This question has erupted from the lips of many through the centuries from the time of Adam to the present days of social upheaval. Most who ask this question have not taken the time to know God; a few have asked it claiming to know Him, though they may not have known God as well as they thought. The history of mankind is filled with those of wealth standing on the terraces of their mansions in sight of city streets filled with common working people scratching out a meager living and beggars with nothing; it is filled with rulers, kings, and nobles giving audience to throngs of complaining subjects who are in need of the basic necessities of life looking to those who rule over them for help. Many of these kings and nobles of the past were more concerned about gaining personal wealth than providing for the needs of the lower classes. There were exceptions to the rule such as King David, King Arthur of legend, and others who made their subjects welfare a priority.
How often have we observed in the pages of history tyrants and dictators who plunged their peoples into conflicts at the cost of thousands of lives? Was God the cause of all this suffering? There is an interesting account of Francis of Assisi traveling to Egypt during the Fifth Crusade in an attempt to convert the Sultan, al-Kamil, a nephew of Saladin. Following a particularly bloody and futile attack by the Christians (it is amazing how many have lost their lives in the name of religious loyalties) in August of 1219, both sides agreed to a ceasefire. During the ceasefire, Francis and his companion crossed over into Muslim territory and were brought before the Sultan. Legend has it that Francis was concerned about the welfare of the wounded on both sides and was captured while tending to the wounds of both Christian and Muslim alike. The Sultans lieutenants wanted to imprison Francis to torture and eventually put him to death. When the Sultan questioned Francis, he discovered that the friar’s motive was to give aid to the wounded on both sides regardless of their religious belief. The Sultan was so moved that he gave Francis free access to all lands of the Middle East as well as the Holy Land. Francis was also allowed to preach his faith to whomever he wished.
In Eleventh Century Spain, we find the rise of the folk hero, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar also known as El Cid (the lord). This austere Spanish folk hero is known for being the ideal medieval knight: strong, valiant, loyal, just, and pious putting the needs of his charges before his own. One particularly well known event has it that on a journey, the Cid encounters a leprous beggar who has no water in his pouch. The Cid takes his own pouch and offers the leper a drink. After the leper has drink from the pouch, he declares that, “You are the Cid, for there is no other knight in all of Spain who would offer a leper to drink from his own pouch.” The Cid went on to unite the Christians and Muslims of Spain against their common enemy, the Moors of North Africa.
In the days of our Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry, He would often teach to large crowds, especially the Pharisees, in parables (a simple story used to teach a moral or spiritual lesson). The Lord explained to His disciples that the parable was used because it was not given that everyone should, at that time, know the mysteries of the Kingdom. In Luke 16:15, the Lord Jesus confronts the Pharisees who had derided Him for His teachings by rebuking them for their desire to acquire worldly possessions instead of doing the works of righteousness. Luke 16:19-31 is a true story about the rich man and Lazarus who begged at the rich man’s gate each day, and not a parable.
The rich man had great wealth and fared sumptuously (in other words, he ate quite well). Each day he would pass Lazarus who lay at the rich man’s gate covered with infected sores and starving for just a few crumbs of food, the garbage that fell from the rich man’s table. The rich man exhibited little concern for the welfare of Lazarus. As time passed, Lazarus the beggar died (he could not afford to be buried), and was carried away by God’s angels into the bosom of Abraham where he would be comforted for the rest of eternity. The rich man also died and was buried (he could well afford the most elaborate of burials), and in hell he lift up his eyes being in great torment in the flames. His great wealth could no longer do him any good.
Lazarus now has the greatest wealth of all, life eternal with his Lord in the lap of great comfort; whereas, the rich man now becomes the beggar pleading with Lazarus and Abraham to comfort him with just a drop of water to ease the torment of the flames. The rich man even begs that Lazarus go back and warn his family about the false security of riches that they have now inherited from the rich man. Of course, neither the rich man nor Lazarus is able to pass over the great gulf that separates eternal hell from eternal glory in heaven. It would appear from the story of the rich man and Lazarus that the Lord Jesus is teaching that the well to do of society should be concerned about the pain and sufferings of the less fortunate.
During the time of Nazi rule in Germany from 1933 to 1945, men such as Himmler, Goebbels, Heydrich, and Goering advised Hitler to implement a plan to physically eliminate eleven million Jews as well as thousands of other undesirable groups such as the Gypsies and other political dissidents. The plan became known as the “Final Solution”, the genocide of millions of innocent men, women, and children. It is not beyond reason that the Devil and his demons were close at hand guiding the evil deeds of Hitler and his subordinates. Death camps were built in Poland with names that will be remembered in infamy; Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen, and Auschwitz-Birkenau to name a few.
The Polish underground infiltrated these camps as they set about their espionage activities against the Third Reich. They brought news of the genocide of the Jews to the allied high command. Adolf Eichmann had organized death trains to carry millions to their death in camps all over Poland. The Polish underground had planned to sabotage the railroads along with other military targets, but the allied high command decided that the best thing to do would be to defeat the Third Reich as quickly as possible thereby ending the death camps. It would have saved many lives if the allied command had carried out just a few bombing raids on the railway lines, but they didn’t. Is God responsible for the death of His own chosen people? God cannot commit sin, neither does He tempt nor cause people to sin.
God is not responsible for the pain and suffering of this world, we are. In James 1:27 it states, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted. In Matthew 25: 44-45 Jesus declares to us all, Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
The Lord’s great commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said to love your enemies and to do good to them who despitefully use you. The Good Samaritan took the injured stranger along the way to the nearest inn, dressed his wounds, and paid for his room. God gave His only Son to save all of humanity; greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend (Jesus has called us His friends). The poor and needy will always be among us; will you just walk blindly by those that are in need and do nothing? If each of us made an effort to personally provide a meal for a hungry person along the way, we could greatly reduce the pain and suffering around us and be a good Christian example to the world.
Newton's Notes 