Always With The Why

After yesterday's tragic events in Binghamton, NY many people are asking why things like this keep happening. Well, I have the answer, but the problem is that most of the people who are asking the question, aren't interested in the answer.

The fact is that death, tragedy, pain, suffering, and all evil in this world exist because this world is fallen.

Most of you will know this already, but let me go ahead and explain it anyway. God created all that exists, and He created Human Beings in His own image. That is not to say that we are gods ourselves, but that we bear the image, or reflection, of God. The first man and the first woman, who we know as Adam and Eve, were created to live in Paradise, that is perfected creation.

There was only one rule that Adam and Eve were required to live by, and that was to not eat fruit from a certain tree in the Garden of Eden, where they lived. This tree was called "The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil." Everything else was theirs for the taking, but this tree was off limits. One day a serpent came to Eve and convinced her that it would be OK to go ahead and eat a piece of fruit from that tree. She took some of the fruit to Adam, and he ate the fruit right along with her. At this point they became able to know the difference between good and evil. This was the very first sin.

Since that time everyone who has ever been born, with only one exception, have been born into sin. This sin affected all of creation, but most important is the fact that this sin caused all mankind to be sinners. This is what is meant by fallen, this sin caused us to fall from the perfection of God's creation to the chaotic world that we still live in today.

Maybe it would be good to address what sin is. Sin is anything that falls short of living up to the Law and Glory of God. God is perfect, and as such, must demand perfection, but we are not capable of perfection, we fall short, we sin, and this condemns us to eternity apart from God. This is what we know as Hell, eternal punishment. There is nothing that we can do to save ourselves from this judgment.

Now, remember that I said that there was one exception to the rule of everyone being born into sin? That one exception was Jesus Christ. Jesus was born to a Virgin woman, after the Spirit of God moved upon her and caused her to be with child. This is how it is that Jesus was born without the stain of sin. Not only was Jesus not born a sinner, but He never sinned even once in His entire life. You see, Jesus was Almighty God Himself in Human Flesh. This can get a little complicated, but God is three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three persons, but one God. Jesus was God the Son, who took on human flesh to come to Earth. Being God, and yet a man, Jesus was able to live a perfect and sinless life, and live up to the perfection of God.

This is very important. You see, there is nothing that I can do for myself, or for you, to save any of us from eternal judgement as the penalty for our sins. However, Jesus lived an absolutely perfect life. Due to His perfect and sinless life, Jesus was able to choose to pay the penalty for our sins. This was not an easy thing to do. Jesus, who was perfect and sinless, took our sins upon himself, and was put to death, in one of the most horrific ways imaginable, to pay the penalty for our sins.

Jesus, God the Son, the only perfect person who ever lived, was brutally murdered, allowing Himself to be put to death, but that wasn't the end of the story. After three days of being in the tomb, Jesus conquered death by returning from the grave. By this Jesus gave us hope, because He showed us that He has power even over death.

What we must do is to understand that we are sinners, that we are totally incapable of doing anything to save ourselves. Without Jesus we are doomed to spend all of eternity in Hell as punishment for our sins.

It can be quite hard to admit that we cannot do anything to save ourselves, since we, as human beings, like to be independent and believe that we can do anything we set our minds to. But, as if that wasn't hard enough, we also must deny ourselves, give up our selfishness, and be willing to give up all that we have in this life, if that is what is asked of us, because following Jesus, and spending eternity in Heaven with Him, is worth whatever we have to give up in this life.

All of the tragedy and horrors in this world are a result of a rejection of God, and a rejection of the Salvation offered through Jesus Christ. In this world we are taught to be selfish, to focus on ourselves, and our needs, and fulfilling our own desires, but that is not what followers of Jesus are called to do.