There have been many different threads which have asked this question about Corona virus. Many of the posters assert that God is the creator of all things (agreed) that He is omnipotent and omniscient (agreed) and that given these criteria coronavirus could not have taken place without His allowing it (agreed). He foresaw it would happen (omniscient), He created it (creator of all things) and He had the power to prevent it (omnipotent). I agree with all of this.
Others, also quoting scriptures point out that God is love (agreed), He is a merciful and good God (agreed), in Him is no darkness (agreed), His thoughts for us are good and not evil (agreed). How do you reconcile these two?
This is commonly known as the problem of evil and is a logical argument used by atheists to deny that God exists. Their argument is that the definition of God is that He is the creator of all things (agreed). Evil exists (agreed). Therefore God created evil (disagree and will explain). There are many ways that Christians try to squirm out of this and they are not scriptural. They make Satan (Lucifer was also created by God) into some kind of powerful being who has the ability to create evil and sin even though he is a created being by God (this does not change the fact that if evil exists, it was part of the creation that God created). For example the Bible says God cannot lie. How then could he create a universe in which there are lies and liars?
Therefore I wanted to open this thread up to Christians so that we could examine the scriptures and understand "How could God allow this to happen?"
Thank you for expressing this puzzle.
I would offer the following points in response, along with God's ultimate purpose.
Firstly, God promises that all people, but especially directed to Christians, that they will endure suffering in this world, which is the test of their faith, and also the refining of faith. Evil serves a purpose in the present age.
Secondly, God did not promise Paradise now, but in the future Kingdom, where all those who remained faithful on this earth will be resurrected in glorified bodies, like that of Lord Jesus, to be with God forever. In that place there will be no sin, evil, or suffering.
Now... Regarding God's Plan for evil and for Salvation (John 3:14-21), an important consideration a Holy and Righteous God (
who is all powerful and all knowing) made when He created the world, and giving mankind free choice, was that such sinful acts would would happen.
God foresaw the sinfulness of mankind on the earth and was greatly grieved within His Holy nature. Therefore, such a decision that God made to create man was a very serious undertaking. This is all explained in Scripture, which is also why God originally killed most of mankind in the flood.
Even though God is grieved by sin and cannot dwell with sin, God continued with His plan with mankind anyway.
Why? God's greater desire for a loving relationship with His creation over-ruled His abhorrence for evil, sin and death.
In God's plan of salvation, God foreknew those through time who would, by faith, walk with God in love, and so access His grace. Such a relationship with his creation is precious to God, because God loves us so much - more than we could ever imagine. So, God continued with His Plan even though God is holy and abhors sin and all the harm it causes.
Can God be glorified out of a world of sinfulness?
Yes, but only as a redeemer and savior – who himself, the Sovereign God, voluntarily came down from heaven and humbled himself as a human servant (Philippians 2:5-11).
Why?
- To reveal the Gospel Faith that God accepts and by which those who believe are to follow,
- To take the penalty of sin that Adam and Eve, and all people, are responsible for.
- To indwell those who follow Christ by faith with His Spirit to lead them into a new life as they walk by the Spirit of Christ.
God took the penalty for all this sin upon himself being crucified for us to satisfy His justice, so God could show His Love and Mercy for all those who genuinely humbly cry out to him for salvation from their slavery to sin and death.
For God to make such a sacrifice shows us the depths of God’s immeasurable love for us. To those God foreknew would repent and believe, He predestined to be included in His plan of salvation.
Would a Sovereign God need to lay aside His glory to suffer crucifixion, dying in our place - for our sins - if that was not required to fulfill God's righteousness in condemning sin that we ourselves are guilty for?
Could anyone else have been able to mediate on mankind's behalf? No. No one else was worthy, so God had to do this himself...
Isaiah 59:16-17 (NIV)
16 He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head...
Would a Sovereign God need to humble himself as a man and be tortured and killed in our place if He could have saved us any other way? God, even though Sovereign and all powerful, is limited by His own glory – His righteous and holy nature. For God does not change.
God’s Love and Mercy can never replace God’s Righteousness in condemning sin.
Only by sacrificing Himself for us could God’s righteousness be satisfied, so that God could now righteously reveal His mercy and love toward us. God has put His Word above all His name – Psalms 138:2
Thankfully, God is not glorified by forming and decreeing mankind and all their sinful acts so he can take pleasure and glory in eternally tormenting them in the lake of fire as many reformed thinkers believe to their dying breath.
