Greater Washington Chinese Christian Network

Questions and Answers

  1. Can Christans date? Will dating cause your brother to stumble, or ......

  2. The Buddhism says that the Truth is not Absolute, ... Is there a universal Truth ?

  3. Why God let the evil take control of this world instead of God's good ...... ?

[name]: lee sang soo
[email]: 192.168.81.123
[phone]: 729-4763
[city]: Seoul, Republic of South Korea

[question]:

God loved this world so much so he gave only son those who believe in him will not be perished but have everlasting life. However, looking around world, there are so many miserable things are happening, For example war, crime, etc.

My question is why god let the evil take control of this world instead of god's good rule over the world why god do not meddle in to the miserable peoples in the world. Why bad people gain power and wealthy while good people suffer in agony. How can I meet god command in my daily life?

[Answer] :

This is a very difficult question. Evil and suffering are two mysteries in the Theology. They are related very closely.

It takes a lot of faith to explain these two issues. First of all, I think we must make clear whose responsibility it is.

An evil person killed a victim. The victim and his family suffered great lost. When the killer was put on trial, the judge sent the killer to jail for life. The victim's family came out of the court, they killed the judge and rob the judge's home, because they hold the judge responsible for the killer. Or, when the victim's family met the killer's father, they blame him for the responsibility. Do you think this is righteousness?

One of the volcano was erupted. Many people around it were killed. One of the victims survived the eruption and came to the court and sued the president for he should be responsible for the lost of his families and properties. Do you think this is righteousness?

Or during the War World II, Japanese soldiers killed many people. When Japan was defeated, a riot erupted. The mob destroyed all the churches and temples. They also killed all monks, priest, and pastors of every religion, because neither the Christian God, nor the gods of the temples prevent the war. They felt that God or gods should be responsible for the war. Do you think this is righteousness?

Of course, no one will think any one of the above as righteousness.

On the case of the killer, the judge who convicted him, should not be responsible for the killer's crime. The killer is responsible. Neither did the parent of the killer be responsible.

One the volcano's case, the president of the states should not be responsible, because it is a natural event.

One the Japanese' case, the religions should not be responsible. The war criminals are responsible.

God is the creator and the judge of the world. He is not responsible for the crime or sin that committed by the people.

The responsibility seems is clear. But people still think God should be responsible for His creation. The contradiction lay on the Omnipotent natural of God. Omnipotent mean that God is almighty, all powerful. If God is almighty, why couldn't He stop the evil?

It is because of love. It is sound strange, but it is true. After parent give birth to children, what do they expect of the children? Do they want a child that lay idle there, never have any action unless the parent tell him to act? Or do they love a child only say words that they demand them to say. When they say nothing, the child do nothing? If my child is like that, I would bring him to the doctor and check up on the brain or nerve system.

Or do you love a robot girl friend or robot boy friend, whom never rebel against your any motion? Love demands interaction and differences. Almost every couple love their spouses that dare to say something different from them. In another word, one of the element of love is freedom to response. Freedom to choose and voluntary respond to the other party is very important to genuine love.

God created us as free beings, because He wanted us to act out of our voluntary choice. If it is out of true love, it must allow rebel. God foresaw the rebellion of human, He prepared salvation for them. Everyone who choose to follow God, will get eternal life. I think God is fair and justice.

May be someone will ask, why did God wait so long and let the evil prosper? For God, He does not have time problem. He sees future as past. We are limited by time. God is not limited by time. When He solves the problem of sin, He is doing something from the beginning all the way to the eternity simultaneously. For God, the salvation was happened for the first man as well as the last one before the end of the world. The Salvation in God's prospective should be always in the past tense, because once he solved it, he did it for the eternity. God sees it as whole. He does not distinguish the past from the future. Time is nothing in His eyes.

One more issue, God creates fire, we us fire to cook. But fire has a character, it will burn anything. A little baby did not know that fire will burn his finger, he put his finger on the fire. He cries. He hates the fire and blame God who create the fire.

We say that the baby does not know how to distinguish the right from wrong. But when we blame God for all the natural disasters, we thought it is justified. This is not right.

God creates the natural law. The side effect is natural law will punish everyone who choose not to obey it. We cannot blame God for this character. God created the natural law, He also uses it to bless us.

Now let's deal with the second part of the question.

If God is love, why doesn't He meddle in to the miserable people?

Actually, God is always meddle in to the miserable people. If the miserable people willing to believe in Him, he will see the blessing of God.

