Christianity Made Simple (2) 

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Why is there something, instead of nothing?  Why are things this way, and not some other way?

These two questions have perplexed scientists and philosophers for thousands of years.  They are not idle questions.  As we shall see, they lead us to the problem of evil.  Why does it exist?  How can we overcome it?

The very first line of the Bible, Old Testament, Book of Genesis, starts us off on the right track.  “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”  All the wisdom of man, all the science, all the great minds of philosophy, have found no better answer than this.  Without the right answer, we pay a heavy price.

There is a problem.  Even though God created the universe in a state of perfection, we can clearly see that there is a lot of evil in the world.  What happened?  The very last book of the Bible tells us:

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. “-- Revelation 12:7-9 KJV

The devil, Satan, is referred to as the dragon.  Michael is the angel who led the angels who defeated Satan, and defeated those angels who fought against God on the side of Satan.

Those angels who were cast out of heaven, and fell to earth, are called the Fallen Angels, otherwise known as demons.  They transfixed themselves into permanent evil, and they will never choose to repent, never choose to accept God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Returning to the Book of Genesis, we find that after God created the heaven and the earth, he placed on the earth the Garden of Eden, and created Adam and Eve to live there, perfectly at peace with God.  In that garden were two special trees.  One of them was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which some people take literally, but also, to represent man’s ability to freely choose between darkness and light, truth and falsehood, good and evil.  The other tree was the Tree of Life.  Eating of the fruit of this tree would have made men live forever, unchanging, which in their new state of sin would be a disaster. 

Satan knew this, and in order to bring sin into the world, persuaded Eve, and then through her, Adam, to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  This act of disobedience is known as the Original Sin.  It changed human nature into one of rebellion against God.

Therefore, to prevent mankind from being transfixed into permanent evil, God forced Adam and Eve out of the Garden.

²² And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:  ³ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden . . . Genesis 3

While these things are quickly summarized here, there is a far deeper significance than we need to cover for the moment.  What is important to know is that man was created in a state of perfection, but at the behest of Satan, disobeyed God, hid from God, and now lives in a fallen world.

But God did not give up on us.  He undertook to execute His plan for salvation.  He undertook His perfect plan to bring us all back into the original state of perfection.

The greatest part of that plan was to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to free us from the bondage to sin, to open to us once more the gate to heaven.

While the plan is still ongoing, to be completed in due time, we can rejoice in that we are no longer unforgiven, no longer doomed to the fate which the devil chose for himself.

To be a Christian is not the same as being perfect, but we are on our way, with God’s help, to becoming so.  Death is no longer the end for us, but the beginning.

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