IS GOD REALLY GOOD OR ARE WE REALLY BAD?

Over the course of time, many critics and naysayers have come up questioning the existence of God. Their bone of contention, if God really is real, why is there so much evil in the world?Why are little kids in Syria and Afghanistan dying in wars?Why do the good people die while the bad live and exploit the good? The questions are endless. Christians bear the brunt of this tough question, with many of them at a loss of the response to give in defense of their faith.

I may not be a Bible scholar or an apologetic, but allow me to indulge you for a few in this short story. I trust my little knowledge of God will sorta make sense of all this.

The beginning.

Now imagine you are a really old man with so much love to go around. Too much of it. In fact, so much so that you feel that this love needs more someone to share it with. So what do you do, you  think to yourself, I think I should share this love with more people.

So you decide, create two guys. As in like create them like you would a clay model. Then breath life into them. So you do just that. You create the two most beautiful 'creation'. And the feeling is overwhelming. Saying that you are besides yourself with joy would be an understatement . They are just too beautiful. Finally, you have someone to share your infinite love with. The best thing about it is that they love you back. But you love them more. No, you love them way too much😊. Let's call your beloved Abe and Eve. They were two. Two of the most perfect creatures. Man and woman, and you created them.

This love is so profound that you cannot allow them to lack for anything. So you give them all they need by giving them a place they could stay, in perfect peace and abundance. But also, because you love them so much, you grant them the freedom to do anything they want. Freedom of choice they call it. I mean, this love you have for them wouldn't be complete if they have no freedom to express themselves and make their own choices. It wouldn't be perfect love if it wasn't freely given, would it? It would be a dictatorial relationship.

So you tell them, "Beloved, you are free to do everything you want here. Anything. Eat from all these food I've provided you. But do not under any circumstance eat from that tree right there. That one at the center. I won't force you not to eat from it but it would do you guys a great deal of good if you stay away from that tree."

You live in perfect harmony in this garden you made for them. Every evening you visit your beloved and you take a walk round the garden. Enjoying the sunset as the wind breathes life into the
atmosphere. You, Abe and Eve are the best of friends.

Everything is perfect.

The Fall

One sunny and beautiful day,  a strange someone pays your Beloved a visit. Now this guy is very new to this place. Your beloved have never seen Him before. But boy is he beautiful. One of your beloved, Eve meets with this peculiar guy. And the conversation is, for lack of a better word, intriguing. So much so that your beloved is convinced that the tree you asked your beloved not to eat from is actually the best out of all the rest. And that you (the creator) are actually being selfish by denying them the sweetness of this tree. Your beloved is enthralled. One thing leads to another and before they know it, Abe and Eve are convinced to eat from the one tree you forbade them to. Eve convinced Abe of what the strange guy had convinced her of.

No sooner do they take a bit than you realize what they did. 'They couldn't have', you think to yourself. But you know for sure they have. You saw them, and you saw this strange man convince Eve to take the fruit. (This strange guy hates your beloved you see. But let's not talk about this guy. He does not deserve a mention in this story. He is the one who causes the fall out with your beloved but He will be dealt with later) But you hoped in your heart of hearts that she would be wiser. Abe takes the bait as well.

The sorrow registered in your heart is untold. You realize that much as you love this guys to death, there has to be consequences for their actions. The consequences are dire. You hate punishing them but what do you do? Perfection and holiness is what their current abode requires so you have to  out. Justice and righteousness is who you are. You have to punish them. Your heart .'How could they do this to you, you ask yourself.'

But wait, your love for them is still intact. 'I have to renew my beloved to myself'. The plan you have for them is perfect you see, and it is not in your nature to go against your very word. No one, not even your dearly beloved can thwart your plan?

Fast forward, years later.

Your beloved give birth to one of their kind. So many of them in fact. You had instructed them to multiply and fill the earth you see, and fill the earth they did.

Now you think your beloved and their offspring had done the worst. With so many of them on earth, the bad only gets worse. There is no longer an end to the evil these guys do. Just when you thought you had seen the worst, they come up with something or the other that is worse than the last.

'This is too much... We can't keep living like so.' You are infuriated. And the more things these guys do, the more your anger builds.

'These people have to die.' You finally decide.

I mean you can imagine angels and man(your beloved) falling in love and having children. Angels are heavenly beings. Since when did heavenly beings fall in love with earthly beings? And men sleeping with men and women with women? And what with the children created by the forbidden union between women and angels? Hideous big creatures. The hearts of men were beyond repair. Evil reigned in the hearts of your beloved. You regretted creating them in the first place. They had to be destroyed.

But wait, there was a man and His family that you find is untouched by the evils of the earth. You would destroy all the earth and the men in it but would preserve this man, Noah, and his family.

With a big boat you had instructed Noah to build for his family and the other creatures, you saved them from the flood. You destroyed the earth with water you see, torrents of water that you sent from the heavens and the earth to sweep the earth clean of all moral degradation and evil.

You are just and holy you see, and you command holiness and obedience from your beloved. A choice your beloved have to choose for themselves. The generation that you killed made their choice. And choices have consequences. Consequences that are dire. Decisions have to be made. And you had made your decision.

Story from excerpt from the book of Genesis chapter 1- chapter 8

After all, you are the creator of everything. Do you not have the right to do as you please with what you create? Just as a potter would crush clay he had molded wrongly  so as to create a better pot, or a manufacturer would restore to factory settings a phone he has manufactured to create in it better systems, do you not have the right to do so as well?

Well, I will live you to answer that.

To be continued...

Until next time, like iron sharpens iron, let us sharpen one another in faith. Peace.