There is a painter in the U.S.. Her name is Joni. She was a beautiful girl. One day she hurt herself and broken her neck. She is paralyzed since then. During her miserable life, she believes in God. Her life was changed. She learned to paint with her mouth. She also wrote a book about her life. Her experience helps many people. Her faith helped her to go through the misery and bring out wonderful blessing. Only through trust in God that she was changed.

Misery is unavoidable. But God is ready to help every miserable people, because He is love.

The only thing we need to do is trust in Him. He will help you go through all your life. It is my experience. I know that He is faithful. He always turn my bad experience to a blessing.

You can too.

Paul Tong

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[name]:Giovanni Mascia
[email]: masciag@unive.it
[phone]:
[city]: Largo Lercaro 15, 40137 Bologna, Italy

[question]:

I'm a 22-years-old Italian student. I study Chinese Language and Culture at the University of Venice. Now I'm studying the evangelisation of China by Matteo Ricci and the Gesuiti in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Bible doesn't talk about China or Japan, doesn't talk about the Chinese people and their religion, their thinking. The Buddhism says that the True it's not Absolute, that in this world all the things are relatives. Today "Cuius regio eius religio", every people has his own religion, his own way of thinking. There's no place for universality and for the unicity of True. I hope you will excuse me for my bad english. Thank you. G.M.

[Answer]:

I found your idea very interesting. First of all, I had never heard that Buddhists believe the Truth is not Absolute.

I need more clarification to this statement. What is truth? Truth for me, a typical Chinese, is something that other people also believe as right. The general truth that people accepted are many. Such as math, science, and common sense. If truth is relative, do you mean that one plus one is equal two for Italian but one plus one equal three for Chinese?

Or do you mean that "the Truth" is not absolute, you are referring to Jesus Christ as the absolute truth?

Of course, Buddhists do not believe that Jesus is the Christ and Savior of the world. But this idea is not unique for Buddhists. Every non-believer no matter he is a Buddhist or Taoist, or Catholic, if he choose to reject Jesus Christ as his savior, he believe that there is no absolute "Truth".

When talking about moral law, Buddhists also believe in the absolute truth. If moral law is the definition of your "Truth." Buddhists believe that money is the root of every evil. You can find this in the Bible. Buddhists believe that the world is empty. Specifically speaking, they said that wine, sex, wealth, and fortune are empty. You can find the similar saying in Ecclesiastes. Buddhists establish the faith on the Hinduism that believes in reincarnation, which I cannot agree. Buddhists believe in nothingness after death that I cannot agree.

Any way, no, Buddhists do not believe in the truth that is relative.

Paul Tong

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[name]: Kevin Jordan
 [email]: hardcor@hargray.com
[phone]: 803-524-2817
[city]: PO Box 9022 Beaufort,SC 29904

[Question]:

Praise be to God! I am very confused with Rom 14:21. "It os good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or made weak" Does this mean that christans can't date? Will dating cause your brother to stumble, or be offended, or become weak?

In Christ Jesus....Kevin

[Answer]:
Kevin, please allow me to share one very important principle for every Bible reader to follow first : the immediate content always plays a key role for interpretation. Let's adopt it to answer your question.

  1. The verse Roman 14:21 should be understood within the whole chapter 14. And what should be the key message of this chapter ? It's verse 19. "So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the buildings up of one another." Paul is talking about Christian community, namely, the God's church. "To pursue the peace and the buildings up of one another" should be the first priority in church's life.

  2. Upon this priority, no matter what we do should have a second thought -- a thought for those weak Christians, they regard some days above others (v.5) and also insist not to eat meat. Paul, therefore, encourages those strong Christians be careful enough not to judge, not to eat meat, either. In doing so, they won't "destroy" those weak Christians and not to tear down the work of God (v.15, v20). This principle, giving no offense to others, has been in Paul's mind already (see I Corinthian 10:32).

  3. Will we lose our freedom while doing this ? since we "adopt" their concepts upon us. No ! Because freedom is not simply "do what I want", but rather "not do what I do not want". This is a mature attitude. Paul encourages us that we shall not destroy our brothers and sisters by offending them. Then I decide not to do it with my own will.

    Therefore, Kevin, "dating" is not an issue, based upon the interpretation here. "You can do whatever you want, but not benefit you always"(1 Corinthian 6:12). Be alert for those who are weak in faith.

May God bless you,

David Chen

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