Have you ever felt foolish when admitting to your Christian beliefs … or in sharing the reasons you feel support your faith? As it is, most non-believers (i.e., atheists and skeptics of all kinds) intuitively know where the chinks and weak spots are in the Christian believer’s armor. As such, skeptics can be quick to cast ridicule when hearing our feeble justifications.
They may question: “Do you actually believe the children’s story of Noah’s ark … Is this not laughable?” Or: “How could you believe the claim that a god created all things? Isn’t this also a fairy tale, specifically given that so many scholars believe evolution is an established fact? With as much as 90% of academics in some countries believing evolutionism to be true, how can Creationism be true? Surely, with so much pedigree, does this not rule out Creationism?”
Bible-believing Christians may find themselves discredited and humiliated. Indeed, we may identify with Jeremiah, who said: “I am ridiculed all day long; everybody mocks me […] the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long” (Jeremiah 20:7b-8b).
What about the claim of the Bible reader that the Christian God is benevolent and loving? Atheists, on the other hand, vociferously insist that God is dispassionate and bloodthirsty. The infamous question in their quiver of poisonous arrows is this: “If your God allows so much human suffering, how could He be benevolent?” Usually, this question serves as the winning coup de grâce … cutting off all further discussion.
Unfortunately, many Christians are not ready to provide convincing refutation to these attacks. However, we must be ready to counter-argue the views of the unbelieving world. The Bible says: “I […] urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 1:3b).
Next, then, let’s contend for the truth of God and His character. We begin by examining the position that God is unjust, allowing many humans to suffer and die.
Preparing Counter-Arguments
Why does God allow geophysical disasters, causing many casualties and deaths? Given the high-profile nature of geophysical catastrophes (quakes, volcanoes, floods … etc.), this is a question that most will have pondered at some point in their lives.
As mentioned, many people refuse to believe in God because they reason He is unjust to allow so much death and suffering through geophysical forces and otherwise.
While one hears this question often, the reality is that this view is easily debunked. We need only ask one question: Who or what is the cause of most unnatural deaths?
As the reader will see, the answer we propose is an apologist “stopper.” It lays flat the view that there is no such person as a benevolent God. Before proceeding with our argument, we ponder the nature of God.
Who Can Stand Before God?
Most people who cast allegations against God likely have no concept of the identity, character, and infinity of the Judeo-Christian Living God—Jehovah. The only god that many people will accept is one that they themselves can control and understand.
By presuming to judge and condemn things far above their understanding, they have implicitly placed themselves above God. What that means is they are actually worshiping a very small and imperfect “god.” They fail to realize that their god is really themselves; thus, one that is capricious, inconsistent, and powerless.
The question to put to people that fault God is to ask them to define what the term “god” means to them. And, assuming they do not believe in God, they must also answer the question as to why evolutionary forces have given rise to so much human suffering around the world. The One and Only God, on the other hand, clearly states His position relative to humans: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).
Moreover, the Bible says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of [all] wisdom” (Psalm 111:10a) and that He is “changeless” (James 1:17). It should be obvious to all that He created all (Romans 1:20) and has proven Himself to mankind by accurately foretelling the future and resurrecting His Son.
Failing to recognize these truths, they remain blinded. Others may volitionally and spitefully choose not to believe in God … expressly defying Him. They are likely to be offended by the notion that there are answers “higher” than them, though they are made of flesh that returns to dust.
The Price of Choice
Let us return to our core questions: Why has God left natural systems and physical phenomena to operate independently and to allow much human suffering? One reason we can point to is that God gave dominion over the earth to mankind, as well as the freedom of choice (the ability to voluntarily love God and to be obedient to His statutes).
Here in the 21st century, we live in a fallen age. Post the Great Flood, the physical properties of the earth changed. After the Great Flood-induced “reset,” human lifespans started to shorten significantly for those born after the Flood. Up to the time of the Flood, the average lifespan was 930 years, according to the Bible. Thereafter, a “longevity” collapse ensued.
This had a major consequence in the post-Flood era. Abraham himself only lived to the age of 175 years, that being only 20% of the pre-Flood longevity average. At the time of the Flood, it is thought that weather patterns changed significantly. Genetic deterioration also began to occur, it is theorized. This led to health declines.
All of the above-mentioned happened as a result of the punishment of God … what mankind brought upon himself. The point we wish to highlight here is that human suffering increased in the post-Flood era. That is only part of the answer as to why human suffering is allowed in our world today.
Causes of Human Death
Natural disasters affect millions of people every year. According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), there were roughly 7,250 disasters in the world between 1998 and 2017, killing over 1.3 million people. Of those, flooding and storms accounted for the greatest number of disasters, while earthquakes caused the largest number of deaths. Close to 750,000 people died from earthquakes during that period.
Can God be blamed for all of these disasters?
Let us briefly look at humanity’s record of killing and villainy. In comparison, consider the decimation and disasters that have been caused by humans—actions for which they alone have been responsible.
Let’s review the record of human wars. WWI alone was responsible for the lives of some 20 million. WWII claimed another staggering 50 million. Politically motivated deaths in the 20th century worldwide are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions (estimates vary significantly).
Zbigniew Brzezinski (former National Security Advisor in the Johnson and Carter administrations), in his book, Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the 21st Century (1993), estimates that “politically motivated carnage” accounts for some 167 to 175 million deaths in the 20th century. That equates to one casualty out of roughly every 90 people that lived during that period. That mortality rate is more than 50 times that of earthquakes and volcanoes combined—yes, 50 times greater.
What other causes of death are there, and who is to blame? Consider suicide. Suicide is tragic. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Burden of Disease study estimate that almost 800,000 people die from suicide every year. That’s one person every 40 seconds.
What about homicides?
UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) reported a global average homicide rate of 6.1 per 100,000 population for 2019 (in their report titled “Global Study on Homicide”).
If one assumes the same homicide rate applied over the period 1900 to 2014, some 50 million people would have been murdered. That is a mortality rate more than 20 times that attributable to earthquake activity.
Still other statistics involving death and suffering could be considered. Nevertheless, we can firmly conclude the question of who the biggest villain of all is.
By far, the human is the biggest voluntary killer on the planet.
To the atheists, this is a devastating fact. Their god of “evolutionary forces” must therefore be the most brutal of all. To the evolutionist’s theory, not only has their god caused incalculable and pointless death and destruction, but also this has been committed by their supposed crowning product—the Homo sapien.
Thoughts to Ponder
Considering the casualties of all geophysical forces has apparently earned God the title of “The Ultimate Supervillain” of all time (as presented on the website of the rabid atheist Richard Dawkins’ Foundation for Reason and Science).
It certainly is strange that God should suffer such an epithet … by humans, no less.
After all, aren’t Homo sapiens the biggest killers and villains of all time?
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Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.
Contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com