Ezekiel 18:23: Have I any pleasure at all\nthat the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return\nfrom his ways, and live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the death of people like Osama bin Laden, Christians are wondering how they should feel about such an event. Are we to rejoice and celebrate when evil people die or are killed? Does God relish the death of an evil person? Should we feel vindicated? Or does the everlasting life to which they have gone temper our attitude? Instead of rejoicing should the tragedy of a life lived badly and lost to eternity prove a sobering moment? Interestingly, the authors of the Bible seem to have struggled with this issue as well, with different perspectives being presented in different passages. However, upon close examination, there is no contradiction. To determine the Biblical answers, let\u2019s examine two representative passages as we look to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(1) God works through human messengers; <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(2) Even in defeat and despair God’s people need to\naffirm God’s sovereignty; <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(3) God’s Word never fails; <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(4) God is present and can be worshiped anywhere; <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(5) People must obey God if they expect to receive\nblessings; and <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(6) God’s Kingdom will come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can\nyou cope with a world gone astray? Ezekiel, destined to begin his life’s\nministry as a priest at age thirty, was uprooted from his homeland and marched\noff to Babylon\nat the age of twenty-five. For five years he languished in\ndespair. At age thirty a majestic vision of Yahweh’s glory captivated his\nbeing in Babylon. The\npriest\/prophet discovered God was not confined to the narrow strictures of\nEzekiel’s native land. Instead, He is a universal God who commands and\ncontrols persons and nations. The Book\nof Ezekiel calls us to join in a fresh and living encounter with the God of\nAbraham, Moses and the prophets. We must be over-comers or we will be overcome;\nthe difference is in whom we place our trust. \nEzekiel challenged us to experience a life changing vision of God’s\npower, knowledge, eternal presence and holiness; to let God direct us; to\ncomprehend the depth of and commitment to evil that lodges in each human heart;\nto recognize that God holds His servants responsible for warning wicked men of\ntheir peril; to experience a living relationship with Jesus Christ, who said\nthat the new covenant is to be found in His blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A third element for\nour consideration is a proper understanding of God in relation to evil itself. The Bible describes God as holy (Isaiah 6:3),\nrighteous (Psalm 7:11), just (Deuteronomy 32:4), and sovereign (Daniel 4:17-25)\namong other attributes. These attributes tell us that: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(1) God is\ncapable of preventing evil, and <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(2) God desires\nto rid the universe of evil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, if both of\nthese are true, why does God allow evil? If God has the power to prevent evil,\nand desires to prevent evil, why does He permit evil? Perhaps a good way to\nlook at this issue would be to consider some alternative situations for how\npeople might have God run the world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1) God could change everyone\u2019s personality<\/em> so that they cannot sin. This would also mean that we would not have a free will. We would not be able to choose right or wrong because we would be \u201cprogrammed\u201d to only do right. Had God chosen to do this, there would be no meaningful relationships between Him and His creation. Instead of these\nor other options, God has chosen to create a \u201creal\u201d world in which real choices\nhave real consequences. In this real world of ours, our actions affect others.\nBecause of Adam\u2019s choice to sin, the world now lives under the curse, and we\nare all born with a sin nature (Romans 5:12). There will one day come a time\nwhen God will judge the sin in this world and make all things new, but He is purposely \u201cdelaying\u201d in order to\nallow more time for people to repent so that He will not need to judge them (2\nPeter 3:9).<\/em> Until then He IS concerned about evil. When He created the Old\nTestament Laws, He established laws that discourage and punish evil. He judged\nnations and kings who disregard justice and pursue evil. Likewise in the New\nTestament, God states that it is the government\u2019s responsibility to provide\njustice in order to protect the innocent from evil (Romans 13). He also\npromises severe consequences for those who commit evil acts, especially on the\n“innocent” (Mark 9:36-42).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, we\nlive in a real world where our good and evil actions have direct consequences\nand indirect consequences upon us and those around us. God\u2019s desire is that for\nall of our sakes we would obey Him that it might be well with us (Deuteronomy\n5:29). Instead, what happens is that we choose our own way and then we blame\nGod for not doing anything about it (despite the fact that He has in the gift\nof Jesus). Such is the heart of sinful man. But Jesus came to change men\u2019s\nhearts through the power of the Holy Spirit. So He is able to do for those who\nwill turn from evil and call on Jesus to save them from their sin and its\nconsequences (2 Corinthians 5:17). <\/p>\n\n\n\n God does prevent\nand restrain some acts of evil. This world would be MUCH WORSE were not God\nrestraining evil. At the same time, God has given us the ability to choose good\nand evil, and when we choose evil, He allows us, and those around us, to suffer\nthe consequences of evil. Rather than blaming God and questioning God for why\nHe does not prevent all evil – we should be about the business of proclaiming\nthe cure for evil and its consequences – Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion:\nYes,\nwe can rejoice when evil is defeated, even if that includes the death of evil\npeople. At the same time, we are not to rejoice at the eternal condemnation of\nevil people. God does not desire that evil people spend eternity in the lake of\nfire but He will reward evil people according to their works in an everlasting\nsense, and He definitely does not rejoice when they go there. Neither should\nwe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ezekiel 18:23: Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? With the death of people like Osama bin Laden, Christians are wondering how they should feel about such an event. Are we to rejoice and celebrate when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[534],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Instead, God made Adam and Eve innocent<\/em> but with the ability<\/em> to choose good or evil. In doing so, they could respond to His love and trust Him or choose to do their own thing. They chose to do their own thing. Because we live in a real world where we can choose our actions but not their consequences, their sin affected those who came after them (us). Similarly, our decisions to sin have an impact on us, and those around us.
2) Another choice would have God compensating<\/em> for people\u2019s evil actions through supernatural intervention 100% of the time. For instance, if a drunk driver causes an automobile accident, God would have to keep him and the people in the other automobile from being harmed, for there would be many people who could possibly be caused to suffer from the accident or the death \/ injury of those involved in the accident. God would have to keep the drunk driver from crashing into power lines, buildings, etc., because these things would cause innocent people to suffer.
Another instance might involve a lazy person plumbing a house, and he doesn\u2019t bother to check the plumbing for leaks before the house is finished. God would have to make the plumbing not leak because otherwise the home buyers would have to suffer for the lazy person\u2019s sin.
If a father gets addicted to drugs and spends all of his money on drugs, God would somehow have to miraculously provide both the food and the social needs of the children so that they would not have to be adversely affected by the evil of the parent.
In such a world, God would be like a bad parent who enables a wayward child\u2019s destructive behavior. There would be no consequences for one\u2019s actions, and as a result no one would learn integrity, purity, honor, responsibility, or self-control.<\/em> There would be no \u201cgood consequences\u201d for right behavior, no \u201cbad consequences\u201d for wrong behavior. What would people become except more deviant and sinful?
3) Another choice would be for God to judge and remove<\/em> those who choose to commit evil acts. The problem with this possibility is that there would be no one left, for God would have to remove us all. We all sin and commit evil acts (Romans 3:23; Ecclesiastes 7:20; 1 John 1:8). While some people are more evil than others, where would God draw the line? Ultimately, all evil causes harm to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n