Perspectives on Suffering & Evil: Rebellion Against Creation                              2009.07.26        Pastor Richard Yu

 (Genesis 1:31-2:2; 2:15-17; 3:1-19) 

Suffering can be a sort of theoretical proposition for intellectual argument. Questions such as: In the face of all the suffering and evil in the world, how can God be at once all powerful and good? Why did He allow the evil to enter our world in the first place? Where was He on 9/11?  Why didn’t he just put an end to pain and suffering?

Most of us wouldn’t think about this question seriously at all until something bad happens to us. We may even think that we’ve got it nicely boxed and have all the correct answers, until we’re Bible will discover that it is quite open and honest concerning these sorts of questions.

There are at least six perspectives that are clearly taught in the Bible, that together they could give us a platform broad enough that would enable us to think about these questions in a biblically robust and faithful way. They are the perspectives of rebellion against God’s creation, of God’s end goal, of God’s discipline, of God’s providence, of God’s wisdom, and of the Cross. All six need to be looked at collectively when considering the questions of suffering and evil.

As we begin to look at these perspectives, you need to know that these messages are not designed for those who are in the midst of suffering – especially if they are going through the worst moments. If you’re right in the midst of some sort of suffering, most likely you are already so upset and angry and are deeply hurt emotionally that it is very difficult to listen. When people are going through the worst moment of their pain and suffering often they don’t want any theology and can’t hear it. Quoting Bible verses at them is like throwing salt over their wounds. Perhaps what they need at that moment is just a shoulder to cry on, the help with baby-sitting, and perhaps relief of physical needs, like food, water, blanket . . . etc.

On the other hand, these messages are intended to prepare you against future pain and suffering. If you get these perspectives truly built-in in your mind and outlook in life before you get there, then you will have a much better chance of having a stable frame of reference when you do face the difficult situation. Today, we’ll consider the first perspective that helps form a Christian worldview that would enable you to think about suffering and evil in a biblically faithful and fruitful way.

We start at the very beginning – the account of God’s Creation and the Fall. Here, the Bible simply declares that God created all things; and He had made everything good! In Genesis one, we see again and again that God made something and He saw that it was good; then He made something else and He saw that it was good. And when He comes to the end of the creation, verse 31 says that God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And thus the heavens and the earth were complete in all their vast array.

But soon we realize that the good creation became bad. As the result of Adam and Eve’s sin, we see: all the wild animals and all the livestock were cursed; the pain of childbearing is greatly increased for he woman; the ground is cursed so that the man will have to toil painfully in order to produce food from it; death came into the world, and in the next chapter we see the first murder; then endless cycles of death. After the world was judged by the flood, God in His mercy allows Noah and his sons to begin again. But pretty soon the human race is corrupted again with the Tower of Babel account. And finally God decides to begin a new humanity with the calling of Abraham. . . But what do we see happening with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants? . . . endless cycles of deception, injustice, violence, evil and suffering. But from God’s creation perspective this is not the way it was supposed to be. All this corruption is the implication and consequence of the rebellion.

And this rebellion against God’s created order is the third thing we see in these texts which tells us why the good creation turned to bad. As the result of the rebellion, the first human being became like God, knowing good and evil. However, “knowing good and evil” has the connotation of knowing something by experience. God knows the difference between good and evil because He is omniscient – He is all-knowing. Man comes to know good and evil by experiencing, participating in evil.

Moreover, “knowing good and evil” suggests the idea of establishing good and evil. We have seen that it was God’s prerogative and place in declaring what good is. But now man wants to make his own list of what’s good and evil. Therefore the rebellion is not just an act to break a law. It is the beginning of all idolatry; it is to stand in God’s place. It is to be where God is and decide what good and evil is for ourselves.

And the rest of the Bible ties all of human evil and suffering first and foremost to this beginning of rebellion, to this initial idolatry.  At the deepest level of all the discussion of evil and suffering in the Bible, is that we don’t acknowledge God, we turn our back on Him, and we want to run our own universe.

So, the first perspective on suffering and evil is this: Human suffering is the result of the rebellion of Adam and Eve; and it is humanity’s deserved punishment for their rebellion and its continued reenactment in every life since then. But while we recognize that human rebellion against God’s created order is the first principle of evil and human suffering, God’s grace is greater, and it takes God’s grace to overcome our pain and sorrow in the face of evil and suffering.