I’m sharing a reply to a question I was asked by an unbeliever that is attempting understand why people believe in a God and in particular the Judeo-Christian God of the bible. Here is the question:

If you believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful God, that means that he knows about every bad thing that happens on Earth, and chooses whether or not to intervene, or he simply caused the bad thing in the first place, right? Following the logic of that statement, he either sends child rapists out to rape children, or he sees that it’s going to happen, but chooses not to intervene, and will punish the rapists with hell if they don’t repent. Right?

So my question is:
How do you reconcile faith in a God who either a) sends people out to rape children or b) knows that children are about to be raped, and doesn’t stop it? (I used this analogy because it was one of the most horrific things I could think of.)

Here is my answer:

That’s a very valid question and I have an answer that I hope will settle this in your heart but it is rather lengthy and I will have to respond in full later this evening.

For the moment let me say that God is good and all good things come from him. He does not send bad people out to do bad things and then punish them for what they did. The lengthy part of the answers is how I reconcile faith in a God that knows all things but doesn’t stop them. It will take a while to develop the foundation of how God established authority on the earth. If I can explain that well enough I think you’ll understand why he doesn’t always intervene.

(This is the continuation of my answer that followed later that evening)

I’ll try to explain this as simply and in the shortest way I can.

Please remember, this is about the authority structure God established from the beginning and the reason he doesn’t interfere in things that humans do to other humans. Most christians don’t understand this, even a lot of pastors don’t understand this and therefore have no clue how to answer when asked the question you asked me.

When God created man (male and female) and placed them in a garden and gave them instructions.

Genesis 1:26-28 (NLT)
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

You find that God told them to fill the earth and rule over it. Depending on the translation you are reading you get words like have dominion, rule, reign, subdue, all contain the meaning of having authority over the earth and everything in it. He gave total control in all things terrestrial to man. What most people don’t understand is that he purposely gave man first place in the earth which meant God put man’s authority first, even above his own, when it came to the affairs of the earth. Some Christians would be gathering stones about now but it is the truth. If something happened on the earth it went through man first, still does.

Here’s another example in scripture:

Psalms 8:3-6 (NLT)
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority.

If you study the bible stories you will find that every time God decided to do something in the earth he found a man to agree with him. The first example is Noah, God came to him and told him what he was going to do and Noah agreed with him and then obeyed him. Here is an interesting little verse.

Hebrews 11:7 (NLT)
It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

Notice it says that because he built the ark it condemned the rest of the world. God needed Noah’s cooperation to operate in the earth. You will find that every time God did something that involved man he found someone who would agree with him. In a sense God needed man’s permission. Ok, now they’re throwing the rocks!

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden is wasn’t just that sin entered the world but they gave permission for Satan to have authority in the earth. Now he could legally be a player in the system and sway men to do evil but because God plays by the rules he established to begin with there wasn’t much he could do about it. You see, God doesn’t change, once something is established he abides by his own rules and doesn’t change them.

This left God with only one alternative, to become a human himself so that he could have first place authority without having to ask somebody, (I think I just heard a rock whizz by) of coarse that is where Jesus comes in. We have to realize that although Jesus was fully God and fully man, while he was on the earth, he only operated in the authority that belongs to man. I won’t go into the Jesus stuff because that’s not part of your question.

The short answer is, God doesn’t intervene until we ask him to, until he finds men and women who are brave enough to stand up to evil and invite him into the situation. To do anything else would be to break his own rules. So, don’t blame God or say he doesn’t exist just because there is evil in the world, its not his fault, its ours!

End of answer.

Please understand that I know God is sovereign, we answer to Him for everything we do and He is intimately involved in the affairs of mankind. I also understand that He has a plan and it has already been determined what the outcome will be but also realize that mankind is the center of it all and God will accomplish his plans through mankind. Many things that God gets blamed for are a result of our disobedience or a lack of exercising the authority given to man by God. We are not pawns or puppets that God dangles on a string, for real change to come to the earth it is up to us to come into agreement with Him and start to take responsibility for what is taking place around us!

Blessings,
Jeff