by Elaine Parrish

Created on: September 09, 2009

If God is so powerful, why does evil exist? This is a question of the ages. It goes hand-in-hand with so many other queries that question why life is not perfect. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why is there death, destruction, and so much suffering? The list is infinite.

The title of Lynn Anderson's country song, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, comes to mind. Even if we had been promised a rose garden, we would have to remember that for all the brilliance and sweet aromas, roses are covered with thorns. Perhaps, a rose garden is exactly what God gave us.

God never promised us a perfect world. His being powerful has nothing to do with it.

God put the world in motion and gave us free will. He wants us to make the right choices and the right decisions. He wants us to learn and grow spiritually. This earth is a learning place and a testing ground for the fulfillment of God's promise of everlasting life. We must learn our lessons well, and, most of the time, the hard way. If it were not for adversity, we would not be challenged. If it were not for evil, we would not see good or strive for good.

God is our spiritual father - the father of our spiritual being. We are God's children. The relationship between God and his children can be glimpsed in the relationship that our earthly bodies have with our earthly mothers and fathers, if our earthly parents are doing a good and proper job.

Consider the role of the earthly parent. You bring a child into this world. The love you feel is without bounds and without description. If you are a good parent, you know that you must teach your child, that your child must learn, and that the journey will be filled with good and bad experiences. You would like to build a room with padded walls and floors, furniture made of plush foam, and filled with nothing but happiness and comfort. You would like put your child in there and lock the door so nothing sad, bad, or hurtful can ever get near that child. You have the power to do that, but you know that will only hurt your child in the long run. You can see for miles into the future and you know that your child needs tools to live a happy life and rules to live a safe life.

So, your child begins to crawl, pull up, and walk. You spend most of your time chasing after him and snatching him up just before he hits the coffee table, or trips over the dog, or runs headlong into the glass door. Then the day comes when he bangs into the

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>