Don't blame God . . . blame Adam. Romans 5.12-18

How many times have I heard, ‘I believe in God, sure, but that is as far as I can take it; I just can’t really trust a God who allows such suffering in the world—especially for those who don’t deserve it, like innocent children.’ 

One certainly cannot deny the presence of suffering in the world; pick up any newspaper, visit the neonatal floor of the hospital, morph into the funeral of a young Marine, whose widow is weeping …

Here’s our problem—to whom do we credit the suffering?   God causes the suffering because he is punitive, or God allows the suffering, not stopping it—because he is either powerless to stop it, or doesn’t care enough to do so.  Neither of these thoughts is palatable, is it?  So how do you account for God’s allowance of suffering?  Is there another explanation?

Is it really God we should blame for the suffering?  If not him…then who?  Paul answers those questions in our next passage, Romans 5.12-18:

verse 12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Because God loved Adam, his first creation, he gave him the free will to choose evil or good; when Adam thought he knew more than God, and thereby partook of the only thing of which he was forbidden, sin entered the world.  What is sin?  It is the corruption of what is good, what is holy, what is pure . . . Morally speaking, it is missing the mark of righteousness.  But in addition, we must see that the sin condition impacted the world--including our environment.  Remember Katrina?  Hurricane Ivan?  God did not cause these, Friends—if you must attach blame or ownership, lay them back on Adam and Eve. 

Jared Lee Loughner – shooting suspect in January Tucson shooting;  Seung-Hui Choi – shooter at Virginia Tech in 2007; Timothy McVeigh – Oklahoma bomber . . . Each of these men caused untold amounts of suffering, but they acted out of their God-given gifts of free will.  Now, how can you blame God for their actions—for the suffering they caused?  Sure, he allowed their actions, but if he hadn’t allowed them to choose evil or good, he would have deprived them of their freedom to choose.  THEN, those three men, and all of the rest of us, would have been/would be robots.

Paul continues:  ‘Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.   And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.  For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.  Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.’  Rom.  5:13-18

Sure . . .there was sin—through Adam but through Jesus, then grace!  So when you look at the condition of the world, don’t blame God; when you look forward to the future of mankind, don’t blame God, for he just allowed us to choose.  Yes, through Jesus, we can have new life.

Christine

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