![]() ![]() ![]() The Lord is omnipotent, with all power to control our lives, save us pain, prevent all accidents, drive all planes and cars, feed us, protect us, save us from labor, effort, sickness, even from death, if he will. Could the Lord have prevented these tragedies? The answer is, Yes. Whatever the answer to this question, there is another I feel sure about. I cannot, for though I know God has a major role in our lives, I do not know how much he causes to happen and how much he merely permits. Concerning these issues he readily acknowledged, “Answer, if you can. Kimball addressed the Church regarding the Lord’s involvement in causing or preventing death and suffering. I can understand why someone who lacks an eternal perspective might see the horrifying news footage of starving children and man’s inhumanity to man and shake a fist at the heavens and cry, ‘If there is a God, how could he allow such things to happen?’” As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Spencer W. Russell Ballard stated, “One cannot look at suffering, regardless of its causes or origins, without feeling pain and compassion. I pray and study the scriptures to understand God’s justice for the wicked and rewards for the righteous. I seek for insights into understanding better God’s view of human-inflicted suffering such as that suffered by the Aztecs and the Incas, the mistreatment of the American Indian, slavery, barbarism, massacres, burning at the stake, kidnapping, oppression, world wars, forced prostitution, and a host of the world’s other ills. I search to know why God allows natural disasters and has not eradicated poverty, disease, and malnutrition. As one of these students, I seek to understand why God did not intervene to save 1.5 million Jewish children who died in the Holocaust and millions of others who suffer what seem to be premature or agonizing deaths. ![]() ![]() Students of human history are faced with penetrating and ofttimes disturbing issues of evil and suffering. Prete (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2005), 197–211. Ostler, “Earthquakes, Wars, Holocausts, Disease, and Inhumanity: Why Doesn’t God Intervene?” in Window of Faith: Latter-day Saint Perspectives on World History, ed. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |