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Lesson 4 |
Screen 1 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
| Welcome to this lesson! Let us ask God to assist us: |
| Our Heavenly Father, Why does evil exist? Why do suffering and death dominate on this planet? Will we be forever captive within a world where everything goes from bad to worse day after day? We ask you to guide us in the study of Your Word, that we might find answers to all these questions. This is our prayer, in Jesus Christ. Amen. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 2 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Job 3:20-22 |
Comments |
| Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, who long for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than hidden treasures; who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave? | Job was neither the first nor the last to address this
famous question to God: «Why does evil exist?» Another popular form of this question is: «If God exists, why is the world full of all kinds of evils?» In this lesson, we will search the Scriptures to find the origin of evil. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 3 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Ezekiel 28:12-14 |
Comments |
| Son of Man, take up a
lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, «Thus says the Lord God: "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering. (...) You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God."» |
God is speaking to a cherub, that is, a mighty angel
who was already living in Eden. We can see from the above text that God had entrusted this angel with great responsibilities from the beginning. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 4 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Ezekiel 28:15-17 |
Comments |
| You were perfect in your ways
from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within and you sinned. (...) Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. |
This angel called Lucifer, which means «light
bearer», was created perfect. Please note that God did not create a devil. One day, Lucifer, for an inexplicable reason, let pride seize him, and a mad ambition rushed to his mind: to take the place of God Himself! |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 5 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Isaiah 14:12-14 |
Comments |
| How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the
nations! For you have said in your heart: «I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.» |
Rebellion invaded Lucifer's heart, and he became
Satan, which means «Adversary». He then succeeded in leading a third of the angels to rebel too... |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 6 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Revelation 12:7-9 |
Comments |
| And war broke out in heaven:
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. |
Openly declaring war on God, Satan was expelled from
heaven, with the angels whom he deceived. But what became of them on the earth? |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 7 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Isaiah 14:12 |
Comments |
| How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! | Satan's fall to the earth was not announced as a blessing for those who dwell on this little blue planet... |
Luke 10:18 |
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| And [Jesus] said to them: «I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.» | |
Revelation 12:12 |
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| Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, with great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 8 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Genesis 3:1-5 |
Comments |
| And [the serpent] said to the
woman, «Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden"?» And the woman said to the serpent, «We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die."» And the serpent said to the woman, «You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.» |
As soon as he reached earth, Satan undertook to deceive the human race. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 9 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Genesis 3:6 |
Comments |
| So when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one
wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. |
Man's happiness was linked to his obedience to God. But God did not want a forced obedience: so He allowed man the freedom to follow the way he preferred. However He gave him a serious warning about the consequences of his choice. Alas! Satan deceived him in spite of that warning, and got him to disobey. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 10 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
2 Corinthians 4:3,4 |
Comments |
| But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. | «The god of this age», «the ruler of
this world»... This is how the Bible describes Satan. When man chooses to believe Satan instead of God, he establishes Satan as prince of this world. |
John 12:31 |
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| Jesus said, «Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.» |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 11 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Luke 4:5-7 |
Comments |
| Then the devil, taking [Jesus] up
on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And he
said to Him, «All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.» |
Jesus and Satan agree on this point: after the disobedience of Adam and Eve, the kingdoms of this world became Satan's property! |
John 18:36 |
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| Jesus answered, «My kingdom is not of this world.» |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 12 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
John 8:44 |
Comments |
| You are of your father the
devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. |
Remember that Satan promised Eve that by disobeying
God, she would not die but on the contrary she would become as a god. The first couple chose to believe Satan. And what were the consequences of such a choice for the whole human race...? |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 13 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Genesis 3:22,23 |
Comments |
| Then the Lord God said, «And now, lest [the man] put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever» - therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground. |
Stained by sin, that is transgression of
the divine law, man lost the privilege of living in God's presence. And since God is the only source of life, therefore man also lost the right to eternal life. |
1 John 3:4 |
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| Sin is lawlessness. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 14 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Isaiah 59:1,2 |
Comments |
| Behold, the Lord's hand is not
shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. |
Sin's most serious consequence is the end of the
intimate relationship that existed between God and man before the Fall. Sin, by staining man, made him unable to bear God's glory, and therefore to survive in His presence. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 15 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Genesis 3:16 |
Comments |
| To the woman [God] said, «I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.» |
Let us take good note of this: God had created man and
woman equal. Unfortunately, the entry of sin into the world gave man dominance over woman. That domination would be outrageously misused throughout history. Sin also made the human race subject to suffering, another appalling consequence of the first couple's choice. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 16 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Genesis 3:17,18 |
