In the bible, there are many examples of human suffering: natural disasters, slavery, wars, refugee crisis, persecution, mass murder and genocide. They affect the good as well the bad people in the world. They affect God’s followers as well as their enemies. One book of the Old Testament is the book of Job. This book is devoted to the problem of suffering. In this book there is a man called Job, he is a good man who suffers total disaster. His children are killed and he losses all his property and possessions. Job also had a disfiguring skin disease. The bulk of the book of Job is made up of conversations between his friends and God.
In the Garden of Eden God created man and women, they were called Adam and Eve. God told Adam and Eve that they could eat any fruit that they wanted from the trees except the fruit from the tree in the center of the garden. This tree was the tree of all knowledge, the knowledge of good and bad.
The devil came in the form of a snake and tempted Eve to eat the fruit of the tree. The devil said that death is a big word for her to be using. Eventually Eve gave in to the devil's will and ate the fruit she also offered a piece to Adam. As soon as they took a bite of the fruit, they instantly realized that they were naked.
This was called the fall of man.
"The reason the son of God came was to destroy the devils work."
(1 John 3:8).
Jesus died so that our sins may be forgiven. This was done so that the connection between God and man could be rebuilt.
People believe that Satan or the Devil is evil personified. Evil is a force that persuades us to do the opposite of God's teachings. I think evil is God's test to see whether we are true Christians or not.
Some people might say that evil is just a weakness within human beings. It is the ability of free will, which allows us to choose which path we choose. If we did not have free will, we would be robots.
In Mere Christianity book two parts two, C.S Lewis says, “This universe is at war. But Christianity does not think it is a war between independent powers but a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the enemy.” One might rephrase C.S Lewis’s words and say “Enemy occupied territory”, after all is that no what the world is. Some people say that Christianity is the story of how “the rightful king Jesus had descended upon the Earth in disguise and had called us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”
I think that what C.S Lewis is reflecting in this paragraph are the two rival factions of the Earth. The good and the evil.
Jesus refers to the devil as "the evil one" "the world is under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19)
This means that sometimes the devil may interfere with people’s judgment. This can make people do crazy things, but not mean it. I think that a good example of this was when Hitler killed all the Jews. I think that Hitler blamed society on his actions.
I think that on a spiritual level one could say that the devil was behind Hitler’s actions. I think that if someone opens their heart to evil then the devil will use this against them and make that person do horrible acts of evil.
The significance of Jesus dieing and resurrecting all in the period of a few days is as follows.
“Jesus shared in our humanity so that by his death he might destroy he who holds that power of death – that is the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14)
The link between Jesus dieing and then rising from the dead is a very strong one because this is the basic belief of all Christians. They believe that Jesus died so that we may be forgiven of all our sins and so that we could enter heaven and see he glory of the Lord. I think that Jesus came to the earth so that he could “repatch” the relationship between God and his creations. It looked as if Satan had defeated Jesus at Calvary, but the resurrections of Jesus clearly showed that this was not the case. Instead, it showed that Jesus had clearly defeated Satan. Jesus’ victory was not imposed on everyone, but was offered to those who follow Jesus Christ.
“He died that we might be forgiven; he died to make us good.”
What this paragraph means is that when Jesus defeated Satan all humanities sin was washed away. Jesus’ victory was only made available to those who believe in Christ and believe in the power of the Lord God.
“Then the devil who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur.”
This was the end of Satan. His rule was now over. Now God and man co-exist happily together. There is no suffering pain of despair. All is well in god’s Promised Land. This is the paradise that God spoke of.
“Finally build up your strength in union with the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:11-13)
This quote is telling us to work with God and to destroy all the evil on this planet. This means that people that are willing to open their hearts to God and help him to destroy the devil; are part of a bigger picture. A picture in which God and the Devil are having a continuous battle; but both sides can have followers, this is what makes a man chose a good or dark side to the life ahead of them.
My final quote is from the Lord’s Prayer.
“Deliver us from evil”
This is a quote is from a prayer people recite in the morning because it is asking God to protect them and save them from any evil. We must first help ourselves if we want God to help us, we must wear God’s “armour” of protection and try to beat our fears first before asking for God’s help.
