A VITAL ISSUE IS RAISED

To find out why God allows suffering, we need to think back to the time when suffering began. When Satan led Adam and Eve into disobeying Jehovah, and important question was raised.  Satan did not call into question Jehovah's power. Rather, Satan questioned Jehovah's right to rule.  By calling God a liar who withholds good from his subjects, Satan charged that Jehovah is a bad ruler.  (Genesis 3:2-5)  Satan implied that mankind  would be better off without God's rulership.  (Well we all know how that turned out; not very well without God. Man gets corrupt too easily and couldn't run squat right)   This was an attack on Jehovah's sovereignty, his right to rule. 

Adam and Eve rebelled against Jehovah. In effect, they said: "We do not need Jehovah as our Ruler. We can decide for ourselves  what is right and what is wrong." How could Jehovah settle that issue? How could he teach  all intelligent creatures that the rebels were wrong and that his way truly is best?  Someone might say that God should simply have destroyed the rebels and make a fresh start.  But Jehovah had stated his purpose to fill the earth with the offspring of Adam and Eve, and he wanted them to live in an earthly paradise.  (Genesis 1:28)  Jehovah always fulfills his purposes.  (Isaiah 55:10, 11)  Besides that, getting rid of the rebels in Eden would not have answered  the question that had been raised regarding Jehovah's right to rule.

Let us consider an illustration. Imagine that a teacher is telling his students how to solve a difficult problem.  A clever but rebellious student claims that the teacher's way of solving the problem is wrong. Implying that the teacher is not capable, this rebel insists that he knows a much better way to solve the problem.  Some students thin that he is right, and they also become rebellions.   What should the teacher do?  (This is not a correct example, it is a lot different than ruling a world and should not be compared)  If he throws the rebels out of the class, what will be the effect on the other students?  Will they not believe  that their fellow student and those who joined him are right?  All the other students in the class might lose respect for the teacher, thinking that  he is afraid of being proved wrong.  But suppose that the teacher allows the rebel to show the class how he would solve  the problem.

Jehovah has done something similar to what the teacher  does. Remember that the rebels in Eden were not the only ones involved.   Millions of angels were watching.  (Job 38:7; Daniel 7:10)  How Jehovah handled the rebellion would greatly affect all those angels and eventually all intelligent creation.  So, what has Jehovah done? He has allowed Satan to show how he would rule mankind.  God has allowed humans to govern themselves under Satan's guidance.   (And man, sinful, imperfect man thinks they know it all, well he full of crap and so wrong ) 

The teacher in our illustration knows that a rebel and the students on his side are wrong.  But he also knows that allowing them    the opportunity to try to prove their point will benefit   the whole class. When the rebels  fail, all honest students will see that the teacher is the only one qualified to lead the class.  They will understand why the teacher  thereafter removes any rebels  from the  class.   Similarly,   Jehovah knows that all honesthearted humans and angels will benefit from seeing  that Satan and his fellow rebels have failed and that humans cannot govern themselves. Like Jeremiah of old, they will learn this vital truth:  "I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong.  It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step." -Jeremiah 0:23.

Next time: WHY SO LONG?

From the Book: What Does the Bible Really Teach? 2005 and 2006