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  • Ronny Santana - RightIsStillRight.com

Where was God when ..?


If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard this I’d be Daddy Warbucks now. ABC in fact did a one hour documentary on this very question; ..Where was God when ?

When someone asks; Where was God when ..?, what they are really asking is the veiled question; “How come God allows these bad things to happen ?”

A legitimate question indeed, however at the heart of it riddled with irony.

The same people who throw God under the bus when things go awry and want God to “do something” about the world’s injustice and kill the bad guys, are typically the same ones who disregard God when things are well, and don’t want God to be involved in their own lives, or supposedly don’t believe in Him altogether. The irony here is obvious. God is only conveniently brought into the equation in an attempt to bolster a false ideology of a non existent God.

One needs to be careful when blaming a supposedly non existent God for the world’s issues. If the God they’re blaming doesn’t exist, then He’s off the hook, ..keep your pie hole shut. However, if He does exist, then the blamer is on the hook on judgement day.

Which is it going to be ?

Back to the bad guys. When we are playing armchair quarterback regarding the world’s injustices, we are living out the verse from the Bible:

“No one is righteous, not even one”

Here’s the rub on that; we’re bad. Yes we are all the bad guys. I know that’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s a pill that needs to be taken if we are to understand and deal with the age old question as to the why all the bad stuff is happening in the world.

As long as we’re telling God what He should do about evil, we should also remind Him that over 400,000 people are murdered across the world each year. Many of those are by stabbing, burning, drowning, suffocation, bombing, shooting, strangling, poisoning, decapitation, and hammers to the melon. Then there are the “honor” killings of Islam, the Hindu wives who are burned alive with their dead husbands, vicious rapists, drunk drivers who slaughter the innocent, drug pushers, child molesters, and those who kill millions of babies through abortion each year.

So if we want God to kill the bad guys, there’s going to be a whole lot a killin’ going on coming soon to a town near you.

But here’s why we don’t see it that way. Man is blind to his own evil but acutely aware of other’s issues. The Bible addresses this symptom in Proverbs; “All the ways of a man are right in his own eyes ..”

Then the next argument that usually pops out is; “Well, then If God is good why did He create evil ?” Philosopher Peter Kreeft eloquently sums up the apparent absence of God in the face of evil: “The source of evil is not God’s power but mankind’s freedom.” Yes folks, freedom has a price.

“The earth is defiled by its people;

they have disobeyed the laws,

violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore a curse consumes the earth;

its people must bear their guilt.”

Isaiah 24:5-6

Recently when a man was caged and set on fire by Muslim terrorists, an atheist of course asked; “Where was God ?” To answer that question, we will have to look closely at the atheistic worldview. Why do they believe that this was evil, if we are all just random animals that came about by accident and therefore there is no ultimate right or wrong ? This was merely typical of what happens thousands of times each day in the animal kingdom - the stronger of the species survives. An atheist saying something is "wrong" or "evil" is a self-contradicating statement.

When questioning the existence or decision making process of God, one needs to understand the character of God. And in order to understand God’s character one needs to understand why God created us in the first place. For the sake of this article we will touch on the truncated explanation as to the why we’re roaming around on the big blue marble.

Genesis explains straight away in eloquent detail as to the reason God created mankind. God created you and me to have relationship.

In the Garden of Eden, while man still had the new car smell on him, he willingly chose to disobey God and then tried to hide. God then called out to Adam saying; “Where are you?.” Genesis 3:9

God cared about His creation Adam. He had an intimate relationship with him and loved him deeply, hence His calling of him in his time of great distress. This is what people do when in relationship. This is why we were created, ..relationship, what life is all about.

“Where was God when ..?”

He was in the same place that day when you stood on the beach taking in all the wonderful beauty of creation.

He was in the same place when on your wedding day you watched your beautiful spouse to be walk down the aisle to be joined with you.

He was in the same place that evening when you were sitting with your friends enjoying a nice meal and laughter together.

He was in the same place at the miracle of birth that day you took your very first breath.

And he’ll be in the same place when you finally take your very last breath.

After all, ..isn’t that what really matters ?

Hang tight, God will do something about the bad guys. Actually that is His ultimate plan.

He has set aside a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. That day will be a day of eternal justice that is going to be so thorough, the Bible warns it will include all liars, thieves, adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, and every idle word we have spoken.

So be patient. Ultimate justice is coming. That's why we need a Savior.

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