Mark wrote:
Mike, Thanks.
I have been to China already this year and will return in May and two more times later this year. Heading to Sao Paulo in one week and Monterey, Mexico one week after I return from China. The trips, especially China, are always an "adventure." It seems that I am always learning and being tested, or should I say buffeted by Satan in my mind to challenge my beliefs and understanding. For example, In Guangzhou, China last month, outside of a restaurant, I saw a man on the street begging. This man had arms, but his legs were withered and one was actually bent behind his back. He was scooting around on his rear end using his arms. My immediate thoughts were not of feeling sorry for the man, but trying to understand why God created this man in this condition, and for what purpose! Here was a man who probably had never heard of Christ and never would. What a miserable existence. I have seen much of the poverty in various regions throughout the world, including the largest slum in the world - in Mumbai (Bombay) India, but seeing this man was particularly troubling. I have tried to understand, but have never really come to any complete understanding. I know that this is something that is very difficult, but do you have any spiritual understanding in this area?
Thanks for your time.
Mark
Hi Mark,
No, Mark I do not pretend to understand why God creates people the way He does. I could never do what God does. I am not capable of seeing the need for evil to the extent that God sees the need for evil. All I can say is that I do see that God does not pass the buck onto either the Devil or to man:
Exodus 4:11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind [or crippled and deformed]? have not I the LORD?
So if God were not intending to save all of His creation, then He really would be the monster which the eternal torment crowd makes Him out to be. But the Truth, of course, is that God is not a monster who would either leave a person in eternal fire or in a crippled condition. He will instead use all of this evil which he has created to show us how useless is this dying flesh to begin with. That man you saw is simply a type of all men spiritually without the knowledge of God and Christ:
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life
Rest assured, Mark, that man will come, one day to "know God and Jesus Christ whom God has sent." I know you are familiar with these verses but I am repeating them for your comfort:
1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Timothy 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
Stay in touch, Mark.
Mike
