God, evil and all of us

Theodicy means - a vindication of the goodness and the ways of God in the light of the existence of evil.

We read all over the internet about the evil done to the people in Las Vegas. It’s painful and heartbreaking! And our prayers are to God for the survivors and the families of those who died. It’s tragic.

But I’m afraid that on one hand, we’re getting more and more used to the violence, because of the movies we watch and the music we listen to, both glorifying evil.

And on the other hand, we’re surprised at the evil that’s coming out of human hearts.

But why are we so surprised at the evil some people commit? Is it because we don’t know our own sinful hearts?

This is what Jesus said in Mark 7:20-23, “He [Jesus] went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.””

So what is the vindication of a good God in the light of the evil that we are witnessing? It is the holy and good nature of God, and the reality of the sinful and evil nature of humanity, spoken of in the Holy Bible.

But you may say, “I would never do such evil!’

Notice that Jesus said evil starts in our hearts, at the core of our being. But evil in us never bypasses our minds. We first think about it and then we do it if we think we’ll somehow benefit by it.

But also notice that the word evil covers a multitude of sins, not just murder. It includes evils such as “greed, malice, lewdness, envy”, things that on the surface no one can see at first. But evil in our hearts grows and multiplies, like weeds.

It is because we don’t want to see how good and holy and loving God is toward us that we are not able to see how bad we are and how much we need the salvation that is offered to us in God’s Son Jesus Christ.

Our justification cannot be in the fact that we haven’t done the evil others have done, or that we had only evil thoughts and not evil actions. According to Jesus’ words, God looks on the heart, because it’s out of the heart that evil or good comes.

God expects and accepts only perfect righteousness. And none of us have it.

But because God doesn’t want to pour out his wrath on our ungodliness and unrighteousness, he loved us by giving his one and only Son Jesus Christ to come from heaven and live as a human and obey his Father perfectly even to death on the cross for our sins. And now God credits the perfect obedience of Jesus to those who put their faith in him, freely by grace.

Jesus pleased the Father God perfectly in his thoughts, feelings, intentions, actions, in loving good and hating evil. He never sinned as a man. And he offers his forgiveness and his righteousness to us, to be had through faith in him. And in this way, we may escape the wrath and just judgment of God that is coming on the ungodly and unrighteous world. It is because of God's great love and goodness that he offers this great salvation to all of us sinners in need of saving.

My friend, run to him for “life”, and escape into his loving and forgiving arms, while you can. Jesus welcomes all sinners, good and bad.