Tim Speer's Blog - Posts Tagged "love"

Like a lot of women, my wife loves inspirational love stories. You know, those movies us guys call "chick flicks". Not always, but quite often, these movies have a man who ignores either his wife, or his children, or both. We all sit there thinking "what a heel this guy is".

Hopefully we aren't like that. I personally tell my wife I love her, not just every day, but multiple times a day. And I don't just tell her, I try to show her. I try to make her understand that she Is the most important thing on this side of heaven to me. And I have also tried to do the same with my children. Granted, I'm not always perfect, but I do try.

But do we do the same when it comes to Jesus? Sure we say we love Jesus, but do we show that love? Or do we think to ourselves "an hour a week should be enough". And I'll be there (for that game, that recital etc.). But then often, when the time comes, something else comes up. Or we're just too busy, or too tired, or too whatever.

But wait, you say. We do talk to God. We say A prayer every day. And many of us do. We ask him to do this for us (wash the car, take out the trash, iron my shirt etc.), or to help us with that (help me with the dishes, help me with the kids etc.), and just maybe, we say thanks every now and then. And all too often, our prayers come out not like a conversation, but a short text message. If this is all we do, we really aren't any different than the "heel" in that chick flick we just watched.

We are called to love God with all our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul. That's a lot. And if we really love God, we should want to be with him. And not for just an hour a week, but every day, as much as we can. We should want to talk to him as often as possible. And not to just to ask him for things, but to thank him, and maybe even ask him what he would like us to be doing. That, of course, means we should also listen to him. And spending time with Christ should be our number one priority.

In the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks, we are again confronted with the question of why there is evil in the world. Many atheists often use the existence of evil as an argument that there can be no God. They say that if God is omniscient, all caring, and omnipotent; then he should know there is evil, want to stop evil, and be able to stop evil. They say that the existence of evil means that God, if He exists, lacks one or more of these characteristics. And these are characteristics that are almost universally ascribed to God. However, there are some flaws in this type of argument. First, they are blaming God for human failures. The existence of war, crime, terror, hunger, poverty, and all other evils, are the result of human failures, not failures of God. But, they argue, why does God allow such human failures to occur? The answer boils down to love.

I'm sure many of you are now scratching your head because you were sure that I was going to say free will. And ultimately it is. However, free will is the result of love. For you see God is, above all else, love. God created us out of love, and He wants to be loved. But love is not something you can dictate, it has to be freely given or it is not love. So we aren't given free will simply as a gift, to allow us to make our own choices. Rather, we are given free will because the very fact that we were created out of love requires free will.

Free will allows us to love God, and to love those around us. However, it also means we can choose the opposite. We can choose to hate, we can choose evil. So here is another error in the atheist's logic. Free will necessitates the existence of evil. For a person can only choose to love, if he can also choose not to love; if they can also choose hate. One can only choose to do good, if he can also choose to do bad. Otherwise, it's not a choice.

There is another, somewhat similar reason, that evil is necessary. That is that we are able to know of, and identify things only through contrasts. As the old saying goes, if everything was red, there would be no red. We can identify red, only because we also have blue, green, yellow, and all the other colors. We know light, only because we have darkness. We know hot, only because we have cold. And we can know, and choose love, only because there is hate. And with hate, comes evil.

When we blame God for evil, we also presume to know God's full plan. We in essence, pretend that we are omniscient, by saying that the evil can serve no purpose. Yet there may be a purpose that we are not aware of, or perhaps aren't able to understand. The reality is, there may be times when God allows evil because it serves a purpose he has for us. God wants us to come to him, and to love him. And if an evil event brings us to God, then it is serving God's purpose. And that purpose stands higher than, and overcomes the evil that led to it. We cannot know God's full plan and purpose, because God's plan is of heaven. While we are of the earth.

So what about the victims you ask? How can evil bring me to God if that evil just ended my life? This is the biggest fallacy of the atheist's argument. They say this only because, consistent with their lack of faith, they see things in terms of earth, and not of Heaven. Heaven is our ultimate goal. And we get there through death. By dying here on earth, we are born into an eternal life in Heaven. At that point, through the saving Grace of Christ, we have overcome evil. And what about the loved ones we leave behind? In time, they will join us. Yes, they may be sad, they may go through difficulties, and they may go through pain. But, in time, they will join us. And then they too, through Christ's Grace, will have overcome evil. What we go through on earth is temporary, and in the scheme of things, extremely short. Heaven on the other hand, lasts an eternity. This is precisely what Christ is talking about in John 16:33 when he says, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”