This Que. & Ans. I received from Nigeria Religious Society, Worth reading it.
Answer : Every kind, gentle hearted person is moved by and would want to help alleviate the suffering, miseries of others. Naturally, when such see so much suffering as a part of our daily lives, all over the world, many kind hearted people would ask, “Is there a God in control? How can He allow such atrocities to happen in the material world?” Faced with never ending miseries some people conclude that
(i) If there is a God up there, then He is a cruel God or
(ii) There is no God, as there seems to be no one caring for the sufferings of the people or answering their prayers of relief.
(ii) There is no God, as there seems to be no one caring for the sufferings of the people or answering their prayers of relief.
Both these conclusions are wrong. There is a Supreme Creator and Controller of the universe and He is all-good.
People sometimes wonder, “If everything was created by God and there is so much evil in this world, then did God created evil?”
Yes, God created everything. He is the Supreme Creator.
Eg. God can be compared to the sun. Just like the sun is full of light, God is also full of pure goodness.
Does the sun create the shadows? When we face the sun, we see only light and brightness. When we face away from the sun we see darkness and our shadows. Thus, the sun is the ultimate or the remote cause of the shadow. The immediate cause is the person who is standing in the way and is facing away from the sun. Darkness cannot exist in the sun. Only when we face away from the sun we see darkness.
We can understand the principle of God and evil in the same manner.
Does God create evil? When we face God, we only see pure goodness and love. When we face away from God then we see evil and suffering. Thus God is the ultimate or the remote cause of evil. The immediate cause of evil are the people who face away from God and create evil, just like the people who face away from the sun create shadows.
Does God create evil? When we face God, we only see pure goodness and love. When we face away from God then we see evil and suffering. Thus God is the ultimate or the remote cause of evil. The immediate cause of evil are the people who face away from God and create evil, just like the people who face away from the sun create shadows.
Evil does not exist in God, just like darkness does not exist in the sun. It is wrong to think that God is bad or evil and therefore, He creates evil miseries in this world. God is always good and He always wishes us well. When we choose to face away from His grace, then we invite the evil of dark miseries in this world and in our life. Therefore, every sane man, woman and child must use all their human energies and resources to reconnect back with God to create a permanent solution to all problems in life.
STORY: AN ATHEIST CHALLENGES GOD TO APPEAR.There was once an atheist who went to a small town to “save the believers” from having blind faith in the existence of God. He went to the centre of the town, climbed on the main-square and announced, “My dear villagers, at 6pm to day, I am going to challenge God to appear today. Let us see whether God appears before us to prove His existence, otherwise we shall all give up our blind faith in this so-called Supernatural entity called God.”
The news quickly spread all over the town and at 6pm there was a huge gathering at the town square to see how God would respond to the challenge of this atheist. Sharp on time, the atheist started his discourse. Raving and ranting at the top of his voice, he was preaching how there is so much superstition in society and how science has made so much advancement, so everyone should give up the backward and aboriginal ideas about the existence of God.
After a few minutes, he stopped and then shouted his challenge, “Today, in front of all the towns folk, I openly challenge God to show Himself to us, if He exists. I will count from 10 to 0 and if He exists then let Him come personally and strike me down with a thunderbolt!” Gathering more energy, he shouted at greater decibels, “Today I will give up my life at the hands of God, or I will prove that belief in God is simply a superstition of the aboriginals!”
There was pin drop silence in the audience. Knowing that he had captured the attention of the people, the atheist slowly started counting from 10… 9… 8… 7… Then he looked up towards the sky for an indication to see if anyone was coming. Again with great dramatic pathos he slowly started counting 6… 5… 4… 3… Again he looked up into the sky and shouted his challenge, “If there is a God up there, or anywhere, I challenge you to appear, otherwise your bluff will be exposed and we will know that you don’t exist!”
As he started his countdown again, the townsfolk waited with baited breath to see what will happen. The atheist became even more slow, 2…. 1…. and finally 0! What happened? Nothing. The atheist was overjoyed. Thumping his hand on his fist, he proclaimed, “See, I told you. There is no God. If there were a God, He would have heard my challenge and come to strike me down with His thunderbolt. It is all simply superstition. We must all collectively clean ourselves from this misconception.”
At that time, an elderly pious gentleman came up to the atheist and spoke to him. He said, “My dear child, you should learn to see this situation in the correct perspective. Are you thinking that because God failed to come and strike you down, therefore, he doesn’t exist? Please tell me, which loving father will come with a weapon to strike down his rebellious child, simply to prove that he exists? The very fact that God did not beat you, proves that there above is a eternally loving and forgiving Father!”
Thus, when people rebel against God, they become implicated in impious lives, evil and misdirected civilization full of suffering. God, like a merciful parent is always trying to bring the lost souls back to His loving fold and offer them complete protection from real problems of life. It is said when we take one step towards God, He takes ten steps towards us. The question is when are we taking our baby steps toward Him?
The news quickly spread all over the town and at 6pm there was a huge gathering at the town square to see how God would respond to the challenge of this atheist. Sharp on time, the atheist started his discourse. Raving and ranting at the top of his voice, he was preaching how there is so much superstition in society and how science has made so much advancement, so everyone should give up the backward and aboriginal ideas about the existence of God.
After a few minutes, he stopped and then shouted his challenge, “Today, in front of all the towns folk, I openly challenge God to show Himself to us, if He exists. I will count from 10 to 0 and if He exists then let Him come personally and strike me down with a thunderbolt!” Gathering more energy, he shouted at greater decibels, “Today I will give up my life at the hands of God, or I will prove that belief in God is simply a superstition of the aboriginals!”
There was pin drop silence in the audience. Knowing that he had captured the attention of the people, the atheist slowly started counting from 10… 9… 8… 7… Then he looked up towards the sky for an indication to see if anyone was coming. Again with great dramatic pathos he slowly started counting 6… 5… 4… 3… Again he looked up into the sky and shouted his challenge, “If there is a God up there, or anywhere, I challenge you to appear, otherwise your bluff will be exposed and we will know that you don’t exist!”
As he started his countdown again, the townsfolk waited with baited breath to see what will happen. The atheist became even more slow, 2…. 1…. and finally 0! What happened? Nothing. The atheist was overjoyed. Thumping his hand on his fist, he proclaimed, “See, I told you. There is no God. If there were a God, He would have heard my challenge and come to strike me down with His thunderbolt. It is all simply superstition. We must all collectively clean ourselves from this misconception.”
At that time, an elderly pious gentleman came up to the atheist and spoke to him. He said, “My dear child, you should learn to see this situation in the correct perspective. Are you thinking that because God failed to come and strike you down, therefore, he doesn’t exist? Please tell me, which loving father will come with a weapon to strike down his rebellious child, simply to prove that he exists? The very fact that God did not beat you, proves that there above is a eternally loving and forgiving Father!”
Thus, when people rebel against God, they become implicated in impious lives, evil and misdirected civilization full of suffering. God, like a merciful parent is always trying to bring the lost souls back to His loving fold and offer them complete protection from real problems of life. It is said when we take one step towards God, He takes ten steps towards us. The question is when are we taking our baby steps toward Him?
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