Thankfully, the Bible teaches no mysterious means by which God shows favoritism and partiality by electing to create and irresistibly give faith to some to believe and be saved while forming all others for the Lake of Fire, as if mankind were God's chess pieces in a game of arbitrary love and judgment for actions that God alone would be responsible for by His own "sovereignty." Rather, God is LOVE.
God did not form any man for the Lake of Fire (
2 Peter 2:4–9). Even so, they enter the Lake of Fire because they, personally, rejected God’s grace. That is what the Scriptures actually teach.
The Scriptures teach that there is no injustice or partiality in God. How then could God mysteriously select some for salvation, and reject the rest without any chance to be saved? That cannot be possible. Thankfully, the Holy Scriptures reveal the truth if you can accept what the Word actually desires for you to know in context.
God is righteous in judging everyone for their own sins, and saving those who believe. For this to happen, God’s Sovereignty must allow for mankind to be responsible for rejecting or accepting His gracious gift of salvation according to the Gospel Covenant. That is what we find illustrated and taught throughout the entire body of Holy Scripture, ex. ‘The Potter and the Clay.’
The Potter and the Clay
This draws us to the Potter and the Clay – God (the Potter) forms the clay info a vessel of honor if they repent, and dishonor if they reject God’s grace.
How the clay responds in God’s hands determines what God intends for the vessel he forms (
Jeremiah 18:2-11). See also
2 Timothy 2:19-21;
Ezekiel 33:11-12.
God does not form people to be evil and forms others for salvation; rather, Scripture reveals a God who forms people for a purpose of honor or dishonor or, for condemnation or salvation, according to teach person’s own response to His grace and will – how they respond to His grace - just as the Scriptures teach.
James 1:12-16 (WEB) 12 Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. 15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.
In like manner,
If God has to miraculously harden the hearts of God’s Elect People in punishment
so they cannot believe and be healed
(
Romans 11:7-10, John 12:37-40, Isaiah 6:10; Isaiah 53:1)
– even though using their sinfulness to bring Gentiles to Christ
(
Romans 11:11-12; Romans 11:25-32)
– that means that, rather than
enabling a select number to believe by regeneration, God instead had to harden the hearts of His Elect People because of their continued obstinate resistance to His Spirit and Grace so they could not turn to God in faith and be saved.
Please review the Scriptures given above and see if this is correct.
If Christ was diligent to fulfill prophecy by hiding the Gospel, and who he was, from the Jews in riddles and parables (
Matthew 13:10-13; John 8:19-25)
in judgment for their callous hearts toward God and His grace (
Mark 4:10-12, John 12:37-40), that means they could have been saved if Lord Jesus had fully explained it to them as He did to His Disciples. No special enabling.
Once Christ’s earthly mission was complete, the secrecy of His mission was over. Now Lord Jesus commanded His disciples to
boldly and openly proclaim His identity, and the fullness of the Gospel, to every creature (
Matthew 10:27; Colossians 1:23) that
was deliberately hidden during His ministry. Now everyone in the world may have an opportunity to here the Gospel in all its fullness and be saved.
Faith comes by hearing the Gospel:
Romans 10:17
Many will resist the Word and Spirit, but those who do not resist are the humble - those who humble themselves will be drawn to Christ by the Gospel and the Spirit.
Even so, God still hardens those who keep resisting His Spirit. Many Jews in Elect Israel are still being hardened because of their continued rejection of God’s grace, until the full number of Gentiles are saved (
Romans 11:25).
After reading the Scriptures in context, we understand that people, by their own choice, will either resist the Spirit (the proud), while others will listen to the Spirit (the humble), and still others God will miraculously harden so they cannot believe in judgment for rejecting His grace, or for disowning Christ after having received Him. Still others could have been saved if someone would have just shared the Gospel with them.
All that was described is clearly taught in Scripture. There is no Scripture teaching that God irresistibly enables some to believe by regeneration and forms others to be eternally punished.
Regeneration is only by the Spirit living in you, and you only receive the Spirit by an obedient Faith according to the Scriptures.
SEE:
Acts 5:32; John 14:15-17; John 14:21; John 14:23, Acts 2:38.
Blessings
