Someone is guilty. Is it God or is it you?

(Cain, abdicating his responsibility before God.)

A crime has been committed. You know it, for the evidences are all around you.

The world is broken. Natural disasters abound. Diseases run rampant. Mankind is broken. There is lying, murdering, adultery, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, etc. The data is clear, as the author of Ecclesiastes meticulously shows: Man and the world he lives in are both fundamentally broken. Now, who is to blame?

You, like most of mankind, would probably like to blame God. "How could a good God," you might argue, "allow people to suffer?" Of you might ask why God would allow mankind the freedom to rebel against Him, and thus fall into an estate of sin and misery? Was there an inherent defect in God's creation? If so, God is clearly guilty. Any line of blame of this sort sees the problem of evil as fundamentally a metaphysical problem (in other words, the problem is with the One who stands over and above the physical realm).

If you're right, then congratulations. You have successfully explained the origins of evil and are now entitled to speak ill of the God who designed this world as a cruel joke. But it won't make you feel much better. In fact, by assigning the blame for the broken world and human race to God, you have effectively abdicated all responsibility for yourself. Eat, drink, and (try to) be merry, for tomorrow you die.

At first glance, you may not think that you subscribe to the idea that evil is a metaphysical problem. No, you have convinced yourself that God is a loving God who accepts people for who they are. And on balance, knowing that you are more good than bad, you believe that God will accept you into Heaven at the end. How could He not? He is a loving God.

But is this really the God you believe in?

You concede that "Nobody is perfect" and that something is fundamentally wrong with the world. Why is this the "normal" state of affairs? Why is "imperfection," to vastly understate the problem with both man and the world, in this world and why does it continue? Whoever authored this glitch in the system of man, this hole in the fabric of creation, is to blame.

This clearly can't be man, according to your view. Man might be imperfect, but he is still fundamentally good. He can't be guilty of this crime. For if evil is truly a moral problem, then man literally has hell to pay. Introducing such poison into the bloodstream of this world would clearly be a crime against the Creator of this world. And you would need to throw the balance sheet out. There's no hope if you bear such a weighty crime.

As you acquit man (and yourself, in the process), you are left with only one option: A cruel God. The problem is either moral--with mankind transgressing God's law and bearing overwhelming guilt--or it is metaphysical. Either man is the culprit here or God. And in your eagerness to acquit man (and yourself) because he is fundamentally good, you are unwittingly calling God a monster. And if He is a monster, then He is not the loving God who accepts you for who you are.

But you wouldn't go that far. Some might think God a monster, if He is real, for what He has done to this world. But not you. You know that the destruction of God's character would mean the destruction of hope.

You also know differently. God's power and holiness are clearly on display in creation and within your own moral conscience, so that you are left without excuse regarding the existence and character of our God (Rom. 1).

The crime lies squarely at the feet of man. Evil in the created order and in the heart of man is the responsibility of man. And God, who is blameless, is thus justified in judging mankind for this affront (Ps. 14). And God is indeed holy and just and will not allow the guilty to go unpunished (Ex. 34).

Your only hope is that love exists in the heart of this holy God. Not a shallow love that "accepts you for who you are" or admits that you are a "good person at heart," for you know that you are not a good person at heart if evil is a moral problem. What you desperately need is a perfect love that would find a means of exhibiting perfect grace for your sake.

Just as man despoiled himself and this world and thus made himself a traitor against God (Gen. 1; Rom. 5), he is unable to save himself. Only God can save. But is God able and willing to save?

The willingness is seen when Christ approaches the tomb of Lazarus (John 11). Though He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, He cried out in great anger and anguish (the imagery of a horse's nostrils flaring). He was there as the world was created through Him in perfect beauty. He was there when the rebellion of man went down. And now He is looking upon the tomb--a marker of all that went wrong with mankind in this world. Then He calls Lazarus from the dead.

The ability to save is seen in Christ's loneliness to the cross, where we discover how exactly a perfectly just and merciful God would simultaneously let the guilty go unpunished and not let the guilty go unpunished. The Son of God, incarnate as man, would willingly bear mankind's sin upon Himself, though He was sinless (2 Cor. 5) and take the cup of wrath that the guilty are to drink to the dregs for Himself (Ps. 11; Luke 22). His perfect righteousness--man unspoiled--would then be credited to the account of all those who would believe (Rom. 5).

In other words, the God you are prone to blame for evil, through He created the world good, Himself dealt with the real problem, the moral problem, by becoming the moral problem.

The problem of evil is not God's problem, but your problem. The problem is such that it will leave hopeless and condemned unless the God who is justified to judge is willing to justify you. It is time to stop accusing God and acquitting man. It is time for you to stop abdicating responsibility. Take responsibility for your sin and its guilt and embrace the God-man, Jesus Christ, who took this sin and guilt and nailed it to the cross.

You will never be satisfied otherwise. It feels good to acquit yourself, but in the process, you are condemning God as a monster and destroying your hope. Only in bowing the knee in sorrow over your sin and recognition of Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin will you have hope. Will you bow the knee, knowing that in Christ alone, you find truth, hope, life, and love?