is that we ask God to act for us in a way that breaks
a promise that He has made to us. Another reason is that we fail to understand
that God's ultimate purposes exceed the importance of whatever we ask.
Life is hard, but God cares. The shortest verse in the
Bible is God's response to the human dilemma of pain. God comes face to
face in human form with how much it hurts to lose what you love. He sees
Mary and Martha ache for the death of their beloved brother, and when Jesus
sees that He bursts into tears. (John 11:1-38).
I have often wondered how Lazarus reacted to being raised from the dead.
My guess is that he was very angry. He had gone through "the valley of the
shadow of death" once, and now he was going to have to do it again. He had
suffered the pain of death the required time, and now he would have to do
it again. He had felt all of the emotions that go with separation from loved
ones, and now he was going to have to do it again. On the other hand, he
may have seen the purpose of man's existence more clearly and may have found
a whole new outlook on life as a result.
Knowing why we lose loved ones and why tragedy happens does not help the
pain. It may make it bearable, and it provides a hope that brings a whole
new meaning to life, but it does not answer all of the questions or take
away all the anxieties. Your author has had a fairly substantial measure
of problems in his life and the pain is still real.
Understanding provides mission. The
most important point involved in our understanding of the struggle between
good and evil is that when we as Christians see our own struggles in the correct
light, they become mission opportunities. What does a person with no belief
in God or in the Christian system do when they have weathered a storm of
life? I would suggest that for the most part there is nothing to do with
it. You try to forget what has happened and find new ways to find pleasure.
When you find pleasure you feel that you have recovered because you have
found what is important to you. Recovery is the name of the game, and being
able to return to the level of pleasure that you had before the problem came
into your life is your objective.
A Christian, on the other hand, will take what has happened in his or her
life and make it a mission to help others. One major uniqueness of the Christian
system is that it calls its converts to a life of serving others. When Jesus
taught this to His disciples, He wrapped a cloth around His waist and washed
their feet in John 13:4-17. In doing this He told them that He was giving
them an example of what they were to do. Christians in the first century
used their experiences to reach out to those who shared their background and
experiences. Paul's background as a Pharisee enabled him to reach out to
those who were Jewish leaders. Timothy's background of having a Greek father
(Acts 16:1, 3) gave him
a unique ability to work with the gentiles.
In our day, there is a critical need for those who have worked their way
through divorce and being single again to be willing to reach out to those
who are going through that heart wrenching and debilitating experience.
Christians who have gone through substance abuse and have worked their way
through it desperately need to be willing to use what they have experienced
to help others dealing with that affliction. Those of us who have had children
born with birth defects need to be willing to share with and help parents
who are just learning that their precious child is facing an uphill struggle
through multiple problems from every direction.
When you have "been there" you can use what has happened to you to make
a difference in other people's lives. Christ provides the strength to do
this, but He will not force it. Like the ancient prophet of old, we as Christians
must be willing to say "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"
(Joshua 24:15).
--John N. Clayton
Back to Contents Does God Exist?, NovDec03.