The truth is that we Spirit-indwelt Christians serve an inscrutably fearful God. (This is one of the reasons we properly are said to fear Him.) We simply have to accept the fact that we cannot understand or comprehend why some of His faithful children die (even violently) at a young age (for instance); and why some of His (God’s) most notorious foes live to old age (for instance). This does not make our God completely unpredictable; but it does hold us in a humble and dependent frame–(which is good for us).  

When horrible and horrendous things happen in the world–especially to people who have the evidence of being God’s true churched children, indwelt by the blessed Holy Spirit Himself–we almost (by default) ask, “Why?”

In this Treatise I would like to address this issue a little bit. . . . First of all, asking “Why?” is not a bad thing; and we know that the Psalmists (for example) were candid in their queries (as in Ps. 2:1: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” [ESV]).

The problem we Christian believers can run into, is not in asking, “Why?”; but in our proposed answers to the question.  Therefore, I would like to explore some of the more common ones, critique them; and then offer some gracious Biblical, gospel-saturated alternatives, and perspectives by which we may live comfortably in Jesus, even in a dangerous fallen world. . . .

Sometimes God’s people say (or think): “This evil event cannot be God’s will.”  This is an understandable statement; and it is both true and false.  It is true, in that all sin is counter to God’s revealed (or prescriptive) will; but it is false, in that it may fail to recognize that everything that happens in the world is per God’s decretive (or secret) will.  (We need to be sensitive and pastoral when we teach people these things.)

Another response may be: “God had nothing to do with these evil events.”  And, of course, it is true that God has no hand in wickedness whatsoever–as it is literally impossible for God to sin (in any way).  But, if we mean by this statement, “What happened was outside of God’s control or sovereignty; and that the evil was propagated by a force that God could not (and did not) control”–then, we have fallen into a serious theological mistake, that goes by the name of Dualism: the idea that God and Satan have equal power; and they are fighting it out.

As an ancillary to this response (above), it is true that the devil, his demons, and wicked human agents are indeed responsible for the evil actions–but this fact does not negate the reality that God superintends everything that happens in the universe of His creation.

Yet another possible response would be, “God would have liked to prevent this evil action; but He was not strong enough to do so.”  This view, of course, is sub-Christian; and the name we give this heresy is “Finite godism.” 

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