Our Fall series, WHY?, will answer some of the questions people have about God, the Bible, and the Christian faith.

Last week Pastor Don led us through great answers to the quesiton, "Why do you believe in God?" It's a question we need to be prepared for!

Today we look at another great question that we also need to be ready to answer, "Why is there suffering and evil?"

C.S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia series, was a staunch atheist when he was young and fighting in World War I. During the war he saw unimaginable suffering and evil.
As an atheist, he couldn't make sense of the suffering and evil he had witnessed and experienced. It was the "why" question of suffering and evil that ultimately brought him to faith in Christ.

The 20th Century stands alone in the advancements of the way of life for mankind. Sliced bread, transportation, medical advances, etc. There were many positive changes for the common person.
But all of these advances only mask the dark reality that throughout the 20th Century, people suffered horribly and evil perpetuated some of the most heinous acts ever recorded. The Holocaust, Democide ("the intentional killing of an unarmed or disarmed person by government agents acting in their authoritative capacity and pursuant to government policy or high command.", war, and pandemics are just a few of those dark times.

No matter what mankind tries to do, we cannot rid ourselves of suffering and evil. Which leads people to ask the question, "Why is there suffering and evil in the world?" If we want to help people, we need to have an answer.
The answer is quite simple actually and is found in Genesis chapters 1-6.

In chapter 1 we see the account of God creating everything out of nothing. If we pick up on day 3 we see a phrase that is repeated throughout the next couple of days, "It was good."
Genesis 1:10, 12, 16-18, 21, 25

We see the phrase one more time at the end of chapter 1.
Genesis 1:31
We see God stepping back and looking at what He's created and acknowledging that He's made something special. We may gloss over the words, "It is good," and think that good really doesn't mean anything too special but we have to keep in mind who is saying it. The idea of "good" is relative.
Because of God's nature and character, we know that it had to be perfect. He had created a perfect world that is perfectly balanced!

So if God created the universe in a perfect state, how did we get to where we are? We see the pivotal moment in the third chapter of Genesis. It's the moment that Adam and Eve make the decision to disobey God's only rule for them. It was very literally a fatal decision and with that decision, suffering and evil entered the world and God's perfect creation is ruined.

We see evil in chapter 4 when Adam & Eve's son, Cain, kills his brother and tries to cover it up. And it doesn't stop here. The evil and suffering keeps increasing.
Genesis 6:5-7 [MSG]
So we've gone from, "And God saw that it was good" to "People thought evil, imagined evil - evil, evil, evil from morning to night."
There was so much evil that God had to do something. He decided that He needed to start again.
From the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed, He set a plan in place to redeem anyone who puts their faith in Him. He needed to press reset on all of creation. So He calls on a man named Noah. God saves Noah and his family from the global flood that God uses to give His creation a fresh start.

God's Response to Suffering and Evil:

1. He shows COMPASSION
Genesis 3:21

2. He shows MERCY
Genesis 4:10-15

3. He works His PLAN
Genesis 3:14-15

How we Should Respond to Suffering and Evil:

1. Be DIFFERENT
Genesis 6:5, 8

2. WORK His plan

3. TRUST His plan

Birthdays and Anniversaries!

Monday, September 19 - Evie Roscoe, Luke Mann
Tuesday, September 20 - Natalie Sheffield
Thursday, September 22 - Benjamin Mater, Nicole Orton