Part 6

Why God Has Permitted Suffering

1, 2. How did our first parents spoil the fine start God gave them?

WHAT went wrong? What took place that spoiled the fine start God gave our first parents in the Paradise of Eden? Why, instead of the peace and harmony of Paradise, have wickedness and suffering prevailed for thousands of years?

² The reason is that Adam and Eve misused their free will. They lost sight of the fact that they were not created to prosper apart from God and his laws. They decided to become independent of God, thinking that this would improve their lives. So they stepped outside the God-ordained limits of free will.—Genesis, chapter 3.

The Issue of Universal Sovereignty

3-5. Why did not God just destroy Adam and Eve and start over?

³ Why did God not just destroy Adam and Eve and start over with another human pair? Because his universal sovereignty, that is, his inalienable right to rule, had been challenged.

⁴ The question was: Who has the right to rule, and whose rule is right? His being almighty and the Creator of all creatures gives God the right to rule over them. Since he is all-wise, his rule is best for all creatures. But God’s rule had now been challenged. Also, was there something wrong with his creation—man? We will later examine how the question of human integrity is involved.

⁵ By man’s becoming independent of God, another question was implied: Could humans do better if not ruled by God? The Creator certainly knew the answer, but a sure way for humans to find out was to allow them the total freedom they wanted. They chose that course of their own free will, so God permitted it.

6, 7. Why has God allowed humans total freedom for so long?

⁶ By allowing humans enough time to experiment with total freedom, God would establish for all time whether humans are better off under God’s rule or on their own. And the time permitted would have to be long enough to allow humans to come to what they considered the peak of their political, industrial, scientific, and medical achievements.

⁷ Therefore, God has allowed man a free rein clear down to our day to show beyond any doubt whether human rule independent of him can succeed. Thus man has been able to choose between kindness and cruelty, between love and hate, between righteousness and unrighteousness. But he has also been confronted with the consequences of his choice: goodness and peace or wickedness and suffering.

Part 7

What Has Been the Result of Rebellion?

1-3. How has time proved Jehovah to be correct?

REGARDING the issue of God’s right to rule, what has been the result of all these centuries of human rule independent of God? Have humans proved to be better rulers than God? If we judge by the record of man’s inhumanity to man, surely not.

² When our first parents rejected God’s rule, disaster followed. They brought suffering upon themselves and all the human family that came from them. And they had nobody to blame but themselves. God’s Word says: “They have acted ruinously on their own part; they are not his children, the defect is their own.”—Deuteronomy 32:5.

³ History has shown the correctness of God’s warning to Adam and Eve that if they moved out from under God’s provisions, they would deteriorate and eventually die. (Genesis 2:17; 3:19) They did move out from under God’s rule, and in time they did deteriorate and die.

4. Why are all of us born imperfect, prone to sickness and death?

⁴ What happened afterward to all their offspring was as Romans 5:12 explains: “Through one man [Adam, mankind’s family head] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men.” So when our first parents rebelled against God’s overseership, they became defective sinners. In harmony with the laws of genetics, the resulting imperfection was all they could pass on to their offspring. That is why all of us have been born defective, prone to sickness and death.

5, 6. What has history shown about man’s efforts to bring true peace and prosperity?

⁵ Many centuries have passed. Empires have come and gone. Every conceivable type of government has been tried. Yet, over and over, dreadful things have happened to the human family. After six thousand years, one would think that humans would have progressed to the point of establishing peace, justice, and prosperity earth wide and that by now they would have mastered the positive values of kindness, compassion, and cooperation.

⁶ The reality, however, is just the opposite. No type of human government ever devised has brought true peace and prosperity for all. In this 20th century alone, we have seen the systematic murder of millions during the Holocaust and the slaughter of over 100 million in wars. In our time countless numbers of people have been tortured, murdered, and imprisoned because of intolerance and political differences.

The Situation Today

7. How can the condition of the human family today be described?

⁷ In addition, consider the overall condition of the human family today. Crime and violence are rampant. Drug abuse is epidemic. Sexually transmitted diseases are pandemic. The dreaded disease AIDS is affecting millions of people. Tens of millions of people die of hunger or disease each year, while a small number have vast riches. Humans pollute and pillage the earth. Family life and moral values have broken down everywhere. Truly, life today reflects the ugly rulership of ‘the god of this world,’ Satan. The world he is master of is cold, ruthless, and thoroughly corrupt.—2 Corinthians 4:4.

8. Why can we not call mankind’s achievements true progress?

⁸ God has allowed enough time for humans to come to the peak of their scientific and material progress. But is it genuine progress when the bow and arrow have been replaced by machine guns, tanks, jet bombers, and nuclear missiles? Is it progress when people can travel into space but cannot live together in peace on earth? Is it progress when people are afraid to walk the streets at night, or even in the daytime in some places?

What Time Has Shown

9, 10. (a) What have the past centuries of time clearly shown? (b) Why will God not take away free will?

⁹ What the test of centuries of time has shown is that it is not possible for humans to direct their own steps successfully apart from God’s rule. It is no more possible for them to do that than it is for them to live without eating, drinking, and breathing. The evidence is clear: We were designed to be dependent on our Creator’s guidance just as surely as we were created to be dependent on food, water, and air.

¹⁰ By permitting wickedness, God has once and for all time demonstrated the sad results of misusing free will. And free will is such a precious gift that rather than take it away from humans, God has allowed them to see what its misuse means. God’s Word speaks the truth when it says: “It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.” It is also truthful when it says: “Man has dominated man to his injury.”—Jeremiah 10:23; Ecclesiastes 8:9.

11. Has any form of human rule eliminated suffering?

¹¹ God’s permission of human rule for six thousand years forcefully illustrates that man is unable to stop suffering. At no time has he done so. For instance, in his day King Solomon of Israel, with all his wisdom, wealth, and power, could not straighten out the misery resulting from human rule. (Ecclesiastes 4:1-3) Similarly, in our day world leaders, even with the latest technical advances, are not able to eliminate suffering. Worse yet, history has shown that humans independent of God’s rule have increased suffering instead of eliminating it.

God’s Long-Range View

12-14. What long-range benefits come as a result of God’s permission of suffering?

¹² God’s permission of suffering has been painful for us. But he has taken a long-range view, knowing the good results that will come in the long run. God’s view will benefit creatures, not just for a few years or a few thousand, but for millions of years, yes, for all eternity.

¹³ Should the situation ever arise at any future time that someone misuses free will to call into question God’s way of doing things, it would not be necessary to grant him time to try to prove his views. Having already allowed rebels thousands of years, God has established a legal precedent that can be applied throughout eternity anywhere in the universe.