An Open Letter After Boston

     The events of the past week may have raised the question: How can people in this world do such terrible things? When men decide to blow up bombs that hurt, maim, and kill innocent men, women, and children it is natural wonder what is wrong with the hearts of men. Sadly, this incident was not isolated, as we see similar tragedies in our own country and around the world. Men will kill one another. "Doctors" in Philadelphia, will kill hundreds of babies newly born and the gruesome facts of his "medical treatment" are still being found out. In the face of such evil, murder, and cruelty, how do we answer the problem of evil in the world? I am appalled at the violence and evil existing in our world and oftentimes I find myself wanting to lock my wife and kids in the house, buy a gun, and wait for the end of the world. It’s hard to explain the problem of evil. But after a lot of thinking, I feel like I can at least offer how I view the world we live in. 

     Christians believe that evil exists in the world due to sin. What is sin? I’m sure everyone understands the concept of immoral actions and things done we are not supposed to do. But the Bible teaches that sin is more than just the bad things we do, it is a condition of the heart of each man, woman, and child who has ever been born. Sin has affected the natural world we live in, making things broken, sick, weak, and imperfect. Every person who lives has a heart, mind and body that don’t work the way God designed. We are all prone to lie, be selfish, hurt others, and get angry, to cheat on our spouses, and be lazy. As we saw in Boston, people can even choose to blow up innocent men, women, and children because of either some mental illness, their belief they are doing the work of Allah, or because they hate America. There is something wrong with the world. There is something wrong with the hearts of people. There is something wrong with me.

     Where does this come from? In the first pages of the Bible, God created a perfect world where everything was good. The sun was good, the plants were good, the animals were good, and even man was good. There was not any cancer, terrorism, cheating, anger, meanness, or murder. So what happened? The devil came to Adam and Eve and offered a choice: Would they trust God had their best in mind or would they believe God was holding out on them, that they knew what was best for your life? Unfortunately, they chose to doubt God’s goodness and love and instead trusted themselves. The result of their actions was the world started to break and it has been broken ever since. Evil entered into the hearts of men and women. They would naturally distrust God and not love and trust him, as God desired. They would die due to sickness, accidents, and old age, which wasn’t God’s initial design. God desired people to live with him forever. He desired they would have life. It’s like if you took a glass of clean water and put a tiny drop of cyanide in it. The water would no longer be clear, but tainted. The poison would affect every portion of the water in one way or another. In the same way sin has tainted and poisoned every aspect of our lives.

     Back to Genesis 3, where God pronounced the results and curse of Adam and Eve’s sin there was a promise of hope and redemption. God promised one day a child would be born of a woman who would strike down the devil, but would be wounded in the process. I’m talking of course, about Jesus, who would be born of virgin, live a sinless life, show us what a life of trust and love to God would look like, and then die on a cross. In death he would bear the punishment for the sins of every man, woman, and child who would ever live. Jesus would also address the problem of men’s evil hearts. He told a guy once, “You must be born again”, (Gospel of John, chapter 3). What he meant was there was a problem with men’s hearts. They were corrupted and broken. Men needed new life which only God could give. Men needed new hearts that valued life, God, goodness, hope, peace, and right things. Men could not do this for themselves; God had to create that life into them. Even though men choose to hurt one another, hurt themselves, and reject God, he still wants to restore that relationship with men. He just has to change their hearts and cleanse them of sin to do so. God chose to do what men could not do for themselves, pay the penalty for their sins and give them new and holy hearts. 

     When a man trusts Jesus as the one who has paid for his sins and made him right with God, without any works or efforts that man has done, then God gives man a new heart, a new life, and forever sees him as clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. Then people can live with God and each other as God intended. More importantly, they are promised to escape the ultimate curse of sin = death, because they will be with God forever. The old football verse, John 3:16 applies, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.”

     This is what I believe about evil in the world, why men do terrible things to one another, why we deal with rude, stupid, and immoral people at our jobs, and why rage at one another in our daily commutes. It’s why I sometimes struggle to love my wife, get angry with my kids, and quietly curse out customers on the phone or rude people in traffic. It’s also why I have hope, even when people blow up one another, as weird as that seems. I believe there is hope for men and the world. I believe even if things get worse that one day I will be with God in heaven, with Jesus, and have eternal life with him, untainted by sin.

     One of my favorite painters was a guy named Rembrandt. He did a lot of cool things in his paintings with light and shadows. One of his most famous paintings is "Raising the Cross". In the painting, there are soldiers raising the cross on which Jesus was crucified. The crowds surrounding the cross are in shadows. The light on the painting falls on Jesus, but also on a man at the foot of the cross. This man is dressed unlike the soldiers and others around the cross. He looks out of place. The man seen is Rembrandt himself. He painted a self portrait of himself at the foot of the cross, helping to raise the cross to crucify Jesus. Rembrandt saw himself correctly. He saw himself as a sinner, as a man whose sin helped raise Jesus to a cross where he would die for the sins and evil of men. He saw himself as a man just as guilty as those around him. He saw himself needing forgiveness. 

     The world is corrupted by sin and evil. But there is a Savior who died for men's sin and evil. He died on a cross so that men may be forgiven and be cleansed of the evil in their hearts. That man is Jesus. He offers himself as a Savior for all, especially in these evil days.