How can God allow this evil?
My son watched the movie Columbiana about a woman assassin who kills 24 cartel members along with a whole bunch of other gunmen which were never counted. The woman is actually seen as a tragic heroine as everyone she ever knew growing up dies.
We then turned on the news about what is happening in Ukraine. I had said that God used Satan in the book of Job so it is not unreasonable that God would use Putin here. It could be just like that movie you just watched, you cheered for the woman because everyone she killed was a killer. My son complained about the human rights abuses, how could God allow this to these innocent civilians. I said they could flee. He said he knows of people who cannot flee, they want to but the way is blocked. Which brings me to my point.
This thread was started December 1st with a news clip of Anthony Blinken warning that Russia was preparing for war. In other words, everyone in Ukraine had 3 months warning. They could have fled, they chose not to.
He then argued that maybe they are not allowed to leave Ukraine without a vaccine passport (I don't know the answer to that). So I pointed out they could have gone to the Western part of Ukraine. There is no war there and once Russia invaded Ukraine they could have easily fled to Poland or some other country at that point.
So then, let's be honest. Everyone was warned and everyone that wants to flee now could have fled then. They chose not to. Perhaps they didn't want to hear the warning, perhaps fleeing would have been inconvenient. But don't blame God for that, the entire world received a 3 month warning.
1Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.
Hi ZNP,
That was good to have that conversation with your son, as he would be trying to work it all out, especially since he would know that God is sovereign. May I suggest further points.
God is not about making people`s lives comfy, happy, safe, successful etc, (all short term) but is interested in our hearts to turn them to Him the true source of life and safety, (eternally). If God ran around stopping all the cruelty of man, the consequences of our sinful, selfish nature, then He would be doing that forever. Instead God knows that we have to face the consequences of mankind`s selfish heart, (misuse of power, corruption, cruelty, pain, sickness, wars etc) and see that God is our ONLY hope.
Nothing like a reality check of pain or war or ....... to shake us to our vulnerable state. Especially in the West we have printed off realms of so called money, like Monopoly currency, that those in third world countries pay with their cheap labour. `D` day is fast approaching for us (in the West) as our present life style gets eroded.
A wake up call, yet challenging as to who we will put our trust in - man`s answer to their problem, (CBDC`s leading to the Mark) or trust in God, pull in the belt and help others. Note going to be very difficult for this `entitled` generation.
Keep up the discussions for your son will need your relationship to help him navigate as our economies fail and the IMF life line is put into gear.
