Twitter And The Problem Of Evil

Greetings,

Recently on Twitter someone said their 8 yr old asked why God created earthquakes. I replied

God didn't make the earthquake, it's the effects of man's rebellion on creation Gen 3:17-18, Rom 5:12 & 8:22-23, 2 Pet 3:4-7.

Which is Scripturally true but woefully inadequate as a real answer. The reply I got (predictably) was if I had any advice on how to tell an 8 yr old that. That is definitely problematic. Each Family raises their children differently and for us, how we have raised our kids is part of the answer, not just the age of the child.

In our household we have been very factual and realistic in how we have raised our kids. We told them there was no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny & no Tooth Fairy. This was deliberate because unfortunately, much children's Sunday School material (and yes, our kids have attended very little Sunday School) looks just like children's story books leaving the impression at a later age that Jesus is no more real than Santa or the Easter Bunny and often when a grown child goes off to college, they are met by a professor (even at 'Christian' colleges) who lumps Jesus, Santa & the Easter Bunny all in one lump together. Another similar case is the college prof who compares Jesus, Mary & God the Father to characters out of Egyptian, Greek & Roman mythology.

Having been through this myself in college, I decided my kids would be brought up differently. We do celebrate Christmas and Easter but it is no mystery that presents and candy come from Mom & Dad and other family members. I have encouraged my children to watch the news and watch documentaries with me and I have taken them to museums and encouraged them to read wholesome books on history so as to ground them in historical facts about their world and religion is not treated as an other-worldly mystery or as a collection of 'nice stories' to make us feel warm and fuzzy. God is a fact, Jesus walked the earth and Christianity=Reality. My kids have learned not just from the catechism but from life what it means when we as Christians confess that:

I believe in one God,

 the Father Almighty,

 maker of heaven and earth,

 and of all things visible and invisible

Or "seen and unseen" as it were. Once this is accepted the problem of evil (Why do we have wars? Tornados? Earthquakes?) becomes a simple recognition of Man's fall, his sinful nature and our need for a Saviour. If we neglect to teach our children that Christianity is objectively, historicly true and further neglect to teach them about man's sinful nature, then they won't be able to deal with evil or it's many manifestations such as war, sickness, poverty or hypocrisy.

Man's sinful nature, caused by his rebellion toward God is the cause of all our problems, not God. God gave Man (Adam) both a choice and a warning - Man selected the wrong choice in spite of the warning God gave him and all the suffering we see and feel around us is the result.

And there is comfort in knowing this surprisingly enough. As my children (who watch the Disney & Nickelodeon channels daily) have seen the habitual wrong turns taken by child stars such as Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, Miley Cyrus et. al., they have told me that they realize that these girls have given into the temptations that come with fame and money. They understand that these young women are struggling with their sinful nature and the decadence & materialism (probably not the words my kids would choose, probably "bad morals" and "lotsa stuff") are drawing them away from (all 3 have claimed to be Christian) God. My kids know that we all are sinners saved by Grace and if you are surrounded by fame and fortune, you will face temptations.

So perhaps maybe the way to unpack this for an 8 year old child is to begin:

1) Acknowledging that we all are sinners
2) Talk to them about a story they can relate to, the latest moral foible of a child star they see on TV
3) Take it back to the Fall of Adam & Eve
4) Reinforce that Adam & Eve were real people just like Jesus (& you & me)
5) Apply Scripture: Gen 3:17-18, Rom 5:12 & 8:22-23, 2 Pet 3:4-7.

Also, if you aren't now, begin to draw clear lines between the real world and the world of fantasy. You don't have to give up Christmas Presents or Easter candy, you just have to be truthful about where it really comes from. Additionally, once lines of demarcation are drawn between fantasy & reality - align your faith with the known world but also teach your child that there are some things we take by faith that we cannot see (like Angels and God Himself) and we know them to be true because it is contained in God's Word and the Gospels themselves are eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus when He was here on earth - just as you and I are here.

It is like Shakespeare said through the mouth of Hamlet in his refutation of materialism,

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

No Christian parent wants to hear their child invoke 1 Corinthians 13:11 as the reason they became an atheist. We don't want our children to 'grow out of' God as if He were Santa or the Easter Bunny.

My 7 year old son understands that he can never jump off a building like Spiderman or Iron Man does because those are movies with special effects created by men with computers. He also knows that the Bible is true because it teaches that Man has a sinful nature and when he is picked on by his 3 big sisters or has a fight with a kid on the school playground, that is sufficient evidence that evil exists and we are all sinners.

But you can't say all that on Twitter.

Well, that's all for now.



TTFN & God Bless,

Jim
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