Comments |
| Then to Adam [God] said, «Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat of it": Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.» |
Nature was also marked by the appearance of sin. The soil no longer cooperated so easily with man. Many beasts became wild. The planet became hostile with its storms, earthquakes, and other disasters. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 17 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Isaiah 1:4-6 |
Comments |
| Alas, sinful nation, a people
laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken
the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. (...) The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. |
To choose sin also meant to choose suffering in all its forms: physical suffering, psychological suffering, spiritual suffering... |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 18 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Job 2:7 |
Comments |
| Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. | Let's carefully review these verses: who, then, is ultimately responsible for the suffering here on earth? God or Satan? |
Luke 13:16 |
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| The Lord said, «So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound - think of it - for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?» |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 19 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Genesis 2:16,17 |
Comments |
| And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, «Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.» |
God did not lie to man: the entry of sin into the world made the human race subject to death, and deprived us of eternal life. |
Romans 5:12 |
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| Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned... |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 20 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
James 1:15 |
Comments |
| And sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. | Created perfect by God's hands, Adam,
stained by sin, died at 930 years of age (Genesis 5:5). However, sin rapidly weakened the human body, decreasing its lifespan. This deterioration was so marked that the psalmist wrote: «The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years...» (Psalm 90:10) |
Romans 6:23 |
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| For the wages of sin is death. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 21 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Deuteronomy 32:4-6 |
Comments |
| [God] is the rock, His work is
perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and
upright is He. They have corrupted themselves; they are not His children, because of their blemish: a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? |
God is our Creator, our Father, and our Friend. If everything goes so badly in the world, we cannot and must not blame Him for this sad situation. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 22 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Proverbs 19:3 |
Comments |
| The foolishness of a man twists his way, and his heart frets against the Lord. | Satan is really wily: not only did he plunge the human race into a world of darkness, of suffering and death, but he has also succeeded in making millions of people believe that God, rather than he, is responsible for all their misfortunes. |
Job 34:12 |
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| Surely God will never do wickedly. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 23 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Ezekiel 18:23,32 |
Comments |
| «Do I have any pleasure at all
that the wicked should die?» says the Lord God, «and not that he should turn from his
ways and live?» (...) «For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,» says the Lord God. «Therefore turn and live!» |
God sincerely deplores man's choice to believe Satan's
lies rather than follow the path He showed him, leading to eternal life. However God still loves each one of us, and a plan to re-establish the situation has been provided for us. This plan will be the subject of our next lesson. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 24 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
1 John 5:19 |
Comments |
| And the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. | Satan does not match the description made
to scare children, with two horns, a tail and a pitchfork... No, Satan is an intelligent and very powerful angel. He knows quite well that he will control us more easily if we don't believe that he exists. |
2 Corinthians 11:14 |
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| And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 25 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
1 Peter 5:8 |
Comments |
| Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. | God is not our enemy, Satan is not our friend. Satan knows that he has a short time, and his only goal is to destroy as many people as possible. We can be sure of this: he has a specially designed trap to spring on each one of us, a trap with bait specifically aimed at our own individual weaknesses, a trap able to keep us away from God until it is too late. If we do not discern his efforts, he will definitely conquer us. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 26 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Ephesians 6:11,14-17 |
Comments |
| Put on the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (...) Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. |
Only this armor will give us the victory over our enemy, Satan. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 27 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
1 John 4:8 |
Comments |
| God is love. | As this lesson is drawing to its close, you may ask
yourself: «Why didn't God destroy Satan from the beginning, to avoid the entry of sin
into the world?» Because the basis of God's government is love. If God had destroyed Satan immediately, His creation would then have served Him out of fear: so God chose to allow everyone the time to measure the consequences of Satan's rebellion. Fortunately, the experiment will soon come to a conclusion... |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 28 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
Romans 16:20 |
Comments |
| And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. | The experiment is conclusive: sin results
in desolation, suffering and death. It is therefore with the whole Universe's consent that God will soon destroy every trace of sin, as well as Satan himself. This will have been a painful experience for all of us, especially for God, but necessary in order to guarantee that evil will not appear a second time. |
Nahum 1:9 |
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| Affliction will not rise up a second time. |
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Lesson 4 |
Screen 29 |
Why Does Evil Exist? |
| Let us thank God for His presence during this lesson: |
| Father, How comforting it is to understand that even if Satan dominates this world, You will soon put an end to evil here on earth. Please open our eyes, that we may see the one who is really responsible for our misfortunes, that we may understand that Satan is always trying to keep us away from You by all means, so as to lead us into eternal destruction. Keep us close to You, in Jesus Christ. Amen. |
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Why
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